APS budget is unacceptable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

Well… there is definitely data that demonstrates that Syphax has grown at a rate much higher than student enrollment, or teaching staff. What that tells me is that there have been more positions created to offset that fact that the staff are now off three weeks more per year.

I can tell you as someone that has taught in other districts- Syphax is extremely disorganized. Many of the initiatives they have put in place recently have done more harm than good. I miss the days of school resource officers (the “new” security is a huge line item), when due dates were honored, and classroom behavior mattered.

The central office staff that are supposed to support our work aren’t doing much and are barely ever there. There are way too many “chiefs”. At my particular school, I know the finance person has become very overwhelmed, and can’t process orders and reimbursements in a timely manner. I wonder if things would be better if this person was working that extra three weeks as they would have had to in the past. I cannot blame them for using the leave time they’ve ever given, but I do blame thoughtless leadership for creating this problem.
You cannot double the leave time for thousands of staff and really believe it will have no effect.

I have a specific stories that would blow your mind, but I fear my anonymity would be given away.


As an APS parent, I think class sizes should’ve been prioritized over extra vacation time for people that are already compensated very well, and don’t work with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

Well… there is definitely data that demonstrates that Syphax has grown at a rate much higher than student enrollment, or teaching staff. What that tells me is that there have been more positions created to offset that fact that the staff are now off three weeks more per year.

I can tell you as someone that has taught in other districts- Syphax is extremely disorganized. Many of the initiatives they have put in place recently have done more harm than good. I miss the days of school resource officers (the “new” security is a huge line item), when due dates were honored, and classroom behavior mattered.

The central office staff that are supposed to support our work aren’t doing much and are barely ever there. There are way too many “chiefs”. At my particular school, I know the finance person has become very overwhelmed, and can’t process orders and reimbursements in a timely manner. I wonder if things would be better if this person was working that extra three weeks as they would have had to in the past. I cannot blame them for using the leave time they’ve ever given, but I do blame thoughtless leadership for creating this problem.
You cannot double the leave time for thousands of staff and really believe it will have no effect.

I have a specific stories that would blow your mind, but I fear my anonymity would be given away.


As an APS parent, I think class sizes should’ve been prioritized over extra vacation time for people that are already compensated very well, and don’t work with kids. [/quote
BEEN given!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please keep up. Show me what budget impact taking these weeks away from staff will do. How much more money to the bottom line will it add?

Answer: It will not add to the bottom line of more money to give teachers. It’s an intangible cost. And it keeps people who do the real work at Syphax.

It's not a couple of days, but weeks of vacation. That does have a huge cost. Stuff doesn't get done. Teacher vacancies don't get filled. Substitutes don't get hired. Teacher questions to HR don't get answered promptly. Test scores are delayed being sent to parents. Bus routes aren't fixed. School capacity calculations and redistricting proposals aren't thought out or verified. Trainings for teachers are half assed. Curriculum decisions aren't fully vetted. And on and on. Syphax had huge issues with quality and responsiveness before giving themselves a bunch more vacation.

Ok but these points are about efficiency and responsiveness of the employees. That's different from budget, which is what this post is about. Is there an actual cost in dollars or not?

Of course it matters to budget. With less vacation the work could get done with fewer people.

It also matters because poor Syphax work product is getting pushed out to schools and parents, which eats up teacher and administrative time and leads to requests for more school level staffing.

Ok, I will bite. What work is not getting done? And how do you know this is because of vacation time and not just due to incompetence/laziness?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please keep up. Show me what budget impact taking these weeks away from staff will do. How much more money to the bottom line will it add?

Answer: It will not add to the bottom line of more money to give teachers. It’s an intangible cost. And it keeps people who do the real work at Syphax.

It's not a couple of days, but weeks of vacation. That does have a huge cost. Stuff doesn't get done. Teacher vacancies don't get filled. Substitutes don't get hired. Teacher questions to HR don't get answered promptly. Test scores are delayed being sent to parents. Bus routes aren't fixed. School capacity calculations and redistricting proposals aren't thought out or verified. Trainings for teachers are half assed. Curriculum decisions aren't fully vetted. And on and on. Syphax had huge issues with quality and responsiveness before giving themselves a bunch more vacation.

Ok but these points are about efficiency and responsiveness of the employees. That's different from budget, which is what this post is about. Is there an actual cost in dollars or not?

Of course it matters to budget. With less vacation the work could get done with fewer people.

It also matters because poor Syphax work product is getting pushed out to schools and parents, which eats up teacher and administrative time and leads to requests for more school level staffing.

Agree. It isn’t difficult to understand.

And yet, it is because no one can quantify an actual budget impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

What are you talking about? There's nothing circular in my post.

If you want examples of bad Syphax work product, ask any teacher about the health insurance disaster, usefulness of mandatory trainings, lousy assessments handed down by Syphax, and vacancies that take forever to be filled. You'll get an earful.

I'm a parent. Of course I don't have access to hard data to generate numbers. That would have to come from Syphax, but they responsible person is probably on vacation.

of course you are a parent. We all know there is a particular parent group still nursing grudges at Duran/Syphax/APS from the pandemic that is pushing this whole vacation non-issue as its latest agenda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

What are you talking about? There's nothing circular in my post.

If you want examples of bad Syphax work product, ask any teacher about the health insurance disaster, usefulness of mandatory trainings, lousy assessments handed down by Syphax, and vacancies that take forever to be filled. You'll get an earful.

I'm a parent. Of course I don't have access to hard data to generate numbers. That would have to come from Syphax, but they responsible person is probably on vacation.

of course you are a parent. We all know there is a particular parent group still nursing grudges at Duran/Syphax/APS from the pandemic that is pushing this whole vacation non-issue as its latest agenda.

This wasn’t my post, but I definitely think you’ve got this wrong. The teachers in Arlington are very pissed off at the management, and rightfully so. Yes… people are always pissed off at leadership. But I promise you, this is justified, and this is something else. You need to pay attention because It does end up impacting the quality of education for your kids. I think you might understand this better in the fall. I anticipate a lot of empty classrooms and teaching vacancies.

If APE is making an issue of this… well, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

What are you talking about? There's nothing circular in my post.

If you want examples of bad Syphax work product, ask any teacher about the health insurance disaster, usefulness of mandatory trainings, lousy assessments handed down by Syphax, and vacancies that take forever to be filled. You'll get an earful.

I'm a parent. Of course I don't have access to hard data to generate numbers. That would have to come from Syphax, but they responsible person is probably on vacation.

of course you are a parent. We all know there is a particular parent group still nursing grudges at Duran/Syphax/APS from the pandemic that is pushing this whole vacation non-issue as its latest agenda.

Huh? I listed specific things that I've heard from many teachers this year. So that means I'm holding a grudge?

I suspect you're either a Syphax employee or a spouse of a Syphax employee, because there's no other reason for such blind defense of a ridiculous vacation policy that's out of line with neighboring districts, historical precedent and every other government job.

[Anonymous]

Huh? I listed specific things that I've heard from many teachers this year. So that means I'm holding a grudge?

I suspect you're either a Syphax employee or a spouse of a Syphax employee, because there's no other reason for such blind defense of a ridiculous vacation policy that's out of line with neighboring districts, historical precedent and every other government job.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

What are you talking about? There's nothing circular in my post.

If you want examples of bad Syphax work product, ask any teacher about the health insurance disaster, usefulness of mandatory trainings, lousy assessments handed down by Syphax, and vacancies that take forever to be filled. You'll get an earful.

I'm a parent. Of course I don't have access to hard data to generate numbers. That would have to come from Syphax, but they responsible person is probably on vacation.

of course you are a parent. We all know there is a particular parent group still nursing grudges at Duran/Syphax/APS from the pandemic that is pushing this whole vacation non-issue as its latest agenda.

This wasn’t my post, but I definitely think you’ve got this wrong. The teachers in Arlington are very pissed off at the management, and rightfully so. Yes… people are always pissed off at leadership. But I promise you, this is justified, and this is something else. You need to pay attention because It does end up impacting the quality of education for your kids. I think you might understand this better in the fall. I anticipate a lot of empty classrooms and teaching vacancies.

If APE is making an issue of this… well, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

+1 Teachers are pissed about this and have been long before APE got involved

[Anonymous]

There is hard data. It’s called the wabe guide and it shows that all the school systems have 90-92% school-based employees, including APS. Remember that some school systems, like Fairfax, don’t employ their own bus drivers, they use a contractor, so they look better for school-based.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

What are you talking about? There's nothing circular in my post.

If you want examples of bad Syphax work product, ask any teacher about the health insurance disaster, usefulness of mandatory trainings, lousy assessments handed down by Syphax, and vacancies that take forever to be filled. You'll get an earful.

I'm a parent. Of course I don't have access to hard data to generate numbers. That would have to come from Syphax, but they responsible person is probably on vacation.

of course you are a parent. We all know there is a particular parent group still nursing grudges at Duran/Syphax/APS from the pandemic that is pushing this whole vacation non-issue as its latest agenda.

Huh? I listed specific things that I've heard from many teachers this year. So that means I'm holding a grudge?

I suspect you're either a Syphax employee or a spouse of a Syphax employee, because there's no other reason for such blind defense of a ridiculous vacation policy that's out of line with neighboring districts, historical precedent and every other government job.

Nope you are wrong, I promise you I have no love for Syphax, just want a focus on the right things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

Well… there is definitely data that demonstrates that Syphax has grown at a rate much higher than student enrollment, or teaching staff. What that tells me is that there have been more positions created to offset that fact that the staff are now off three weeks more per year.

I can tell you as someone that has taught in other districts- Syphax is extremely disorganized. Many of the initiatives they have put in place recently have done more harm than good. I miss the days of school resource officers (the “new” security is a huge line item), when due dates were honored, and classroom behavior mattered.

The central office staff that are supposed to support our work aren’t doing much and are barely ever there. There are way too many “chiefs”. At my particular school, I know the finance person has become very overwhelmed, and can’t process orders and reimbursements in a timely manner. I wonder if things would be better if this person was working that extra three weeks as they would have had to in the past. I cannot blame them for using the leave time they’ve ever given, but I do blame thoughtless leadership for creating this problem.
You cannot double the leave time for thousands of staff and really believe it will have no effect.

I have a specific stories that would blow your mind, but I fear my anonymity would be given away.


As an APS parent, I think class sizes should’ve been prioritized over extra vacation time for people that are already compensated very well, and don’t work with kids.

Disagree - the increased size is merely bloating the organizational chart, not compensating for people who are there three weeks less a year.
Otherwise, fully agree with your comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Define "poor Syphax work product." To whom? You?

This whole post is about the budget. So show it. Hard numbers.

I do like the circular logic though.

What are you talking about? There's nothing circular in my post.

If you want examples of bad Syphax work product, ask any teacher about the health insurance disaster, usefulness of mandatory trainings, lousy assessments handed down by Syphax, and vacancies that take forever to be filled. You'll get an earful.

I'm a parent. Of course I don't have access to hard data to generate numbers. That would have to come from Syphax, but they responsible person is probably on vacation.

of course you are a parent. We all know there is a particular parent group still nursing grudges at Duran/Syphax/APS from the pandemic that is pushing this whole vacation non-issue as its latest agenda.

OMG!!! Give it up!!! The extra vacation for Syphax is a legitimate gripe held by MANY people who have nothing to do with that "particular parent group!"
You either have no experiences that show you the impacts of the Syphax vacation "non-issue" or are someone who benefits from the extra vacation.
Budget impact aside, it is a bad look; is highly unnecessary; is not helping teachers with their administrative needs; negatively impacts teacher morale; and as a non-APS employee parent - sickens me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paying tuition at TJHSST is a ridiculous expense. I had no idea we pay tuition to send kids to a governor’s school.

So you'd rather pay more to educate them in Arlington? And not offer them the best education available at the country's top public high school?
You had no idea....so do a little more investigating about the why's and possible benefits before you jump to a conclusion. And NO - Arlington Tech is NOT the same as the TJHSST program.

I always hear TJ parents making this argument, but it doesn't make sense. APS doesn't expend the exact same amount of money on every kid in the system. Some kids need a lot more supports and cost the county more to educate. Other kids need less. The types of kids who get into TJ are likely not the kids getting extensive SPED, ELL, and other academic supports and probably cost less to educate than the "average" APS student. If APS can absorb those 100 TJ students back into APS high schools and put the extra money towards better advanced math and science programming that is accessible to all APS students, then I wouldn't be upset about APS pulling out of TJ. There are far more kids in APS who need access to better math and science instruction than there are Arlington spots to TJ.

EL and SPED supports are bolstered by federal funds. I’m an EL teacher and my salary comes from Title III. As far as I know APS funds are distributed per student regardless of need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please keep up. Show me what budget impact taking these weeks away from staff will do. How much more money to the bottom line will it add?

Answer: It will not add to the bottom line of more money to give teachers. It’s an intangible cost. And it keeps people who do the real work at Syphax.

It's not a couple of days, but weeks of vacation. That does have a huge cost. Stuff doesn't get done. Teacher vacancies don't get filled. Substitutes don't get hired. Teacher questions to HR don't get answered promptly. Test scores are delayed being sent to parents. Bus routes aren't fixed. School capacity calculations and redistricting proposals aren't thought out or verified. Trainings for teachers are half assed. Curriculum decisions aren't fully vetted. And on and on. Syphax had huge issues with quality and responsiveness before giving themselves a bunch more vacation.

Ok but these points are about efficiency and responsiveness of the employees. That's different from budget, which is what this post is about. Is there an actual cost in dollars or not?

Of course it matters to budget. With less vacation the work could get done with fewer people.

It also matters because poor Syphax work product is getting pushed out to schools and parents, which eats up teacher and administrative time and leads to requests for more school level staffing.

Ok, I will bite. What work is not getting done? And how do you know this is because of vacation time and not just due to incompetence/laziness?

“Just” HA!