Reply to DCI Parent Petition

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Reply to "DCI Parent Petition "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The ED needs to do the right thing and resign. If he had any integrity or concern about the welfare of the school he would understand that he is too polarizing a figure to lead competently. The board needs to help him do this in a way that reduces the tension that is impacting every group in the school community. This incredible school needs healing. [/quote]

Rosskamm and Pardo are hell bent on destroying the school and making as much money off of it while they do so. Everyone is asking him to resign and he's digging in. [/quote]

How are they making money off DCI?[/quote]

Rosskamm is paid almost $300k in total compensation. That's exponentially more than Mary Shaffner, the woman who founded DCI and built it from zero to a Tier 1 school. She never took a bonus. He took $56,500 in bonus and incentive pay in the same year the school structured aide raises to be effectively worthless. And then he hired his wife as a consultant at DCI.

And Pardo was a partner at TenSquare, the firm at the center of DC's biggest charter school governance scandal. [/quote]

I can see why it's hard for some to understand and take all of the concerns seriously -- though I do agree there are real concerns that need to be addressed. Claiming that two individuals are intent on destroying the school and making as much money as possible off of it but then giving no real evidence of this -- just undermines the real concerns that must be addressed. Is there evidence that Pardo is making money off DCI? As far as the EDs salaries, the difference seems to be 15-20% - higher, yes, but not clear that it's unreasonably higher.[/quote]

The salary comparison is one data point. The bigger picture is in the financials. Between FY2023 and FY2024, leadership salaries at DCI jumped from $1.876 million to $3.196 million which is an increase of over $1.3 million in a single year.

In that same period, staff development spending was cut 41%, from $305,770 to $179,590. At a school whose staff letter specifically documents inadequate IB training as a core program concern.

There’s a pattern of financial decisions that consistently prioritize leadership compensation while cutting the resources that actually serve students and support the people who teach them.[/quote]

This is a serious issue and now I'm worried about corruption too.

New DCI parent, who signed the petition too. [/quote]

And unfortunately this is the problem when people only give part of the financial information, choose to highlight only certain line items, and clearly don't take the time to read financial statements vs having AI spit out talking points to try to support their argument.  PLEASE don't take those shortcuts when you potentially have legitimate issues to raise.  I'm the person who said I don't have a horse in the DCI race, but I read this thread because I am interested in having strong schools across all sectors in DC. I'm offering this as advice to teachers and staff, having been employed in schools and various education non-profits for a long time and wanting to ensure that if there are legitimate issues that those are strong arguments for a vote of no confidence.  I still don't see them based on looking at the provided information, and I would encourage you to continue to surface the facts as much as possible.

If you actually look at the audited financial statements, it's true that leadership salaries increased from $1.876 million to $3.196 million from 2023 to 2024.  It's also true that during that time teaching and staff salaries increased from $15.094 million to $17.006 million and student support staff salaries increase from $1.459 million to $2.251 million.  Employee benefit expenses also increased from $2.558 million to $3.795 million (you can't tell from the financials who those benefits went to).  "Other personnel expenses" decreased from $493k to $44k.  Contracted student instruction (considered a direct student cost rather than a personnel expense) increased from $545k to $1.970 million, but saying that there was a $1.4 million increase in contracted student instruction expenses (tutors? Contracted instructional staff?), a $2 million increase in staff salaries, and a $800k increase in support staff salaries doesn't support the "leadership is bad" argument so it was conveniently left out. It's also worth noting that in 2023, no teachers are listed in the top 7 highest compensated employees but in 2024, three teachers are listed in the top 7 highest compensated employees.

All that to say - there is not a directly proportional increase in leadership salary and benefits vs teaching/support staff salaries and benefits (or costs for direct student instruction), and there is clearly a greater percentage increase for leadership, but it's not completely out of line.  It's also unclear which positions were classified as "leadership" in 2023 vs 2024 and if any positions were reclassified, but I wouldn't go nearly so far to say that there is evidence of corruption based on the available data.  Looking at the audited 990s makes that clear. 
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