Anonymous wrote:The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Should start with getting rid of the virtual academy. Such a waste of money for a failed program that caters to a small group

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And then people wonder why there won't be auditoriums ready, why we don't have compensation enough to attract paras, etc.

who cares really I don't

The children who are legally entitled to the services they provide. That’s who cares. I care.

The DEI teacher at our school teaches 1 class period and has 4 class periods to make presentations and attend meetings. I mean, what??? I say that if you are not in front of a classroom full of students then your job should be seen as expendable. There is plenty of fat to trim in the budget.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

MCPS has low premiums relative to other public employees.

For example at MCPS a 12 month employee with a spouse and kids pays between $130 and $150 biweekly for a POS plan depending on whether they do the health screening thing. County government employees (which include bus drivers, firefighters, police, corrections, and social workers) pay $190 biweekly. Part of it is that county employees pay 20% of the cost and MCPS employees pay 17% (though it's actually going to be less than 17% since the premiums aren't covering the total and general dollars are being used to make up the difference).

I don't think some of you realize that money doesn't grow on trees? You can't have cheap insurance AND get the pay increases you want AND get money to pay for all the renovations you want and have the county pay for all the roads and bike lanes and everything else you want. And having premiums that don't cover claims is what creates the budget freezes that are impacting staff and students right now. This is not sustainable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

That is a double-edged sword. The staffing crisis, particularly special ed teachers, paras, and SLPs, is only getting worse. Many people are very unhappy. And some of those unhappy people are only staying in the job because they feel handcuffed by having good insurance. If it gets expensive and worse, I promise you more people will quit, because they already wanted to and the last reason to put up with the garbage will be gone. They also already sold this year's change from CareFirst to Cigna as a way to get the same coverage for cheaper and appear to have gotten that spectacularly wrong or had one pulled over on them by Cigna, so why should anyone trust them to know what they're doing with this?

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

They need to change insurance plans and charge more for premiums like the county does and most employers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

Umm, they specifically mentioned needing to work with the unions about their cost. And in the budget meeting prior to this about discussing what is covered in the plan when the contract comes up for renewal. But I’ve never known folks to be happy about the insurance cost going up and doubt teachers are going to be any different.

Umm, saying you're going to "work with unions" is like saying you are going to be disciplined about your exercise routine. Talk is cheap. They've known about this for months, are currently in a budget freeze for this year AND are anticipating needing ANOTHER $40 million next year. When exactly are they going to fix this?

Are you expecting them to just pass on another 4-5% increase onto the staff and the unions be like “Sounds good.” Everyone knows where they are is unsustainable. Getting everyone to come to a reasonable agreement is a different thing. Particularly when they are already short staffed.

Yeah, negotiating with unions is hard, but it's part of their job. We're talking about $80 million between this year and next year. It's preposterous to.whine about the CE not funding their budget when what's really happening is they are demanding extra money to paper over their mistakes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

Umm, they specifically mentioned needing to work with the unions about their cost. And in the budget meeting prior to this about discussing what is covered in the plan when the contract comes up for renewal. But I’ve never known folks to be happy about the insurance cost going up and doubt teachers are going to be any different.

Umm, saying you're going to "work with unions" is like saying you are going to be disciplined about your exercise routine. Talk is cheap. They've known about this for months, are currently in a budget freeze for this year AND are anticipating needing ANOTHER $40 million next year. When exactly are they going to fix this?

keep raising property taxes and increase CO staff while they're at it.

Check that every CO position is necessary. How many admin (not para or staff working directly with students) are there per student in the county. Cut those first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

Umm, they specifically mentioned needing to work with the unions about their cost. And in the budget meeting prior to this about discussing what is covered in the plan when the contract comes up for renewal. But I’ve never known folks to be happy about the insurance cost going up and doubt teachers are going to be any different.

Umm, saying you're going to "work with unions" is like saying you are going to be disciplined about your exercise routine. Talk is cheap. They've known about this for months, are currently in a budget freeze for this year AND are anticipating needing ANOTHER $40 million next year. When exactly are they going to fix this?

Are you expecting them to just pass on another 4-5% increase onto the staff and the unions be like “Sounds good.” Everyone knows where they are is unsustainable. Getting everyone to come to a reasonable agreement is a different thing. Particularly when they are already short staffed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

Umm, they specifically mentioned needing to work with the unions about their cost. And in the budget meeting prior to this about discussing what is covered in the plan when the contract comes up for renewal. But I’ve never known folks to be happy about the insurance cost going up and doubt teachers are going to be any different.

Umm, saying you're going to "work with unions" is like saying you are going to be disciplined about your exercise routine. Talk is cheap. They've known about this for months, are currently in a budget freeze for this year AND are anticipating needing ANOTHER $40 million next year. When exactly are they going to fix this?

Anonymous wrote:Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

Umm, they specifically mentioned needing to work with the unions about their cost. And in the budget meeting prior to this about discussing what is covered in the plan when the contract comes up for renewal. But I’ve never known folks to be happy about the insurance cost going up and doubt teachers are going to be any different.

Btw the MCPS budget includes $40 million to plug the anticipated gap in the health insurance fund for employees. In other words, they already know the employer and employee premiums won't be enough to cover claims. Instead of working with the union to address this issue (by lowering costs and/or raising premiums), they are asking for millions from county taxpayers and threatening to cut services for students if we don't pay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around 1:08, Seth Adams explains that a budget plan with the most traction involves removing expenditures to renovate Wootton, Magruder, Damascus, and Eastern from the CIP altogether.

^^^The most traction in the sense that county council members preferred this bad option to the other bad option.

I feel like I must be missing something and I'm hoping someone can give me some reassurance.

A few weeks ago, I saw current Wootton parents and students give testimonials about the extent of water intrusion and mold in the building:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joW7ciWyp6g

Since then, I haven't seen or heard any dispute of the severity of these issues.

Can anyone share what steps MCPS takes to ensure students are not being exposed to environmental hazards in their facilities? Do they MCPS regularly test its facilities for mold? Does anyone have information about what the repair process is for the issues that are depicted in the students' pictures from that hearing?

https://www.cdc.gov/mold/faqs.htm

I'm shocked and kind of horrified to see these conditions and I don't see how letting them continue is on the table.

Ultiple schools are old with these issues. Send your kid with a mask.

Multiple

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around 1:08, Seth Adams explains that a budget plan with the most traction involves removing expenditures to renovate Wootton, Magruder, Damascus, and Eastern from the CIP altogether.

^^^The most traction in the sense that county council members preferred this bad option to the other bad option.

I feel like I must be missing something and I'm hoping someone can give me some reassurance.

A few weeks ago, I saw current Wootton parents and students give testimonials about the extent of water intrusion and mold in the building:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joW7ciWyp6g

Since then, I haven't seen or heard any dispute of the severity of these issues.

Can anyone share what steps MCPS takes to ensure students are not being exposed to environmental hazards in their facilities? Do they MCPS regularly test its facilities for mold? Does anyone have information about what the repair process is for the issues that are depicted in the students' pictures from that hearing?

https://www.cdc.gov/mold/faqs.htm

I'm shocked and kind of horrified to see these conditions and I don't see how letting them continue is on the table.

Ultiple schools are old with these issues. Send your kid with a mask.