Post by title1parent on Nov 10, 2009 8:07:53 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=335303&src=
Money tight? Let's go to Disney World
Daily Herald Editorial 11/10/09
One in 10 Americans is out of work. Twenty-five percent more people are bankrupt compared to last year. Foreclosures rose 18 percent in the last three months in the Chicago area.
Hey, let's go to Disney World!
That's the approach of Grayslake Elementary District 46, which plans to spend $9,315 to send 10 staff members to Walt Disney World in Orlando for five days in December. They'll participate in a convention run by Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Inc., a South Carolina company that also serves as a paid consultant to the district.
But it's not all work and no play. Educators in Disney lodging can obtain special theme park tickets, and a Day 2 event includes a reception, candlelight processional and fireworks during five hours at Epcot Center, Daily Herald reporter Bob Susnjara reports.
Can you imagine thinking such a cost is justified at a time when some children attending Grayslake schools are losing their homes? Whether it's a good convention is immaterial.
Time after time we've reminded schools to guard taxpayers' dollars as if they were their own and to build budgets that reflect the difficult and often painful circumstances experienced by many of their constituents.
Some schools heed that message - among them, Elgin Area Unit District 46, which took the difficult step of cutting some freshman and middle school sports to help save $276,000. Earlier, U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres turned down a 3.7 percent raise and challenged other district administrators to do the same.
Others could go much further. Examples include:
• River Trails Elementary District 26, which last week voted administrators raises averaging 3 percent., at a time when compensation for U.S. workers rose an average of 1.5 percent in the past year.
• Barrington Unit District 220, which approved a teachers contract with a 1 percent base salary increase which, when coupled with step increases averaging 2.9 percent, raises teachers' pay by a minimum of 3.9 percent each of the next three years. While board President Brian Battle explains changes in health coverage raise teachers' out-of-pocket costs, the new health plan does not go into effect until next year. A zero base increase this year still would provide teachers with sizable raises.
Still, it's hard to top the Disney plan for sheer chutzpah, even if it is a reduction from the 25 staffers Grayslake schools sent to Myrtle Beach for the same conference last year and the 20 that were sent to Charleston in 2007.
Surely some of those 45 already-trained staffers could pass along their expertise to peers at an in-school meeting, minus the Florida plane and hotel expenses. And we won't even quibble about the cost of coffee and doughnuts.
Money tight? Let's go to Disney World
Daily Herald Editorial 11/10/09
One in 10 Americans is out of work. Twenty-five percent more people are bankrupt compared to last year. Foreclosures rose 18 percent in the last three months in the Chicago area.
Hey, let's go to Disney World!
That's the approach of Grayslake Elementary District 46, which plans to spend $9,315 to send 10 staff members to Walt Disney World in Orlando for five days in December. They'll participate in a convention run by Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Inc., a South Carolina company that also serves as a paid consultant to the district.
But it's not all work and no play. Educators in Disney lodging can obtain special theme park tickets, and a Day 2 event includes a reception, candlelight processional and fireworks during five hours at Epcot Center, Daily Herald reporter Bob Susnjara reports.
Can you imagine thinking such a cost is justified at a time when some children attending Grayslake schools are losing their homes? Whether it's a good convention is immaterial.
Time after time we've reminded schools to guard taxpayers' dollars as if they were their own and to build budgets that reflect the difficult and often painful circumstances experienced by many of their constituents.
Some schools heed that message - among them, Elgin Area Unit District 46, which took the difficult step of cutting some freshman and middle school sports to help save $276,000. Earlier, U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres turned down a 3.7 percent raise and challenged other district administrators to do the same.
Others could go much further. Examples include:
• River Trails Elementary District 26, which last week voted administrators raises averaging 3 percent., at a time when compensation for U.S. workers rose an average of 1.5 percent in the past year.
• Barrington Unit District 220, which approved a teachers contract with a 1 percent base salary increase which, when coupled with step increases averaging 2.9 percent, raises teachers' pay by a minimum of 3.9 percent each of the next three years. While board President Brian Battle explains changes in health coverage raise teachers' out-of-pocket costs, the new health plan does not go into effect until next year. A zero base increase this year still would provide teachers with sizable raises.
Still, it's hard to top the Disney plan for sheer chutzpah, even if it is a reduction from the 25 staffers Grayslake schools sent to Myrtle Beach for the same conference last year and the 20 that were sent to Charleston in 2007.
Surely some of those 45 already-trained staffers could pass along their expertise to peers at an in-school meeting, minus the Florida plane and hotel expenses. And we won't even quibble about the cost of coffee and doughnuts.