From Harford County Public Schools:
April 14, 2014
The Board of Education of Harford County met for an open business meeting at 6:30pm in the Board Room of the A. A. Roberty Building and took the following actions and received the following presentations:
Recognition of 2014-15 Harford County Public Schools Teacher of the Year Finalists
Received presentation on Teacher Salary Comparisons from Ryan Burbey, HCEA President
Approved Consent Agenda items:
– Affirmation of Monthly Contract Awards
– Minutes of previous board meeting
– Approval of Charges for Board Sponsored Citizen Advisory Committees
– Storm Water Management Repair at Red Pump Elementary School
– Adapted Playground at John Archer School
Received Decisions on HCPS Board Policies (curricular-extracurricular activities and clubs)
Received Superintendent’s Report:
– Spring break date reminder (April 18-21 schools will be closed)
– Congratulations to Destination Imagination state level winners
– Congratulations to 8 of our high schools who made it on the Washington Post list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools
– State Superintendent approved the 4-day school calendar waiver request. As a result the last day for students, teachers and 10-month instructional staff is June 12
The next Board of Education business meeting will be held Monday, April 28, 2014 at 6:30pm. All Board meetings are held in the A. A. Roberty Building. To access all future meeting dates and agendas, log onto the school system website at www.hcps.org.
I see Allegany as the ideal county model for the teachers: let us focus on Cumberland with its rows of boarded up houses and no private sector jobs – only an old rivalry keeps two city high schools open; the average person is close to the food stamp level while the teachers are fat and sassy.
I hope the commie Burbey and all his disgruntled teachers start heading westward to Cumberland now.
Harford County is becoming the Walmart of education. Buy it cheap and say, “good enough.” The problem is we are not buying anything, we are investing in our children and also in Harford County as a place to live and work.
I gather you didn’t really see the suggested salary template by Burbrey. Their ideal model is Allegany County. Allegany County has 16% under the poverty level while the teachers are paid three times the per capita income – now that’s quality education. Forget that one high school should have been condemned 20 years ago and all the maintenance and supplies are below par. As long as the teachers can drive to school in a Beemer it’s okay that the children walk to school with shoes secured by duct tape.
Again, the ideal investment in the children (according to Burbrey) is to pay the teachers 3 times the per capita income in a poverty stricken county… just look at the template. It’s Burbrey’s pitch not mine. You know, one really has to have no shame to show those numbers.
Sorry to spell Burbey’s name incorrectly. My mind had to be thinking Bur-bray, as in a loud, harsh sound like a donkey – replacing Common Core with common character.
Teachers should be paid according to their contract.
Although you would like to pervert the presentation the crux of my statements are that teachers in Harford County are paid less than teachers in any other county in the state. Likewise, Alleganey County honors its contracts because its officials understand the wealth factor and invest their county’s fair share in their schools. Unlike Harford, where we consistently underfund our schools at the expense of our community, teachers and more importantly our children.
It is funny that the influence of the market is completely disregarded as it relates to acquiring/retaining the best and most qualified public servants. Teachers are leaving in droves. Other schools are attracting both our teachers and many of the most qualified teachers. Within the next five years over 1/3 of the teaching workforce will be eligible for retirement. Smart systems and counties are addressing this problem proactively.
By the way, the smart policy makers and businessmen realize that paying pubic servants a fair wage is key to their economic success.
First of all that’s Allegany not ‘Alleganey’ – but we all make spelling errors on occasion. There is, however, a huge difference between a typo and the sentiment akin to turning Cumberland, Maryland into Maywood, California: specifically where government employees live large and everyone else is lining up at the free clinic.
Not that I expect an answer, but please explain to me how your “smart policy” of paying such disproportionate salaries in Allegany County has led to “their economic success.” Or, is Allegany County a success to you? Is that the same type of economic success you have in mind for Harford County?
Personally, I think the good tax paying folks in Allegany County are in such emotional and economic disarray that they have no idea the degree of disparity that exists – just like the folks in Maywood. It would be interesting if your complete data were to be published in the Cumberland paper. I am sure the average person in town making around 20K would love to know that they are paying a local teacher 60K with pension and super medical – after all, the teacher has improved the overall community in Cumberland by so very much. Unfortunately, it isn’t part of the curriculum to teach the local community what they are getting for what they are paying.
Be that as it may, I have posted before that I think local county teachers should make more. I asked you what specific tax increases you had in mind to pay for it. You never answered that either.