From Harford County Public Schools:
June 9, 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:
– Gilder Lehrman American History Teacher of the Year 2014
– 2014 MPSSAA Interscholastic State/Regional Champions and 2014 Spring Sportsmanship Awards
Public Comment (There were 16 public comments made at the meeting; please review the video archive for this information)
Old Business: Consent Agenda
– Affirmation of Monthly Contract Awards
– Minutes of Previous Meeting
– Award of Contract: Architectural/Engineering Services for Youth’s Benefit Elementary Replacement School
– Award of Contract: Construction Management Services for Youth’s Benefit Elementary Replacement School
– Award of Contract: Computer Refresh for Aberdeen High School
New Business: Award of Contract for Architectural/Engineering Services for Havre de Grace Middle/High Replacement School, Mr. Cornell Brown
– Approval of Amended OPEB Transfer and Premium Holiday
– Approval of the Amended Capital, Restricted and Food Services Budgets
– Approval of the Board of Education’s FY15 Unrestricted Operating Budget
– Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Canavan thanked everyone for their support. She promised that as the primary steward of the school system, she will continue to do everything she can to ensure the people in our system who are working so diligently for our students, the parents/guardians of our students, and most importantly the children in our system are all benefactors of the hard work of the Board of Education and Leadership Team members.
The next Board of Education business meeting will be held Monday, June 23, 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.
They can’t pay the teachers, yet they approve spending funds on a new school to replace a school that has declining enrollment. The proposed monument to Craig will need more staff that they can’t afford. “It’s our turn” should be the cry from the teachers, not the childish rant from some local elected officials and want to be’s.
You numbnuts never will get the hang of the difference between a capital expenditure and an operating expenditure.
M&M,
A fool’s argument to fool from a fool.
Sure. I understand the difference. An operating expenditure is my gas and electric bill. A capital expenditure is the addition I put on my house. But if I stop paying my gas and electric bill so i can pay for the addition…
The difference between these expenditures on the personal level versus on the government level is this: if I stop paying my operating expenses to pay for my capital expenses, bad things will start happening to me, like not having heat or light, because BGE has the power (no pun intended) to do something about it. If the county does the same thing, nothing happens because the people who are effected have no power to do anything.
N,
Actually, it is the county structure that separates capital from operating in that they are not co-mingled, which is to say robbing one to pay the other.
Yes, I do understand that. But someone decides how much goes into each. Again, I can divide my household expenses into capital and operating. But if i decide to put all the money into my capital account and none into my operating accout…
Like I said, I can’t get away with doing this. The government can. Actually, this is one of the fundamental debates,of politics, isn’t it? Where to spend the money and on what.
After watching the Board of Education meeting on Monday as well as the previous week, I saw no changes in the proposed budget. Does that mean that NO suggestions were implemented from the public’s ability to make suggestions? If so, I am concerned that it is “my way or the highway” with this current leadership.
I am hopeful that the new County Executive will provide a mid-year allocation of funds to the Board of Education for instructional, food service, custodial and paraprofessional salary increases. I hope the same for the library and police force. This has become such a sad state of affairs under Craig.
Sallie – You are correct, no changes from Canavan’s proposal last week: no salary increases for staff, no layoffs, no increase in class size, reinstatement of pay-to-play fees for sports only ($50 per sport), with waivers for students receiving federal Free & Reduced Meals (FaRMs)
Tired of hearing the teachers cry for money. They are not the only county workers that have not gotten a raise. It’s time to stop making it seem like you are the only ones that matter. Who are you going to call when someone is breaking the law. An underpaid deputy. Who you going to call for potholes….an underpaid highway worker. So stop making it seem that you are the only ones that matter.
Voter,
It would make a difference if those other under paid people, (Shefifs, Highway workers) would stand up for them selves and stop suffering in silence. Dont get mad at the teachers for taking action when no one else does. If you dont stand up for yourself no none else will.
They are being vocal about it, but not really “taking action.”
How many more years will it take for level headed educators to come to terms their little Monday night meetings is a scaled down version of what goes on every year in Annapolis?
The whole public reasoning, best interest, majority opinion, and common sense clearly has not existed for a very, very long time.
A lot of the “suffer in silence” is because the others unions are much smaller than the teachers!! Deputies union now has a president that will make some noise if need be….but most deputies wont speak out due to backlash from inside…its small enough agency that it happens without public knowledge!! You ask any deputy what needs to be fixed…..not the payplan….its “going through” with plan we .
have….you show us these steps when we are hired….no fine print to explain otherwise….then when we are to get that step….county says NO?? FOR 7 YEARS and counting!!!! If this was a private company that
signed a multiyear contract and didnt get paid what they were asked….they would be sued till kingdom come!!! County wants to do that to public servants and educators…hope karma bites them in the ass!! In the end we WILL protect…and I presume teachers will teach….because that’s what we do!! it becomes part of you….your not in it to “chase the buck”! but you do want to be compensated as showed you would be in the beginning and to keep with cost of living!!
Way to show the students that money isn’t everything and it’s all the teachers seem to think about. So next time you are in front of a group of students…..can you say I’M HERE FOR THE MONEY.
I see what you’re saying, but I think it is easy to understand why so many are jaded at this point. What, has it been 6 years out of the last 7 with no increase. It is hard to stomach when you hear Baltimore County just agreed to a 5% COLA and step and Cecil agreed to 1.5% and a step…and here Harford is ranked near the bottom.
Trust me, I get what you are saying. But I understand where they are coming from as well. I just hope that if they start to work to the letter of their contract that they avoid taking anything out on the kids. You and I get it, we may not like it and we may not agree, but we get it. Kids don’t.
??? I guess u didnt see the part about NOT chasing the buck?? ….and im not a teacher….
Money isn’t everything when you are justifying not giving it to someone else. When it comes time for it to come out of YOUR pocket, all of a sudden it takes on much grater importance.
When teachers want their first raise in six years, they are greedy. When the citizens continue to deny them while expecting as much, if not more, for their money, that’s frugality.
Funny how that works.
Many of these other county employees DO NOT have to fight for raises…they let the HCEA do it for them, thanks to the nice little “me too” clause that kicks in if the teachers get anything. So of course they sit back and watch, they reap the benefits if any are gained or get nothing, all with the same amount of effort.
What is the language of your contract that says teachers will get a raise every year? Please cite, accurately.
Who promised teachers a raise? Please give a name, or name’s.
Many of the employees you mention can stay quiet during financial times because they let the HCEA take the brunt of the fight for them. Why? How? Becauce many of them have a nice “me too” clause in their agreements that allow them to get the same increases that teachers get. How nice that the teachers get bashed, when in essence they are arguing for others as well. It must be easy to sit back and allow the HCEA to fight for you, knowing that if in some way they are successful, you will be as well. So don’t for a minute think that people, such as the Sheriff’s Department, are not wanting raises or are so understanding about the economics of the county. They know they don’t have to say one word. Let the HCEA do the dirty work and they will get rewarded, if indeed a reward is found.
By all means…….keep looking like fools and thinking you are more important then any other county employee…..me too wants to get my raise. I will gladly take the raise that you fight for us. I never thought I liked teachers, but keep fighting for us. It’s like you all have me, me, me in mind and not the children. Way to set the standard.
So, are you saying that teachers should never ask for raises? Let’s be realistic….these men and women are professionals. Any professoinal worth their salt asks for a raise when they feel undercompensated. I may not like some of the comments I hear from them, but I respect their right to ask.
but so are all the other county employees. We are under compensated and watch how the teachers act like fools. It’s like you all think everything should revolve around you. So go ahead and make yourself look bad. Enter to Learn….leave to stiff the taxpayers.
The guy/gal above is right…a ton of other county employees/agencies have me too clauses. It is easy to watch from the sidelines and let someone else fight the good fight. Maybe you should fight to have your me too clause negated, then you can really judge those fighting for a raise.
“Teachers are/were promised raises.” <— Whew, okay now, who exactly said that? Name? Position?
Why the “Thumbs down?” If you feel my question is unimportant, irrelevant, makes no sense to ask, then why even mention “Teachers were promised raise”? It’s a puzzle, let’s get all the pieces together and get to the bottom of this, starting next with names.
HCPS said that to every teacher they hired when the pay scale was shown to them.
So, what are these HCPS people’s names? I doubt when you say it’s HCPS. Is the illiteracy problem voluntary or what?
Why do I keep getting the thumbs down? Someone told you something, you know their name, type it up and hit enter.
It would be whoever happened to be the person in Human Resources that conducted your interview and made you your offer. Why is this so hard for you to understand? In my case, it was ten years ago, and I don’t remember the name of the HR staffer who presented me with my compensation package.
If you want to be a jackass and call me illiterate then so be it; it sort of fits the mold of the rest of the teacher attackers here on this site. It just makes you less credible to anyone who believes in reasoned and logical arguments and the idea that facts trump insults.
Don’t answer the question if you do not known the answer, or this basic understanding of comprehension not taught anymore? Why is that so hard to understand?
I don’t care if you feel what is unimportant or not.
No one is held accountable, as obvious of nearly a decade of some “people” telling other “people” they are going to get raises when they never did.
Mental masturbation, the state gives teachers “unions” no actual real power since this state prohibits teachers going on strike without everyone calling out sick which they know will never happen because you couldn’t get two teachers to agree one 1 thing in solidarity.
Basically, you all are fvcked at almost every level of bureaucracy. LOL
Why do so many characterize all teachers by the numbers of people who speak at a meeting? With the thousands of workers in the school system, most don’t demonstrate or speak at meetings, yet all teachers are labeled by people who write on this site in a negative manner.
Say it ain’t so,
Your point is well taken. It isn’t the responsibility of any teacher to come to this forum and post against those whose opinions they may not agree with. Personally, I have always believed this, which is why I have been a bit more harsh with those who do come here and make certain claims, among which were the suggestions to take things out on the students.
In fact, issues are never settled in places like this. Emotions are merely vented. And in some ways that has its own cathartic benefit. It does get a little crazy at times – and I have participated.
Each county has its own issues but one thing is certain: Annapolis has the bulk of the cash. From the very beginning it has been my feeling that internal fighting in Harford County will settle very little. Until there is some balance in the politics from the state, Harford will suffer.
Until Harford County embraces the correct party in gubernatorial and national elections, it will continue to suffer.
Kharn,
Here are some facts:
in 2012 O’Malley proposed and got instituted a $239 million teacher pension shift to the counties. Baltimore County (PG was another) was able to offset their cost with the Maryland Disparity Grant. Harford County got screwed. That ‘s right, the teacher’s union supported candidate stuck it to the Harford County teachers who voted for him.
And, while we are at it, why is a pay scale shown at the time of employment generating anger against the public at large? Shouldn’t the anger be directed against the system that lied to them and the state government that stuck it to them.
Such misdirected anger is stunning to me.
the school unions suck, they have no power and its getting worse.
Strike…..
The punishment for a teachers’ union strike in MD is a prohibition on collection of dues from payroll deductions for one year. The HCEA board would never endanger their revenue stream.
Strike the first day of school next year and give themselves a raise.
Tell the union to stick it along with the candidates they support downstate.
Teachers should tell the state machine that they need to earn their vote.
They woudn’t be involved genius…and furthermore, desperate times cause for desperate measures.
Strike,
Care to elaborate? Are you suggesting that the money from county teachers flowing into the union does not effect state politics. Care to deny that?
I was honest in suggesting that the teachers could give themselves a raise by keeping the union dues. And, the first day of school would not really harm the kids. Works for me.
Now, I hope you have a non sarcastic response.
That comment was directed at Kharn. I understand your point.
strike,
Even better!
Wildcat strikers can be fired immediately, without administrative proceedings or the protection of tenure.
Not sure why anyone is “downthumbing” this comment. It’s absolutely true. It may suck, but it’s still true.
it’s a big group. Good luck finding suckers to come into harco. lol. It’s time to take a chance.
Working at HCPS beats living in mom and dad’s basement. There will always be new graduates and new people moving to Harford for other reasons (spouse’s job, distance to family, etc) that are willing to overlook HCPS not being employer of the year.
Well good thing living in Mom and Dads basement isn’t my only option. And I hate to tell ya, word is out about HARCO. I have talked with many grads who won’t touch this county and why should they? So they can look to transfer after 5 years when they are getting married, having a family and not making more than when they started? You are a fool if you really believe that. Give those new grads a bit more credit. Google teaching in Harford county and see what comes up.
The punishment for striking is also the revoking of the strikers teaching certificate, which greatly reduces THEIR revenue stream.
The promise for improved pay is in the pay scale that teachers contract for when they enter employment. It is in the form of step increases. Is a contract a contract? No. If funding isn’t there, the step increases do not have to be honored. That doesn’t make the situation any more palatable.
That clause was meant to be there in the event the county did not have the funding available to fulfill the contract. It was put there to protect the county from becoming financially strapped by contracted fiscal obligations. But there’s a difference between not having the money to fund things, and refusing to provide money to fund things, and at this point, the county executive is using that clause as a LICENSE not to fund teachers step incrreases. There’s a difference between not funding a step increase because “we don’t have it” and because “we don’t have to”.
And you can’t claim “we don’t have it” while you are busy funding the building of schools in libraries in your home town.
License,
I submit that if Craig were in the other party there would be no objection to a school project that is supported by the state and that is part of a county/state capital funding stream. The narrative, if Craig were a democrat, would be that the upscale potential for the HdG area is great and that the construction was both necessary and due up on the improvement list.
Just so, if O’Malley were a republican, he would be taking the hit for funding a $250 million dollar failed website, when those dollars would have offset the cost of shifting the teacher’s pensions to the counties (which cost $239 million).
It’s all politics folks, just all politics.
Craig is a RINO. He raised taxes $.10 in Havre de Grace when he was the Mayor and then lowered the tax increase by $.01 a year for the next ten years. His claim that he lowered taxes is right. It only took ten years to get back to that level. During that time period assessments went up an average of 15%, so everyone is still paying a hirer percentage then they paid before he raised the taxes.
License,
Only about half of the Board of Education’s budget comes from the County Executive, and the CE isn’t able to dictate where the money goes. The problem is that the county doesn’t have any more money to give (nor do taxpayers want to pay any more), and Annapolis is not interested in helping out a very red county.
The county exec doesn’t have a say in where the Board of Ed puts the money he gives them. But he has a huge say in how much they get. If he has the money to build libraries and such, his claim that the county has no money for raises for county employees for six years (or however many years it’s been) just doesn’t wash. He’s not paying them because he doesn’t have to. Plain and simple.
And BB, I think that at this point, the teachers and other county employees couldn’t give a damn about party affiliation. I don’t think they care who is screwing them, just that they are being screwed.
They can wipe their ass with that contract! it means nothing
Haha – these coments are so amusing…..you want your answers? Here you go – hcps teachers are smart enough and determined enough to go after their own pay increases. Union…no union….steps…no steps….here’s your answer. They are leaving for other counties or professions, or getting a 2nd job….that means one of two things…..replacing them with an inexperienced teacher (hence the reason why you get a tiny step increase because teachers improve with experience and PD) or, two, they have to spend the rest of their hours making enough money to sustain themselves, therefore less time preparing the next day’s lessons, and less time grading your child’s work. Certainly you all know that teachers are not given the time to do that at school?? Of course they went into the profession knowing that work would be brought home every single night including weekends, and they didn’t mind…but, it gets awfully hard when you working a “double”. You reap what you sow…it’s that simple.
I understand, I work 7 days a week for 8 months the other 4 months I work 12 days on 2 off, I work two full time jobs, go to school to better myself because I don’t make enough to live. I work for the school system at an elem school. My rent is over a thousand a month. I bring home about 600 every two weeks, do the math. I still have to pay, water, electric, taxes, and feed myself and 3 kids, plus all the other bills. EVERYONE HAS IT HARD. How can we take care of your kids, when we cant even take care of our own?
Union,
What exactly is your total gross yearly pay for your elementary school job.
Something doesn’t seem to add up for me.
I gross, 25,104. Pay taxes out of that aprox 30 percent. Pay medical for your family about 105 per pay check, dental. pay union dues. Pay 7 percent to the pension. your left with right around 590 bucks for 2 weeks. you tell me how to do it better.
Union,
First of all that is not in any 30% tax bracket, so you should reduce withholding to whatever the law will allow. That is cheap medical and thank God you have a pension.
I assume you are staff of some kind. With that income level you would qualify for all kinds of government aid. For example, a family of three would get you almost $500 per month in food stamps.
Also, I think you are crazy to pay union dues for a job paying so little and the union should be ashamed to accept your money. That only goes to show the type of organization the union really is.
I wish you all the best as you improve your lot in life. Your current employment should only be a stepping stone for better things. Most all of us, including myself, started out making very little.
I would also suggest you change from the Cadillac PPO to an HMO. You can save $50 a paycheck.
If your gross income is 25k, then you are not a teacher. So the union you are talking about is not HCEA.
Here’s a message from the Harford County Teachers to David Craig, the County Council, and the Board of Ed:
After all these SLO’s, PDP’s, Smart Goals, new evaluation systems, etc, we have upped our standards.
Now up yours.
But a high school diploma still isn’t worth the paper its written on in the real world.
Really? So a high school dropout is equally likely to find success as a graduate? Then why does anyone care what the dropout rate is?
These days? Yes.
Neither one is getting a white collar job, and Harford Tech doesn’t have enough space to teach every HCPS student who isn’t going to college a useful trade. On-the-job training is pretty much the only option left, and all you have to do for that is show up.
“.. all you have to do is show up.”
Ugh, show up at the border and declare yourself a ‘dreamer’ that is.
Look, if you are a youngster born into a middle class family, with slightly conservative values, you’re screwed. You might open your mouth one day, say what you think and be banned from a job for life.
On the other hand, if you are a child of a politician you could get paid $600k per year for doing virtually nothing on NBC. Say the right things and hate the right people…. Oh, be born into the right family.
As teachers are finding out in Harford County, you can think you are in the right political group but find out what the underside of a bus is like due to political expediency
Well, that’s a fascinating perspective. I have to admit, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone claim that dropping out of high school is no worse than graduating. Somebody needs to enlighten all the colleges, the military, many trade schools, etc, who require entrants to have a high school diploma.
Hey, BTW…my niece graduated from CMW last year. Got a job as a personal secretary for one of the administrators at a local hospital. Nice gig while she’s going to HCC. I wonder if she’d be doing either if she dropped out of high school. Probably, right?
http://www.wbal.com/article/107945/3/area-superintendent-wont-do-consulting-work-while-head-of-schools
Word is definitely out about HCPS and it doesn’t matter where or who the problem originates from, new grads are using us as a last resort if other jobs don’t pan out. There are so many teachers leaving or trying to leave that new hires are being cautious about jumping into the cesspool of our school system. No pay for 5 years and then dump common core and a new evaluation system that requires hours of paperwork? The influx of new teachers reminds me of a joke I heard while in college…”Being a new teacher is like trying to fly a plane while building it”. Unfortunately it’s the passengers (students) that are in for the bumpy ride.
As for Harford Tech, my friend there is constantly telling me that people still really don’t understand that they aren’t a “vo”-tech anymore and that most of their students are now college bound, even if it’s just starting out at HCC and they can’t get enough students to come there for the traditional trade areas, that’s why they shut down plumbing when the cuts came last year. It had the lowest student number. And the teacher? He was hired by Baltimore County for more money.
I am officially cancelling my union dues and giving myself a raise. The straw that broke the camels back was the fact that HCEA endorses Anthony Brown. Anthony Brown is not for education and will continue in the same path as our current governor who detests education but still gets the thumbs up from NEA MSTE and HCPS. No more of my hard earned money will pay for these fools.
There are many issues on which Governor O’Malley can be criticized. Support for education is not one. The O’Malley administration has invested more money in our pubic schools than any other governor.
Lt. Gov. Brown has shown unequivocal support for public education and teachers.
Below are the HCEA endorsements for the upcoming elections. More will follow in upcoming weeks.
COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Barry Glassman
COUNTY COUNCIL PRESIDENT
James Thornton
HARFORD COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
District A – Jansen Robinson
District B – Robert Frisch
District E – Barney Michel
District F – Michael Hitchings
HARFORD COUNTY COUNCIL
District A – Dion Guthrie
District C – Gina Kazimir
District E – Duvowel Peaker
District F – Joseph Smith
Ryan Burbey-President HCEA
Of course we believe ole Ryan the lyin’ hearted.
By 2016:
Aberdeen reductions completed.
Gas tax fully implemented.
100% teacher pension cost on the back of the county.
All this while Harford County tax dollars are siphoned off by the state to subsidize other counties.
Yes, O’Malley has been good for teachers, just not any in Harford County.
Bunchie Bumpkin,
Got wood? I think you so.
A cretin’s attempt at Joycean flow – or a masters thesis in education.