Parent and teacher group also asks Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson to return last year’s 10 percent pay increase in a show of solidarity with district children and teachers whose schools are being closed or jobs lost through SPS budget measures
———————
SEATTLE – On Weds. March 11, the Seattle School Board will meet in an executive session to conduct an evaluation of School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson (http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/calendar.dxml?month=3&day=11&year=2009&caldb=).
ESP Vision (Educators, Students and Parents for a Better Vision of the Seattle Schools) urges the school board to refrain from offering the superintendent another pay raise during this time of local and national fiscal crisis.
ESP Vision believes it would be fiscally irresponsible and ethically inappropriate for the school board to award the superintendent a second pay increase in less than 12 months, and after less than two years on the job, with few tangible results to show for her work.
Moreover, at a time when the superintendent and school board are forcing as many as 3,500 of Seattle’s public school children to bear the brunt of budget cuts through drastic school closures, co-housing, elimination and breaking up of programs, teacher layoffs and larger class sizes, it would be inappropriate for the school board to increase the superintendent’s already generous salary.
In fact, ESP Vision invites the superintendent to return her 10 percent raise from last year in an act of solidarity with the city’s 3,500 impacted public school children, and the teachers and staff who will lose their jobs through the district’s recent capacity management plan.
Goodloe-Johnson was hired by Seattle Public School District (SPS) in 2007 from the Charleston , S.C. , School District , and offered a salary of $240,000. In July 2008, the school board voted unanimously–and without public input–to award the superintendent a 10 percent pay raise, bringing her salary up to $264,000. She also receives a $20,000/year retirement fund and $700/month car allowance. (“School chief gets big 10% raise – Her $264,000 salary is more than even the governor’s” Seattle P.I. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/370241_schools10.html; http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008043020_webpayraise09m.html)
As the Seattle P.I. pointed out last year, Seattle ’s school superintendent is already paid significantly more ($264,000) than the mayor of Seattle ($150,000) and the governor of Washington ($164,000).
ESP Vision believes that last year’s closed-door vote to give the superintendent a pay raise during a recession was already questionable; another would be outrageous now.
ESP Vision also believes that the jury is still out as to whether the superintendent’s “Plan for Excellence” for the city’s schools has accomplished what it has promised. So far it has resulted in the upheaval of as many as 3,500 children, the closure of five schools, the elimination, division or relocation of successful or beloved alternative schools and programs including the district’s gifted Accelerated Progress Program and T.T. Minor Elementary’s popular Montessori program, questionable cost savings, four legal appeals against the district, and nearly 200 formal civil rights complaints filed by the NAACP with the Department of Education against the district for discrimination against minority and special needs children.
ABOUT ESP Vision
Educators, Students and Parents for a Better Vision of the Seattle Schools (ESP Vision) advocates for justice and equity in public school resources, smaller class sizes, individualized instruction, curricula that reflects all children and learning styles and an ongoing communitywide commitment to demand full mandated funding and close the resource gap in our district.
ESP Vision’s goal is to save Seattle schools from decades of mismanagement and failed vision. We value children and educators first and oppose balancing school budgets through building closures, educator lay-offs and cuts to essential programs, services or facilities.
ESP Vision formed at the end of 2008, a coalition of concerned parents, teachers and students and supportive community member who felt an urgency to unite all schools facing closure or disruption due to the Seattle School District ‘s ill-conceived capacity management plan. In January of 2009, ESP Vision launched an online petition against the proposed school closures and program discontinuations, which garnered more than 1,700 signatures district-wide, and organized a march and rally of hundreds of concerned community members.
For more information: http://www.espvision.org or contact: espvision@googlegroups.com
On the Eve of School Superintendent Evaluation, ESP Vision opposes Pay Raise for Superintendent During Fiscal Crisis
Parent and teacher group also asks Superintendent Goodloe-Johnson to return last year’s 10 percent pay increase in a show of solidarity with district children and teachers whose schools are being closed or jobs lost through SPS budget measures
———————
SEATTLE – On Weds. March 11, the Seattle School Board will meet in an executive session to conduct an evaluation of School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson (http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/calendar.dxml?month=3&day=11&year=2009&caldb=).
ESP Vision (Educators, Students and Parents for a Better Vision of the Seattle Schools) urges the school board to refrain from offering the superintendent another pay raise during this time of local and national fiscal crisis.
ESP Vision believes it would be fiscally irresponsible and ethically inappropriate for the school board to award the superintendent a second pay increase in less than 12 months, and after less than two years on the job, with few tangible results to show for her work.
Moreover, at a time when the superintendent and school board are forcing as many as 3,500 of Seattle’s public school children to bear the brunt of budget cuts through drastic school closures, co-housing, elimination and breaking up of programs, teacher layoffs and larger class sizes, it would be inappropriate for the school board to increase the superintendent’s already generous salary.
In fact, ESP Vision invites the superintendent to return her 10 percent raise from last year in an act of solidarity with the city’s 3,500 impacted public school children, and the teachers and staff who will lose their jobs through the district’s recent capacity management plan.
Goodloe-Johnson was hired by Seattle Public School District (SPS) in 2007 from the Charleston , S.C. , School District , and offered a salary of $240,000. In July 2008, the school board voted unanimously–and without public input–to award the superintendent a 10 percent pay raise, bringing her salary up to $264,000. She also receives a $20,000/year retirement fund and $700/month car allowance. (“School chief gets big 10% raise – Her $264,000 salary is more than even the governor’s” Seattle P.I. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/370241_schools10.html; http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008043020_webpayraise09m.html)
As the Seattle P.I. pointed out last year, Seattle ’s school superintendent is already paid significantly more ($264,000) than the mayor of Seattle ($150,000) and the governor of Washington ($164,000).
ESP Vision believes that last year’s closed-door vote to give the superintendent a pay raise during a recession was already questionable; another would be outrageous now.
ESP Vision also believes that the jury is still out as to whether the superintendent’s “Plan for Excellence” for the city’s schools has accomplished what it has promised. So far it has resulted in the upheaval of as many as 3,500 children, the closure of five schools, the elimination, division or relocation of successful or beloved alternative schools and programs including the district’s gifted Accelerated Progress Program and T.T. Minor Elementary’s popular Montessori program, questionable cost savings, four legal appeals against the district, and nearly 200 formal civil rights complaints filed by the NAACP with the Department of Education against the district for discrimination against minority and special needs children.
ABOUT ESP Vision
Educators, Students and Parents for a Better Vision of the Seattle Schools (ESP Vision) advocates for justice and equity in public school resources, smaller class sizes, individualized instruction, curricula that reflects all children and learning styles and an ongoing communitywide commitment to demand full mandated funding and close the resource gap in our district.
ESP Vision’s goal is to save Seattle schools from decades of mismanagement and failed vision. We value children and educators first and oppose balancing school budgets through building closures, educator lay-offs and cuts to essential programs, services or facilities.
ESP Vision formed at the end of 2008, a coalition of concerned parents, teachers and students and supportive community member who felt an urgency to unite all schools facing closure or disruption due to the Seattle School District ‘s ill-conceived capacity management plan. In January of 2009, ESP Vision launched an online petition against the proposed school closures and program discontinuations, which garnered more than 1,700 signatures district-wide, and organized a march and rally of hundreds of concerned community members.
For more information: http://www.espvision.org or contact: espvision@googlegroups.com
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