The AISD school board meeting on May 15 concerned budget planning for the 2007-2008 school year. The budget director reported a decline in student enrollment of 1024 students (ADA) and a decrease in property tax income. Both factors will contribute to budget deficit for next year.
Superintendent Louis Stoerner commented, "We're looking at a 2.5% salary increase based on midpoint salary. We know this is not enough and we are working on increasing it in order to remain competitive with surrounding districts." The next meeting of the school board is June 19, and the issue of salary will be on the agenda. Mark this date. You can join your officers at this critical meeting.
Another topic brought up at this board meeting included a heated discussion by board members about alleged policy violations by Dr. Stoerner when filling upper administration positions. Board member Edgar Dansby brought the issue to the attention of the board and called for either a change in policy language to support the superintendent's actions or for all administrative positions to be posted. School's attorney agreed that the policies in question were unclear and suggested they be rewritten. The board decided to convene a sub-committee to work on the language for clarification.
On behalf of the membership, I spoke about safety -- I was prompted by the AISD Board Priorities for 2007-2008 issued by Dr. Stoerner last week during the Ad Team meeting. In it, Dr. Stoerner listed the priorities: night HS, after school programs & transportation, improvement of teacher attendance & substitute availability, district-wide AIMS program, and follow up on the safety audit.
The safety audit itself was not reported, but I spoke on the general topic of the need for safety above all else on our campuses. The text of my speech is below:
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PRESENTATION MADE AT SCHOOL
BOARD
I am pleased to applaud the AISD BOARD PRIORITIES FOR 2007-2008, recently described by Dr. Stoerner. It is great to see our district focus on ways to meet the needs of our students with night school and after school programs. In particular, my members are looking forward to the district’s concentration on safety and security. In April, I spoke to you about lowered teacher and employee morale as a serious issue that the district must address -- it is a growing problem that undermines the positive outcomes we all want for our students. And safety and security is a part of that. Below are some results of our survey which asked members the question “What are the top issues that affect your job satisfaction?” The top ten issues selected by over 200 members are:
You will note that three of the ten refer specifically to student behavior and safety. Teachers and paras in the classroom and hallways seem most concerned that student behavior and discipline is not being consistently handled throughout the district. They speak of certain campuses where subs refuse to go because “students are out of control.” They speak of principals who don’t follow district procedures and allow misbehaving students to go unchecked. They speak of students threatening them with violence but receiving slight or no consequences. In this world today, it is not acceptable for students to threaten anyone without serious consequence.
Of course, not all campuses are out
of control. But, we ask that the safety and security initiative you
have just endorsed also include teachers, paras, and others who work
with students. We certainly want this
initiative to succeed. |