As I talk with many people, I find that they are unaware of what was passed by the Pecatonica Area School Board at the April meeting. Another hiring of a person for administration work. This position will cost taxpayers about $90,000 with the benefits. We now are paying well over half a million dollars for administration work for a student body of about 330.
This new position is for improving communication between administration, employees, teachers, students, parents, interested citizens, taxpayers, basically anyone in or out of the school district that has any interest or questions or any concerns.
I’ve always said that good communication is what makes life run smoother. This means everything as businesses, marriage, family affairs, community meetings, everyday dealings and all school related items. Do we need better school communication? Definitely yes. This comes from parents, teachers, school employees and also many everyday citizens. Do we need to spend $90,000 for a Community Communications and Community Relations Director? The answer given by most people who I talked with is a definite NO. Why is this? The general consensus is that we have already hired people to do this task. They are our superintendent, our principals, and our athletic director. Is this a part of their contract? It seems to have been for years gone past. What was the school boards reasoning to hire another administrator? It was stated that there was more important things for administrators to use their time for. Once again what are administrators hired for. They are expected to fulfill all their duties not just those that they want to or feel thats what they have time for. If they have to work late hours or on a weekend, that’s what was agreed on when they signed the contract. If a principal and athletic director cannot accomplish all that is required to be done then why is he given both assignments? This has been a major concern for many persons and taxpayers for a long time.
A few school board meetings ago superintendent Dani Scott brought up the concern that our secretaries generally have to work ’til 5 p.m. and even many times until 6 p.m. to get all their work completed. When I was talking with a secretary I brought up the fact about the many hours they put in and that there is not extra pay for all the long hours on some days. The answer was there was no concern about longer days at all. Her comment was that secretaries are paid a set yearly wage and not an hourly wage so the total hours "are our job". Why are these lesser paid individuals, who do a great job understanding of their responsibilities and many higher paid administrators and the school board worried that it’s too much of a work load to fulfill all the hours needed to fill their duties? This is very concerning to me and to others also.
In the vote to hire a communications director, there was a split vote of 5 yeas and 2 no. The two members of the board who voted no expressed a strong concern that better communications was definitely needed but not at that cost. Three of the yes voters were at their last school board meeting, as their term had run out and they had decided to not continue to be board members.
My objections to this new position has nothing to do with the new director. Just the opposite. Being a Pecatonica Alumni she shows a lot of enthusiasm to fulfill her job requirements. She definitely understands the problem of students open enrolling out and the lack of students from other school not open enrolling into Pec schools. Of the seven school districts in Lafayette County, Pecatonica has the lowest percentage of students open enrolling in. If you have any ideas, thoughts or comments please contact her. Cassie definitely wants to hear from you on any subject you need to talk about.
Please help her do her job for the improvement of our school district and a better advantage of every student.
I am 100 percent confident that the person who told me this was accurate in this statement, well involved in school business and very concerned about students. Why are Pecatonica taxpayers the tenth highest mill rate payers of all the districts in the state of Wisconsin? Are we overtaxed? Is money wasted and not spent wisely? Why is this situation happening?
What about the couple who live on less than $40,000 yearly income? What of the lady who can only afford to take half of her prescription medicine so she has money to buy food? Think of the widow who knows she will always have to work a full time job for the rest of her life so she can stay in her own house. What of the couple who hardly even leaves town, except for doctor appointments? Their older car is not very reliable and the tires need replacing. I stopped writing here in June, wondering if it was necessary, wondering if I needed to expose what was going on. Now in August, after hearing still more people upset and perplexed as to what and why this has happened. I think everyone who pays taxes or has children in school should be aware of what the situation is.
Now, that we have hired a communication director, would you please contact her with your ideas, questions, concerns and insight? She definitely wants to hear from everyone who cares for the benefit of all students and all taxpayers. If we work as a team we can make a better school district for all involved.
Always student first Roy Ruegsegger Blanchardville