Saturday, February 24, 2007

Board to Approve New Administrative Position

It is anticipated that the Board of Directors, despite the hiring freeze, will create a new administrative position on Monday based on the recently posted Board Agenda (read it here). Thanks to the reader who posted the comment in regard to this position and the posting of the agenda and inclusion of it.

The position, Coordinator of Transportation and Auxiliary Services, will pay a salary of $86,439.00.

Margaret Grube, one of three current High School Vice Principals, is up for approval to serve in the newly created position.

Sixteen individuals are currently listed on the NASD web site Administrators page, and these do not include any building level administrators, only central office.

Ms. Judith A. Zavalydriga, is the current Director of Human Resources & Transportation. There is nothing in the Board agenda to indicate that either her responsibilities or salary will be reduced as a result of the new position.

It is also not noted if the 3rd vice principal position at the HS will be eliminated or if a new person will be hired to fill it.

There have been complaints that NASD is getting top heavy with administration. With 16 central office administrators, plus four at the HS, three at the MS, and three on the elementary level, we have twenty six administrators.

In 2000, when I was employed at the school, we had two at the HS, two at the MS, three on the elementary level. That is three less already. Additionally, we did not have:
  • a second Asst. Superintendent.
  • Director of Human Resources & Transportation
  • Director of Curriculum
  • Director of Special Education
  • Director of Educational Technology
  • Assistant Director of Information Technology
That is nine administrator positions created since 2000, with one more coming on Monday. Ten new administrators in seven years is too much.

If the Board is serious about its cost containment and making the budget work, maybe they ought to eliminate the vice principal position and not create the new position, to save the salary and benefits. If they don't 'need' to save the money, maybe they could bring back the lap top stations that were intended for the three elementary schools and cut in the budget process.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah the fickled finger of fate probes ever deeper into the taxpayers of the Nazareth School Districts.

Anonymous said...

oh my god.. 86 grand a year for transportation coordinator!! im doing something wrong here :( .. isnt this a little ridiculous ? did i read our janitors are knocking down 57 thousand a year? dont get me wrong its a hard job, but wow!! whos next??

RossRN said...

Not sure how the hiring freeze works, but today I saw in the Morning Call that the NASD is seeking a Supervisor of Special and Alternative Education.

And there is a full-time custodian and skilled maintenance position available as well;-)

For a list of all current positions at the NASD visit this link.

Anonymous said...

Top heavy doesn't begin to describe the NASD. This is ridiculous. JC couldn't cut the mustard as a NAMS admin. so they moved her to central office. Mercifully, she has moved on. Ditto for JS, but she has yet to relieve us of her presence.

Now Large Marge, cmon. Maybe the auxillary functions include cell phone confiscation and text messaging interpretations.

Anonymous said...

Well, I would expect the Board to do the RIGHT thing and that would be......if they are removing responsibilities from one "Director" and creating a whole new "Director" position, then the former Director's salary should be decreased by the amount of the newly created position (aka minus 86K! for Zalividriga). It's my understanding that transportation was just brought in house this school year and given to JZ for handling. I also know there was a nightmare created with scheduling bus routes(over 500 phone calls to JZ at the start of the school year regarding issues with bus stops, etc). Could it be that the person scheduling the routes had no idea of the roads they were sending busses on? Or the bus stops that were changed to main roads when alternative stops were used in the past that were safer for our childen and should've been left alone? If anything, the re-routing caused more costs and definitely more hazards! You can't rely solely on a software package without having some knowledge of the data itself.

This says to me that we have incompetence here and the Board should be addressing it, not rewarding it by removing responsibility but keeping salary the same.

This is just one example of where we all know there could and should be cost cuts....and there are a few more already mentioned. The Board really needs to start addressing and evaluating these admin positions and reflect it in the budget. I would bet if the proper adjustments were made we would not have to see a tax increase at all!

Anonymous said...

I hope Lesky doesn't think he is fooling anayone. There are so many backroom deals and promises being made that it isn't healthy for the district. Case in point ...

JC runs to central office to complain about her MS duties. Lesky promises her a central admin job.

MR runs to central office every time he has a problem with JC. He is soothed by promises for downt he road. He is moved to central office - not that he si ready or qualified, but a promise made is a promise kept.

JS almost bolts for greener pastures of BASD, but is talked into staying by Lesky. No one is quite sure why, but part of the promise involves a move to central admin. Once again, not a position she has obvious qualifications for, but one again keeping a promise.

MG is passed over for the principalship at the HS. She is ticked off so to pacify her another promise is made. That promise is about to be fulfilled next week.

Can you see the pattern here? Can you connect the dots? Well if you couldn't before I hope you can now.

Oh BTW, they did hire a MS proncipal from outside the district. Best qualified candidate? Definitely not, but it did remove a good buddy wrestling official from a bad situation at Northern Lehigh.

So even if these positions are needed (which they are not in a district this size) are the only qualified candidates from within the district. Certainly not.

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to ask these questions at the next board meeting...

What is the ratio of administrators to faculty members?

What is the ratio of administrators to students?

What is the ratio of faculty to students?

Anonymous said...

Some how, the hiring freeze may not apply to administrators- only to replacing retiring teachers, or to adding new ones if student numbers grow.

With teachers retiring the end of this year, and a hiring freeze in place, what does the average class size for next year look like. My daughter already has 30 something kids in her special- does that mean next year 40 kids a special? All while, admin is growing.

And how are they accomodating these new administrators in the admin office- with lack of space as an issue, how much money is going into revamping the space they have to fit all of these people?

Anonymous said...

I heard that the Director of Special Ed was retiring- so it looks like they are replacing him with a supervisor, who will be under the Pupil Services Director. Apparently these people are not part of the Office deals, because it seems to me that supports are taken out of a rapidly growing area, and placed in transportation? Has anybody seen job descriptions for these people, and how do they prove then need more admin help?

Anonymous said...

WOW! Again the district rewards those who get them into trouble...How much money did it cost the district to settle the lawsuit regarding the cell phone.

Well the positive side is that she is away from kids....the downside administration keeps playing games.