Information is currency for democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson
A day without sunshine is like, you know,
night. -
Steve Martin
Education is unique among consumer products;
when it fails to work as advertised, it's the customer that gets labeled as
defective. - Kevin
Killion
Please
download for best results in using
this website.
Courage is the most important of all
the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other
virtues consistently. You can't be consistently kind or fair or
humane or generous, not without courage, because if you don't have
it, sooner or later you will stop and say, "The threat is too much.
The difficulty is ...too high. The challenge is too great. ~ Maya
Angelou
50% INCREASE IN SALARIES FOR
EANES ISD ADMINISTRATORS SINCE
NOLA WELLMAN ARRIVED
Why? Don't bother asking
Jim Strickland, EISD board president.
May 2009 - While elementary-school teacher ratios decline
through attrition cuts, Nola Wellman just spent
$500,000 on a "vision" of "initiatives that support
rigorous, engaging instruction and professional
development of the highest quality for staff" to
make Eanes a "world class school district." This is
edu-speak for central office administrators
$500,000 would fund
12-and-a-half teacher salaries.
May 2008 -
Our class sizes are expanding.
Our facilities need
attention.
Meanwhile, Eanes ISD athletics remains
fully funded with the best of everything
including new
turf in the high school football
stadium and two high school athletic
practice fields.
The district's priority remains clear.
Eanes ISD is presently
spending millions of dollars on new (not
core) high school classes and expensive
related equipment ... film lab, film
teacher, video truck, garage for video
trucks and more. Many of us wonder
... will the Chap Club and athletic
program benefit from this new film
course? Think
... games, broadcasting, selling videos,
Chap Club fundraising. We know
that the
Jumbotron is a now a
money-maker for the Chap Club.
Remember, according to district
leadership, the Jumbotron was supposed
to "pay for itself" and then fund
teachers.
What's next?
Administrators are traveling to exciting
places, staying in gorgeous hotels, and
playing golf.
The district is creating
more
new Central Administration positions
while claiming that it needs more
donations just to keep teachers in the
classroom.
In April 2008, KeepEanesInformed asked:
While teachers are cut and
class sizes increase,
why are we hiring so many new central administrative
positions?
How many administrative positions have been added by
Nola Wellman since 2004?
Many community members are discussing the apparent
rise of central administration positions and pay in
Eanes ISD. Are the total expenditures (and
positions) for central administration on the rise in
Eanes ISD?
This
issue will be discussed in closed session during the
upcoming May 12, 2008 board meeting. I
recommend that the Eanes ISD board ask the Eanes ISD
central administration to create a spreadsheet
showing the central administration positions and
expenditures by year for the last five years and
share that report with the public.
May 10, 2008
The Eanes board posts the following closed session
agenda item for May 12, 2008 meeting:
Tex. Gov. Code 551.074 Personnel
Matters Deliberate and Discuss Central Office Administrative
Positions
April 2008
How
many administrative positions have been added by
Nola Wellman since
2004?
Currently, the superintendent is advertising to hire the
following positions in the Eanes ISD Central
Administration Building:
1) Assistant Superintendent for Business Services in the
Business Services Department
2) Director of Mathematics & Science in the Curriculum &
Instruction Department, another newly-created administrative
position,
3) District Facility Coordinator in the Business
Services Department, another newly-created administrative
position.
Check back for updates on this question ...
Remember Eanes ISD Rick Bentley and Jerry Molinoski?
A few years ago these
men were employed by
Eanes ISD as Assistant
Superintendents of
Curriculum and Human
Resources, respectively.
Now employed by Yselta
ISD, Rick ($134,144) and
Jerry ($136,644) are two
of the highest paid
school administrators in
El Paso County.
"Salaries for administrators have jumped sky-high in
the last five years," said Frances Wever, the
president of the El Paso Federation of Teachers and
Support Personnel -- a frequent critic of administrative
spending by the EPISD. "The district has
added administrative positions instead of decreasing
them,"
she added. "The administration needs to take a
good look at all positions in the central office to see
which ones could be consolidated."