{"id":140,"date":"2008-09-29T22:49:54","date_gmt":"2008-09-30T05:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=140"},"modified":"2008-09-29T22:49:54","modified_gmt":"2008-09-30T05:49:54","slug":"in-case-you-were-wondering%e2%80%a6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=140","title":{"rendered":"In case you were wondering\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Daily News database<\/a> of all LAUSD salaries is accurate.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wondering how I feel that anyone can search and find out to the cent how much money I make, I can\u2019t say I\u2019m angry or upset. Frankly, teacher salaries have never been much of a secret. The real value here is peeking into what\u2019s happening with all those many, many employees out of the classroom in the behemoth of a tower on Beaudry.<\/p>\n

The articles connected to the database are worth a look (hey, guess someone\u2019s stock might be rising in light of the constant LAT job massacre). In particular, I\u2019d like to draw your attention to the article titled: “LAUSD administration swells 20 percent from 2001 to 2007.”<\/a> It should be noted that this good ol\u2019 swelling took place just about a year after Ray Cortines handed over the keys as interim Sup. to Roy Romer. Cortines came in, cleaned up shop, urged Romer to reduce the Central District, and pretty much watched Romer do the exact opposite. I know I\u2019ve linked to the interview Travis and I did<\/a> about a million times at this point, but look at these choice quotes from Cortines when we talked to him last year:<\/p>\n

I came to the district in a very difficult time; the board was firing Dr. Zacharias and not handling it well. The Board asked me to stay on and I said I would stay on until June. We agreed that I would reorganize the district, cut the central office, move to decentralization, balance the budget, and create stability. We did that. And we did that in about nine months in the year 2000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And<\/p>\n

I envisioned a collegial kind of relationship in the decentralization of the district. Not that you don\u2019t need a central office \u2013 you do. But you certainly don\u2019t need Beaudry. Roy [Romer], instead of getting rid of anybody every time they weren\u2019t doing their job, he just moved them down or up a floor. I don\u2019t do that.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And he certainly doesn\u2019t \u201cdo that.\u201d If the article is to be believed, Cortines will be making significant cuts in the coming months. Praise be. Talk to just about any teacher and they\u2019ll scoff at the kinds of \u201cinsight\u201d and \u201caid\u201d and \u201cassistance\u201d that most out of the classroom employees are able to offer. Beaudry is a sinkhole of financial waste in the eyes of most of us here on the front line. Fortunately, I still feel like I have a peer in Cortines: “This is not a good central office,” concedes Senior Deputy Superintendent Ramon Cortines. “It’s not inviting to parents and the community. Parking is atrocious; getting here is atrocious.” That\u2019s from another choice Daily News Article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Economics 101!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re on the topic of this database, where are my Econ teachers at? I\u2019ve been thrilled thinking about the kinds of amazing lessons and service learning activities that this database offers. I\u2019d think students would be able to offer great analysis comparing their teachers\u2019 salaries compared to the services rendered to said students. I suspect their would be a disparity between the teachers they respect and the salaries they earn. After all, the teachers I see putting the most time into their students\u2019 well-being don\u2019t have the time that other teachers do to get additional salary points, teach intersession, or eek out that oh-so-valuable z-time that others are so skilled in getting. Hmmm \u2026 smaller paycheck might equal more committed teacher? Blasphemous talk if I\u2019ve ever heard it. Someone call Steven D. Levitt<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3>