CONTRACT DETAILS SPELL DISASTER FOR TAXPAYERS, DOLLARS FOR TEACHERS, DOOM FOR SCHOOL COMMITTEE
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
Last of a 3-Part Series
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 9, 2015) — In the first two parts of this series, we examined how The Suits tried to hide the salary increases for teachers and other school department personnel (16.2 to 18.2%, revised upward based on more complete data). THE PLANET exposed the scam while the other local media outlets got free mani-peddies for being so cooperative and compliant in covering The Skunks.
Today, we reveal the contract’s pertinent details beyond the egregious pay hikes.
How does this contract screw taxpayers? Let us count the ways:
- Everyone Including the Kitchen Sink — You’d think the contract only covers teachers, right? Wrong! The pact covers (DEEP BREATH) full- and part-time classroom teachers, guidance counselors, department heads, team leaders, unit leaders, head teachers, supervisors of attendance, coaches, librarians, media specialists, teachers of sutdents with special needs, speech therapists, caseworkers, clinical social workers, in-hour suspension teachers, peer mediation counselors, certified ESL teachers, supervisors of vocational education, instructional technology specialists, evening school teachers, ABE teachers, TPP instructors, mentor teachers, school nurses, school nurse leader, occupational therapists, physical therapists, academic coaches, and extra-curricular personnel. No fat to trim there!
- ‘Work’ Year — The work year is 183 days, but dig this. Ten of these days are designated “half days.” Teacher with 10 years and under of employment receive two weeks (10 days) paid vacation. Those with 11 or more years in the system receive 17 days paid leave. Teachers will each receive 15 days of paid sick leave per school year. These sick days may be banked. Each teacher also receives two paid personal days, two paid “professional days,” and three paid “religious observance” days. UEP officers receive up to 20 paid days off to attend conventions and throw water balloons out of hotel windows. For the typical job in the Dreaded Private Sector, the work year is 261 days. Paid vacation rarely exceeds two weeks, if it is given at all. Sick leave? Maybe a day or two, and rarely is the banking of sick days allowed. Personal days? Professional days? Religious days? Convention days? “You’re lucky to have a job, mate.”
- ‘Work’ Hours — Either 8:30 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. (elementary), 7:25 a.m. to 2:35 p.m. (middle), or 7:20 a.m. to 2:29 p.m. (high). Six hours, 55 minutes; 7 hours, 5 minutes; and 7 hours, 9 minutes, respectively. Typical work day in the Dreaded Private Sector: 8 hours or more.
- Size Is Everything — The contract limits class size to 18 (K-3) and 22 (4-5-6, high school). THE PLANET remembers double sessions at PHS, and our 8th grade graduating class at Mt. Carmel was 35 kids. Today, class size is about less work for teachers and keeping the little monsters in the classroom under some semblance of control.
- The Doddering Old Fools — The contract specifies that “in the event of a cutback in personnel within the school system, teachers shall be laid off on a seniority basis.” Wouldn’t a performance basis be more in order, if we are to pretend that children deserve the best education possible?
- Health Insurance — Teachers receive the generous 85% supplement for their health insurance costs, courtesy of taxpayers.
- Retirement Bonus, Severance Pay — Yup. Teachers get a $5,000 lump-sum bonus upon retirement as well as a formulaic severance pay payment. These are the little sweeteners The Suits hide in the middle pages, where taxpayers are not likely to see them.
- Differentials? It Means You’re Out More $$$, Taxpayers! — The contract includes what it calls “differentials.” A “differential” is the amount of extra pay a teacher gets for serving as a department head, unit leader, head teacher, and the like. These amounts range from $68 to more than $7,000.
Had enough? THE PLANET won’t torture you further. Suffice it to say that the deadbeats on the school committee are the culprits. THE PLANET doesn’t blame the United Educators of Pittsfield for exploiting the incompetent clowns on the school committee. With low election turnouts, the UEP knows it has these spineless hacks over the proverbial barrel. There’s a solution to that, by the way, and you will see it in the next city election, in the Year of Your Lord 2017. Doom is on the way for the school committee.
We can say no more.
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“Don’t lend then your ears if they call you a fool. We wary of those who follow but especially those who rule.” — Huntington Proteus Hollingsworth
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
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If all of this stuff is purposely hidden from the public, there must be something that can be done before 2017. That’s a long time and between now and then they can give even more goodies to the schools at taxpayer expense. Such high pay and benefits given under such secretive circumstances should not be allowed to stand in my opinion. It’s just not right.
All teachers contracts are posted on the internet. Obviously, some may not be up to the minute, and as the site states, you may need to contact an individual district in that case.
These contracts are public records, and available to be read by anyone. Any member of the public can make comments to the school board, and express their (dis)pleasure as desired.
http://educatorcontracts.doemass.org/
Re: Half days…there are many teachers (like me) who would rather have a full days of school, and eliminate them completely. Professional development on our own over the summer is usually more valuable.
Personally, I do not disagree with the assessment about sick days/personal days. To me it would be fair to deduct the cost of the substitute from a teacher’s daily salary. That way potential abuse might be minimized.
It will take a strong negotiator, and public support for these changes.
It is the last contract on the site. There are other contracts not listed there. Your salary schedule for the new contract is only hard copy as of a.m. today. Are you in school using a taxpayer school computer? You have some good points.
Correct. In no way has the City of Pittsfield, the School Committee, or any department of the school department — notably the superintendent’s office, HR, and the business office — been transparent with this information.
Terry,
I did not mean to imply that the salary schedules were online, (I realize per Dan’s article and your previous comments that they were not). As I stated earlier, we only received a schedule that pertained to our own situation.
I was only saying that the previous contract itself listed the various contractual items/terms that anyone can view, i.e. sick days, personal days, etc. I do not think that much has really changed in that regard with the new contract. Someone had posted something about vacation days, they may be referring to maternity leave, but I think there are limits to paid days on that, or use of sick days. I am not aware of additional “vacation” days referenced by another comment.
Perhaps some of these benefits should have been addressed by the city during negotiations, but that is not for me to say.
To answer your other question, I have a school issued laptop for my school work, grading, attendance, etc. I also have my own personal laptop computer, and my own personal tablet that I can use. If I go online at school, I can access the BYOD wifi, or use a private hot spot from a smart phone. I also have a smart phone that I can check personal stuff during a prep time or during lunch. Many times the BYOD wifi does not work very well. One theory is that students use it instead of their cell phones data plan to save money, which slows it down.
I hope that clears up any confusion.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t the school committee supposed to represent the taxpayers of Pittsfield not the school department? Many school department employees don’t even live in Pittsfield.
You make an awesome point. But I don’t think any one of them is aware of it OR perhaps they are in someones pocket?
Most of these members were hand picked for their position, had their hand held right up to the election and once “elected” are told how to talk, how to vote and when to take a shit. And they do not dare do otherwise.
Mr. Valenti–The only reason these sob’s do this is because of the apathetic tax payer. If you watched Tyer’s attitude and how she carried herself ..it was evident that she had the mayoral race in the bag. She targeted every sig in the city and talked very fluffy about how important they were to the city. If you thought that Bianchi was a bad KA mayor watch what you will get with her as the city’s boss. Firstly, she has no managerial experience what so ever, and she knows it. She has surrounded herself with present and past political hacks, who have brought this city to the brink of disaster. She shows up on pctv shows of her supporters and says absolutely nothing. Three recent shows of note, were the Donna Todd Rivers Show, the Bill Sturgeon Show and Lew Markham SHOW. Believe me ..for those who watched them, as I did, I had to have a barf bag beside me. What came across was the arrogance of this light weight and all three of the hosts sucked up to her. Anyone on this site who feels she will help the taxpayer has a rude awakening coming. Remember, her allegiance is to the SIG’S who elected her and she is going to reward them immensely with our hard earned tax dollars. The little guy..21000 of them, who didn’t vote must be educated and show up in all future elections. This site has the right kind of people who post day in and day out but they don’t act. We must act as a very large group, or this bs will go on for ever. I believe you Mr. Valenti feel the same way, as I hear you talk about the apathy of the Pittsfield voters on your tv show. What do you think it will take.. to wake up these apathetic beings?
The real power in Pittsfield lies with the school committee. They are the ones who control 75% or more of the money. We have a mayor for the next four years but the school committee for just two. I suggest that those who care help find new candidates to replace ALlL the current hacks.
What mayor, city council or school committee in their right mind would allow this to get this far? And why? What possible justification could their be for such largess? Was there absolutely no one with any budgetary oversight watching over this process?
Perhaps there should be a totally independent audit of the whole Pittsfield school system from to bottom. And then compare it to other like sized schools around the country.
Oh. You say no one is interested in doing such a thing? Imagine that Linda.
And…they are going to do their all day Marathon Session for the 2017 Budget with a budget preview.
When the schools are underperforming, the Administration and Teachers should be held accountable in pay and benefits. There needs to be an independent audit as pointed out by Dusty.
So it’s confirmed, very high full time pay for part time, seasonal work. And benefits one could only dream of. And yet all you do is hear teachers complain.
I do not doubt that it is a challenging job (done right) with so many of today s youth lacking a disciplined upbringing. And they themselves apparently cannot exert any discipline. so I sympathize with them for that.
But the fact of the matter is that this city with its poor and elderly population, not to mention lack of decent paying jobs, cannot afford this pay scale. It may not be their fault for taking what is handed to them but it sure as hell is the fault of the politicians who spread out the red carpet for them. And they need to be held accountable through whatever means it takes.
They should be named and made to explain in detail why they voted for such high salary and benefits. No more hiding in the shadows for them.
Talk to the fully re-elected Pitt$field $chool Committee.
My Pop has a term for such hacks, one that H.L. Mencken would have loved: “God-damned phony bastards.”
If it walks like a phony bastard and talks like a phony bastard it probably is a phony bastard.
The greed of the few outweigh the need of the many.
All of this so that “the children” can be indoctrinated to get a part-time job at Walmart, Dunkin Donuts or Home Depot; collect food stamps and Obamacare.
“Out of college
money spent
see no future
pay no rent
All the monies gone nowhere to go
Boy you’re gonna carry that weight,
carry that weight a long time
Boy you’re gonna carry that weight,
carry that weight a long time”
I am astounded by the recent contract between the city of Pittsfield and the teachers union and not in a positive manner. Did the administration and city council weigh in or even care? I am certainly not impressed by the negotiating style of the school committee. Nor am I impressed by the details of the contract or the manner in which they are being shared with the community. I am fearful of the financial implications that this contract will potentially bear on the rest of the community services and it’s citizens. Have you thought about the impact on your taxes?
If it was ok’d the day afte rthe election perhaps it was payback from a disgruntled losing candidate?
Heres the most disturbing part of DV’s column:
‘Work’ Year — The work year is 183 days, but dig this. Ten of these days are designated “half days.” Teacher with 10 years and under of employment receive two weeks (10 days) paid vacation. Those with 11 or more years in the system receive 17 days paid leave. Teachers will each receive 15 days of paid sick leave per school year. These sick days may be banked. Each teacher also receives two paid personal days, two paid “professional days,” and three paid “religious observance” days. UEP officers receive up to 20 paid days off to attend conventions and throw water balloons out of hotel windows. For the typical job in the Dreaded Private Sector, the work year is 261 days. Paid vacation rarely exceeds two weeks, if it is given at all. Sick leave? Maybe a day or two, and rarely is the banking of sick days allowed. Personal days? Professional days? Religious days? Convention days? “You’re lucky to have a job, mate.”
Start adding all those days up. They don’t work 183 days a year. Then add the rest, vacation (10 to 17 days), sick days (15 days), personal days (2), professional days (2), religious observance days (3). So that’s an extra 32 to 37 days off with pay. Now the work year is down to 153 or 146 days. If your a union rep you get another 20 days off with pay. 126 days.
This is scandalous …
Yet these people are probably all Democrats since that’s all we have here in Berkshire County and yet they feel no hypocrisy about taking from others (taxpayers) to fatten their own wallets while shouting about inequality in their politics.
I have a question for you all… How much should someone be paid to substitute teach at our schools and what should their qualifications be?
Respectfully submitted,
Russell
I believe that substitutes need 2 completed years of college. I think the daily rate for a substitute is $75, but it may have increased (not sure).
These people take attendance and administer the regular teacher’s lesson that should be laid out for them.
A long term substitute for an extended illness/maternity needs regular certification/appropriate degrees, and receives a higher rate. They need to do the lesson plan, grading, testing, etc.
These rates might be spelled out in the contract, I am not sure. If not, then they are set by the district.
It is not just the teachers who are making out like bandits!
The Sheriff, Tom Bowler, is making over $150k plus benefits per year.
The DA, David Capeless, is making over $170k plus benefits per year.
The politically connected are well taken care of, while the average taxpayer gets to pound sand.
I see Dan Valenti as being myopic by singling out Pittsfield teachers for being part of the gravy train!
The gravy train is everywhere from Wall Street to City Hall. The insiders are the beneficiaries of an inequitable economic system!
Heard Lady Boots tried to shut off Kinnas at the three minute mark?
“Lady Boots.” You’ve been paying attention, MISS VITO! THE PLANET is impressed. Lady Boots it is for Yon, the Wicked Witch of the Weak.
Did Terry stay around for the Fiddling?
I’m amazed at all the job descriptions. When I went to school, we didn’t have 20 plus people helping the teachers. We actually got an education. Now, there are tiny classes, tons of help and we are graduating kids that can’t even perforn the most elementary jobs.
Glad you picked up on this, PAUL. Every citizen of Pittsfield should get all these job listings on a little card to remind them of the superfluous waste (as opposed to un-superfluous waste) that infects the PSD.
I was the eraser clapper outside the school walls, they actually did that back in the day. Is Jake coloring his Beard? Come on Man?
JIV looks like he’s been coloring for sometime now. The only hair darker than his is the wig worn by Johnny Carson when he played Art Fern, host of “Tea Time Movies.” JIV looks as much a fool as Art.
I did the eraser-onbrick cleaning as well, DILLY.
Mark Tully: “Proposition 2 ½ and its effect on Pittsfield’s Finances”
By Mark Tully, Op-Ed, The Berkshire Eagle, December 9, 2015
An extremely important milestone in Pittsfield’s history has come to pass the other week with little media attention. At the Pittsfield City Council’s tax rate review on Nov. 24, the Proposition 2 ½ levy ceiling became the levy limit. The levy is the amount of money a city raises through property taxes to fund the budget. In accordance with Prop 2 ½, there are limits to the amount a municipality can tax.
First, I’ll provide a brief background on Prop 2 ½. The law was voted on in 1980, the same year Ronald Reagan won election, and enacted in 1982. At that time, property taxes in Massachusetts far exceeded the national average and there were no controls on levy increases. The passage of Prop 2 ½ was truly a taxpayer revolt. The levy limit was calculated at 2.5% of the community’s fair market assessed value and allowed to increase 2.5% each year. Prop 2 1/2 also created the Massachusetts Division of Local Services to record, track and report tax levy information on every community.
Under Prop 2½; a municipality is subject to two property tax limits:
• Levy Increase limit: The annual increase of the property tax levy cannot exceed 2.5%, plus new growth; which is the taxable amount from new real property.
• Levy Ceiling: The total annual property tax revenue raised by a municipality shall not exceed 2.5% of the assessed value of all taxable property contained in it.
Since Prop 2 ½’s enactment, Pittsfield’s tax levy reached its levy limit once, temporarily in the early 2000’s; but the levy has always remained below the levy ceiling. Many communities in the state consistently function at their levy limit and depend on the 2.5% annual increase and new growth values in order to increase their budgets. If a community is at their levy limit and needs more money to fund their budget, an override request can be placed on the ballot to raise the limit permanently. A community may also request that voters approve a specific debt service or capital project cost that is outside of the limits. These provisions are called “debt exclusions” and “capital overlay expenditure exclusions” and are very specific on how the increased taxes would be used. Since fiscal year 2004, Pittsfield’s property tax levy increased less than the allowed levy limit creating “excess levy capacity.” If a community doesn’t increase its levy to the full limit, the balance becomes excess levy capacity and may be used in the future, without a voter approved override.
As I mentioned earlier, the Levy Limit is one component of this law. The Levy Ceiling is the other component. The Levy Ceiling represents 2.5% of the assessed value of all the taxable property in Pittsfield. Our community experienced a rapid increase in assessed values starting from 2004 at $2.1 billion until 2008, where we ended at $3.4 billion. This represented an unprecedented 63% increase over that 5 year period. It is debatable whether this increase was real or speculative, but that’s an argument for another day. The important fact is that since 2008, the total assessed value has not grown annually, but has decreased to $3.3 billion. This is where the levy ceiling comes into play.
At the Nov. 24 city council meeting, the tax rate was set and $1.5 million of free cash applied to the levy. The result is an excess levy capacity of $6.8 million. If history is an indication of the future, the excess levy capacity will disappear in 2 years because budget increases require that we raise the levy $3-4 million each year. There are no more annual 2.5% increases to the limit, because our levy limit is now the ceiling. Once the excess levy capacity is consumed by FY2019, increases in any city department’s budget will have to be offset by a decrease somewhere else. When our tax levy reaches the levy ceiling, it cannot be raised even with a voter approved override. Pittsfield will not be able to increase property taxes. The only voter approved overrides allowed will be “exclusions” for items such as a specified debt or a capital project.
What is the answer? The answer is that we must increase our tax base with new businesses and residences while simultaneously reducing the cost of city government. That’s an easy statement to make, but has been difficult, if not impossible, to implement. I have been studying the Prop 2 ½ limits on Pittsfield’s levy for the past several years and am grateful to see that, at least, the conversation has begun. I am optimistic that this conversation will continue publicly through the next budget session.
Once we all understand our limits to growth, I am confident that solutions will arise.
Mark Tully is a resident of Pittsfield, and the sales manager for Fenwal Controls, an appliance control manufacturer.
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/columnists/ci_29225687/proposition-2-and-its-effect-pittsfields-finances
I am sure glad no one is thinking about reducing expenditures. And heaven forbid anyone goes looking for wasteful spending in Pittsfield because it does not exist. Just a compete waste of time and effort looking for it. Better to just tax and spend and hope for a miracle.
Maybe Jack Welch will donate a couple hundred million dollars to Pittsfield politics’ coffers to atone for his guilt for signing the fraudulent Consent Decree with then Mayor Gerry Doyle.
I heard old Jack Welch was seen taking a brisk morning swim in Silver Lake the other day.
Thanks for the repost Jonathan
THE PLANET sent the following to MARK TULLY:
MARK
Someone posted your Eagle article as a comment on THE PLANET.
You are only partially correct, therefore incorrect, when you state that the levy limit-ceiling-Prop. 2 1/2 issue received little media attention. You couldn’t have read THE PLANET with this in mind. We have devoted thousands of words to this issue, long before anyone brought it up, in fact.
I’m curious: Was this a simple oversight or a deliberate choice (perhaps thinking that a reference to THE PLANET would hurt your chances for publication).
This is to correct the record.
Best,
DAN
Hi Dan,
I commented and provided a link here to my article on my wife’s website a few weeks ago. You had my article first.
Yes, THE PLANET has given a great deal of media attention to this issue and I am grateful for that.
I have some nice graphs that paint the situation without words. Where can I post them?
Best regards,
Mark
Looks like taxes will….be going through……the roof.
So that’s what’s causing the leaks in the THS roof Dilly.
The cause of the leaks is when the mayor ordered shoveling the roof last window using inmates from Tommy’s Holiday Ranch, a.k.a., The Berkshire County House of Correction, headed by the very high sheriff Tom Bowler. Inmates attacked the ice with pick axes and shovel blades. Amazing. Only THE PLANET reported on it.
There were 37 teen births in Pittsfield in 2014!
“Berkshire County is still above the state average [in the teen pregnancy rate]. When you consider that there were 57 teen births countywide in 2014, including 37 teen births in Pittsfield, 13 in North Adams, five in Adams, and six across seven other Berkshire County towns — it’s startling.”
– Kristine Hazzard, president and CEO of the Berkshire United Way, December 9, 2015.
Source: “Berkshire County’s teen birth rate falls by more than half” By Scott Stafford, The Berkshire Eagle, December 9, 2015
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_29223752/berkshire-countys-teen-birth-rate-falls-by-more
More mouths for sucker taxpayers to feed.
Yeah, that and lack of maitenance.
I don’t know when taxpayers will have had enough and throw these bombs out of office
the Boston Herald lists all salaries and benefits of every public employee…all you have to do is look on the Herald web site to get this information for past, present and future statewide expenditures.
I just tried searching the Boston Herald website, and not able to find any such info. There are other sites that list state employees, but not all public employees.
Can you provide a link to the info you mentioned. Thanks.
Type in Boston Herald State Payroll..
Ellen Mary D’agostino should get Person of the Year for her dissertation at the Licensing Board. Stockwell and Massimiano should resign.
A welfare magnet for Dalton
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_29219935/dalton-voters-decide-whether-convert-old-dalton-high