Buyouts
Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Schools
Forum Name: Other School Issues
Forum Description: Discuss other issues such as school security, student activities, etc.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3701
Printed Date: Nov 22 2024 at 3:43am
Topic: Buyouts
Posted By: VietVet
Subject: Buyouts
Date Posted: Mar 01 2011 at 11:15am
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Today's Journal...
Middletown schools to offer retirement incentive MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Board of Education agreed to offer early retirement incentives Monday night and heard a series of budget strategies to offset next year’s state funding crunch Lisa Lowery, director of human resources, stressed: “This is not a buyout.” Whoops, wait a minute Ms. Lowery...... Buyout By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide Definition: Buyouts are a common method for reducing the number and cost of employees. In buyouts, the employer offers some employees or all employees the opportunity to receive a large severance package in return for leaving their employment. Letters will go out to those eligible next week. Teachers and administrators electing to participate would receive $45,000, plus an amount equivalent to applicable contractual sick leave pay in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement. Classified staffers would receive 100 percent of their base salary, not to exceed $20,000, plus an amount equivalent to applicable contractual sick pay in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, according to a release by the district. Sure sounds like it. The third option — which board president Marcia Andrew and board member Katie McNeil publicly admired — would move seventh and eighth grades to Vail, close an elementary school and create a sixth-grade center. Wonder which elementary school they would consider closing? Could it be one of those brand spankin' new ones we just approved to be built to the tune of $45 million in bonds approved???? Could we end up having a brand new school mothballed already? That option would include reducing the district’s transportation levels to state minimums, increasing class sizes and reducing Central Office and building support staffing.....An introduction from Rasmussen for a proposed tax levy, soaking the property owners again perhaps? The old "we need more money to operate" routine again??? |
Replies:
Posted By: swohio75
Date Posted: Mar 01 2011 at 1:33pm
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My guess is they go with option #3. Verity is an older building that they planned to tear down should a new high school ever get built on the property. While it’s newer than Vail, it is not as big and could not hold the # of students currently at Vail capacity. That way, if they still need to close an elementary school, it would become a 6th grade center. So the question becomes---which elementary school would they convert to the sixth grade center. Let's take a look: * Miller Ridge – Single story. Could be a good size for a 6th grade building. Shifting the population of this school might be more difficult though. Moving some students to Creekview would make sense, but the remaining population might be difficult * Rosa Parks - Likely too large of a building. Not centrally located. Cannot easily shift the student population. * Creekview - Single story. Could be a good size for a 6th grade building. Could easily shift students to Mayfield south of Grand/Roosevelt and Miller Ridge north Grand/Roosevelt. However this school is a feeder from Abilities First, so likely not a candidate. * Amanda - Can already see the uproar of busing east-end kids to that side of town. * Wildwood – Could shift a portion of the students to Highview; another portion to Miller Ridge and another portion to Rosa Parks. Wildwood is somewhat Centrally located, but is it too big for a single grade population * Highview – central location makes it a good candidate. Shifting student population might be tough. Wildwood could serve area north of Central. South of Central could go to Mayfield, however given the somewhat affluent demo of that neighborhood, likely to be an uproar. West of Sutphin goes to Rosa Parks. Two-story building might be too big. The winner? Wildwood. Easy to spread student population across three existing buildings to lessen the impact of additional students. While the building may be too big for a 6th grade only population, its the one that makes most sence. http://www.middletowncityschools.com/pdf/schooldistbound2010blackwhite.pdf |
Posted By: Observer
Date Posted: Mar 01 2011 at 3:17pm
| For what its worth, I've heard from teachers in the district that Creekview and Highview are the two schools being looked at as the 6th grade school. |
Posted By: swohio75
Date Posted: Mar 01 2011 at 4:23pm
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Like I said, I could see Creekview. Moving part of 1-5 students to Mayfield and part of Miller Ridge would be easy. If the 6-grade population is small enough, Creekview could still serve Abilities First.
The Highview option doesn't make any sense at all other than its a Central location.
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Posted By: SupportMiddletown
Date Posted: Mar 01 2011 at 10:38pm
| My understanding was that the new one and two story elementaries were the same size, just different floorplans (one story just has bigger footprint). |
Posted By: Hermes
Date Posted: Mar 01 2011 at 11:20pm
I can't believe they would think of doing a buy out ! Even before they get a levy on the ballot,what are they thinking ? Oh sorry I jumped the gun,they have to make threats then get it on the ballot.Yeah cause threats work every time ! 
Everyone knows a good levy fixes everything ! Wonder how much money they'll want ?  ------------- No more democrats no more republicans,vote Constitution Party !! |
Posted By: LHelton
Date Posted: Mar 02 2011 at 8:54am
| A buyout is to have the cost-effective result of getting rid of higher salaried people, so that entry salaried people can be hired, thus saving money in the long run. |
Posted By: Bill
Date Posted: Mar 02 2011 at 9:34am
| I'm still waiting to here about performance issues rather than payroll issues. Seems like now would be a good time to use one of these new elementaries for a new "Intervention Elementary". Put all the problem children in one place and let the other kids learn. |
Posted By: middletownscouter
Date Posted: Mar 02 2011 at 10:28am
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Only option #2 would have one of the new buildings possibly sit idle for those worried about that. No building gets shut down under Option #1 if I remember correctly. Verity would be mothballed under options #2 and #3.
Of the three options, #1 is the largest cut at around $5.3 - $5.4 million. This is the general "salt the earth, eliminate everything" stuff that gets tossed around at levy time: transportation to state minimums, pay for play (or eliminated completely) extracurriculars, drastic cuts in music, art and physical education programs at all levels, elimination of the success academy and intervention programs, etc. I don't think this one is likely. It would just hurt attendance and performance numbers even more than they already are. Also, they wouldn't have it as a scare tactic to hold over everyone the next time a levy needs passed! My feeling is that if they go with option #2, Central Academy should be the elementary that gets closed. It is one of the older buildings and it doesn't actually service a specific neighborhood. Under option #3, the elementary that is "closed" would have the K-5 kids distributed amongst the other schools (involves redistricting) and then all 6th graders in the district would be sent to the newer (now former) elementary building that was emptied as part of the redistricting. Highview I think would be the best option for this because it is centrally located and would be easiest for redrawing the district lines to distribute those kids around to all of the other elementary schools in Middletown. (Added bonus: They could finally get rid of the worthless principal at that building!) http://middletowncityschools.com/pdf/schooldistbound2010blackwhite.pdf - 2010 Elementary boundary map Options #2 & #3 are looking more to reduce costs by consolidating services into less buildings rather than eliminating them, and are nearly as effective with just between $5.0 and $5.1 million saved annually in making the changes. All three of the options include $1.5 million in cuts made at the district / central administration level. I was told that there is a full detail of the options on the district's website but I haven't been able to locate it yet. I got to see a printout of the powerpoint slides for each option yesterday and option #3 does seem like the most viable without causing loss of too many services to the students in the district. These cuts would likely be around 10% of the budget. But once Kasich and the state legislature get done making cuts at the state level, we could be seeing up to 20% of the district's budget going away, so these plans would be a good start but more will need done. |
Posted By: Bill
Date Posted: Mar 02 2011 at 11:21am
| So would the staff at Verity be let go or would they just move to Vail? |
Posted By: Lostdafire
Date Posted: Mar 02 2011 at 11:36am
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This may be the link Middletownscouter used to see the powerpoint used Monday evening. About 2/3 the way through it the options are referenced. This does not go into detail for the plans but does explain them on a broad view. It took me a little while to find this also. I guess I will need to catch a replay on TV Middletown to hear the actual presentation that went with it. http://www.middletowncityschools.com/pdf/BOE_Feb28_2011.pdf |
Posted By: middletownscouter
Date Posted: Mar 02 2011 at 12:10pm
| Thank you Lostdafire, that was what I was looking for. I only saw a portion of the overall presentation, just the slides that start with "Stakeholder Priorities" through "Other Factors." |