Local News Comments

I think this is a good idea. Now if only all the schools could participate and get rid of all the superintendents and overpaid administrative officials in the schools.

I doubt seriously that the parents in Sonora or Tuolumne will back this in any way shape or form...........

Nothing is ever going to happen. Too many fiefdoms at risk. Too many admins and board members slopping at the trough. But they'll make it look like they tried to do something. To them that is all that matters. "Well, we did talk about it..."

What would that accomplish? All of this talk about administrative salaries is dumb. If your going to talk about salaries it should include all who are employeed by the districts. Teachers, maintenance, and management all make really comfortable salaries....not to mention the office of education. Why not let each district worry abut itself?

The school boards are just paying lip service, hell the people of Tuolumne pay the school taxes,. I think the people should be the one to decide to consolidate or not., Let put it up for a vote by the people for the people.

. . .TOOOOOOO much $$$$$ for the upper echelon staff to merge!!!!

& Logical. Really my wife is a para-professional in the classroom and is paid a meager $700 a month. Does that sound 'really comfortable' to you?

I think most of us can see that the splintered school districts in this county are all top heavy.
But what will happen, is if they consolidate they will lose some funding. So if they let 2 superintendent's and their assistants go,they will save $450,000 dollars a year. But their funding will be cut by $500,000. So they will say, it's not a financial benefit.
And if they do cut and lose the 500k it will be quickly squandered away on other government waste. So they say, hey lets just keep the gravy train rolling. And we will all have great jobs with retirement unheard of in the private sector.
And in this county where 25% of wage earners work for the Gov. and bring in 36% of earned income in the county they feel it's good for the county's well being.
So you won't see consolidation.

Response to "Logical"..Nothing is dumb when I am PAYING for this nonsense..Get a grip..Hire a high school graduate..Ask one of them the difference between a preposition and an adverb..Less than 10% correct response.

I may be going against the grain here, but I absolutely think this idea is just what our county needs! Let's focus on one great school; we have the funding in place, and opportunity is knocking! Perhaps The Connections Academy could branch out on the Sonora Campus to include other options. Let's ROLL on this people! =)

@Trizunky, if your wife works for a school and only makes 700 a month then she's either getting used or not working that much. @hugh961, eliminating the position doesnt eliminate the work that has to be done. I am simply saying that....The schools are not broke because of the administrative salaries, its because of ALL of the the inflated salaries from the ground up. I'd be willing to bet that the schools pay at least 85% of its budget on salaries Call your local district and see for yourself what all of the staff is making. You people should be more upset about where you tax dollars are going through Sacramento and the feds vs. the "Local School District". If you dont like it...put your name on the ballot and run for the school board.

Logical,

You are wrong on so many levels. The supervisors don't do a thing except eat the funds.

@leaperman621....Im assuming that you ment to type superintendents? Again....ITS ALL OF THE SALARIES, NOT JUST THE ADMINISTRATION! I am in no way tying to justify the salaries on the administrative level. I just think that people should take a look at all of the salaries, not just the admin. Have you read an administrators or teachers contract? Its all about the money and how much of a pay increase they should get for each year that they work. Are you aware of the COLA that they get no matter what funding is? Do you even know what a COLA is? Im sooo wrong....

Logical.

I am retired military. Yes, I know what Cost of Living Allowances are.

The only thing that is actually going to get done is that the board members will still be the board members for the next several years.

Logical..

@Liberty is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude.@
@Neither can embellishments of language be found without arrangement and expression of thoughts nor can thoughts be made to shine without the light of language.@
Cicero

John Pendley (Columbia and Belleview) $166,591
Joe Silva (County Schools) $169,887
John Keiter (Summerville High and Twain Harte) $207,288
Dave Urquhart (Groveland Unified) $112,000
Diane Dotson (Jamestown and Curtis Creek) $148,250
Mike McCoy (Sonora High) $142,700
Leigh Shampain (Sonora El and Summerville El) $144,000
Jeff Winfield (Soulsbyville) $100,020

*Each of the Superintendents also receives an annual insurance cap ranging from $8,100 to $10,248, with the exception of Keiter and Dotson, whose is included in the salary. Many of them also receive an annual business allowance ranging from $3,600 to $7,200.

http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/1846337/Silva-Taking-Pay-Cut.html

I repeat..VAMPIRES
blood sucking vampires.
Now put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Thank you, leaperman621. Very informative. Did you include the amounts that are being put into their retirements? When teachers complain about not having the necessary supplies in the classroom, physical education, art, and music studies are cut due to "lack of funding", where's the honesty? With "unnecessary superintendents and administration" it not only appears disingenuous, it also appears glutinous. I don't mind the private sector working for and earning those types of salaries, because the people have a choice to spend their hard earned funds at a particular business. Let's take a look at all the school boards of directors and their "take" as well as getting insurance benefits..all on the taxpayers (us) dollar. That's why the consolidation won't happen. Pigs slopping at the trough.

When I was in school from '79 to '92 in the eastern Los Angeles County, we had one Superintendant for the whole district. The district included 3 elementary schools, 2 middle schools and 3 high schools. I don't know what the student population was, except that when I graduated from high school our senior class alone was around 700 students. Things ran just fine. When I moved up here I found it ridiculous that you would have one Superintendant per school, let alone one school per district in some cases. ...Now that I think about it, this is Tuolumne County mentality were dealing with however. Sorry I blew up.