For your convenience, we have installed the link below to make donations to this website easier. Now you can utilize your PayPal account or your credit card.

--------------

---------

Affording luxuries we can't afford

Note: The following is another in a series of columns on subjects of a philosophical, ethical or practical nature by a Schuyler County resident who prefers to go by the nom de plume of A. Moralis -- a reference to what the writer sees as the lack of a moral compass in the world during this rapidly changing Age of the Internet.

By A. Moralis

A couple of weeks ago the American flag flew at half mast at the Watkins Glen School district, typically a tradition saved for when a president or dignitary dies. Since there had been no recent death of either, I thought that maybe the flag signaled the impending death of something else, of a "what." And I thought that perhaps the "what" may be school districts as we currently know them.

Most school districts across New York State are multimillion-dollar kingdoms beset by mandates handed down by the New York State Education Department. Many of these education empires take up enormous amounts of acreage in our communities, gobbling up land that might, in their absence, be on the tax rolls. At the helm of the empires are individuals who have attained career-related college degrees and taken course work towards being administrators and have passed an exam that says they can run a school district.

Does this really make them competent to run a $20 million business? Most companies hire a CEO to do this, admittedly at a higher salary -- although the salaries of the superintendents in this county's two major school districts, in excess of $125,000, are considered by most residents to be sizable. (And of interest to those Schuyler residents paying taxes in the other two districts reaching into the county, superintendent salaries are $114,400 in Bradford and $142,627 in Trumansburg. Imagine, if you will, just one countywide district with one superintendent. Imagine the savings -- not just in condensing those salaries -- but in a streamlined administrative structure.)

But back to things as they are: Yes, our state civil-service system values education over experience ... but is merely being academic the only way? Is that really practical?

Within these domains, these school districts, luxuries can be found. In our local territory (two school districts) we have three swimming pools, a diving pool, six cafeterias, multiple kitchens, six principals, multiple guidance counselors, multiple school bus runs, athletic teams that on occasion have trouble attracting enough players to complete a season or to be competitive, a class that teaches language to little more than a handful of students, college courses that belong at colleges, special education programs that perhaps could be run elsewhere ... and two superintendents, one of whom lives a half-hour away from Schuyler (taking the tax dollars paid to him over to another county).

Again, do college degrees and the passing of administrative courses and an exam truly prepare an individual to run a complex empire such as this? In the past, apparently they have -- although the tax-and-spend philosophy of the past has taxed and spent our middle class nearly to death. It seems an important facet is missing: business education and business experience.

Now, with the rubber meeting the road -- with the advent of a moment of financial truth -- the superintendent of the empire located on 12th Street has some very tough decisions to make. Will he start by getting rid of teachers? One would hope not, because we need them to educate our children. Will he get rid of some of the management (i.e. principals or other administrators), or decide to axe the little people? What will he give up? Does his overt attempt to plumb the community for ideas signal that he doesn't know where to begin? (Again, an experienced business leader, a CEO or someone approaching that status, might be a better fit in dire times.)

Personally, my observation is that schools are autocratic systems that are not reality-based. For the kids, for the kids, for the kids has been touted over and over and has become the mantra in which the School Board hides when it proposes yet another tax increase. In the real world, businesses balance the budget, train employees to do more with less, and make them pay for a sizable portion of their health insurance and contribute to a 401(k). If you are not productive, you no longer have a job; you can't fall back on tenure. And why should anyone earn more in retirement than when they were working?

The 12th Street superintendent has lamented that the district is hamstrung by state rules, including -- and perhaps in particular -- pension payments. It is also hamstrung by unions that aim to keep health insurance co-pays low. No argument. In a more perfect world, reform in those two areas would reduce his district's expenses and solve a lot of his problems.

But it's not a perfect world. And he and the School Board will have to draw on whatever reserves of imagination and boldness they can to get past this current crisis. At least it can be said -- and this is no small matter -- that the 12th Street superintendent is a creature of this county, and cares about it. He has split time between two homes -- one just outside the county and one within -- but is shifting now to a single, Schuyler-based residence. Kudos there.

If caring can carry the day, he might just find a solution that doesn't leave the district gasping for breath ... and doesn't leave the kids hurting because of a dearth of teaching excellence. But if caring isn't enough, it will be so very easy to wish that the rules were rewritten to encourage the hiring of CEO-styled leaders -- ones steeped in business realities and acumen.

**********

Previous A. Moralis columns:

The first one is here.
The second one is here.
The third one is here.
The fourth one is here.
The fifth one is here.
The sixth one is here.
The seventh one is here.
The eighth one is here.
The ninth one is here.
The 10th one is here.
The 11th one is here.