Hmmm...

The outcome of Monday night's vote is no big surprise, but it is peculiar to say the least. Let's review: When the school board approved a community activities director position and several reading specialist positions a few weeks ago, the job postings were up on the school district's website within a day or two. Makes sense to me...they were actively recruiting.

For the new athletic supporter position, the administration admits they didn't know how much the position would cost district taxpayers, there's been no website posting, and when we last read about the position in the BNR, the district didn't have a job description either. Add to the mix the fact that one of the board members abstained from voting on the new position "for personal reasons."

Mysteriously, the following information has appeared:
===================================================

Job Posting
Baraboo School District
April 10, 2007

Baraboo School District has an opening beginning in the 2007-2008 school year for a full-time activities director. This position will serve as the district leader in the planning and supervision of district activities, including athletic and extra-curricular activities. Specific functions of the position include leadership, planning, supervision, staff development, public relations, communication, budget development, staff relations, facilities scheduling, and record keeping. Candidates should possess or be willing to work toward WI certification 51 (administrative). The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong commitment to the community of Baraboo and to the Baraboo School District through proactive efforts to build channels of communication and relationships with student participants, coaches, advisors, parents, and the community. Candidates willing to obtain residency in the school district of Baraboo will be given preference. Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, resume, references, and credentials to: Machell Schwarz, Baraboo High School, 1201 Draper Street, Baraboo, WI 53913. Materials should be received by April 30, 2007.

===============================================

Is it payback time for the one school board member that holds a teaching license, sits on the personnel committee for the school district, and abstained from voting? Like I said, it looks peculiar...We'll see.

Baraboo principal offered Portage post

By Christina Beam - Baraboo News Republic 4/11/07

Jack Young Middle School Principal Bob Meicher will be offered the top job at Portage Junior High School with a salary of $85,000, the Portage School Board decided Monday. Meicher was one of two finalists for the principal position, along with Jeff Mastin, assistant principal at Stoughton River Bluff Middle School.

"I will spend my first year as your principal building relationships," Meicher, 38, told a Portage forum crowd April 4. "That is the most critical thing, and I knew my predecessor (Wayne Bartels), and he was great at that." Bartels was planning on retiring before being killed in an accident on his Marquette County farm last October.

During the interview process, Meicher said community support for education was one of the primary reasons educators flock to the Portage School District. "It's a precious commodity, believe me," he said.

Portage passed its second consecutive school referendum last year, while Baraboo voters narrowly defeated two divisive referenda in 2006 and the board made cuts to teaching staff, maintenance and co-curriculars.

When an audience member at the meet-and-greet asked Meicher why he was prepared to move from Baraboo to Portage, he said, "It's really about being a part of something great. This sounds selfish, but if I can give that to my kids, then I can give it to other kids, too."

Baraboo Director of Curriculum and Instruction Crystal Ritzenthaler said the district has not received Meicher's resignation, but administrators won't delay in posting the position once they do. "It will leave a huge gap in our district in terms of leadership at the middle school level. Bob is a very people-oriented person, and I think he interacted well with parents and staff and students," she said. "Although we will post the position as soon as possible and search to fill the position, we are not replacing Bob."

The district is also in the process of filling associate principal and newly-created activities director positions at the high school, as well as a director of pupil services and special ed and director of community education. "Baraboo has a lot to offer, in terms of our community, our environment, and it's a wonderful place to raise a family," Ritzenthaler said. "I still believe we have a wonderful school system… and the board is very focused on student achievement, so I'm optimistic that we're still going to attract quality candidates, whether we're looking for administrators or teachers."

Department of Public Instruction records show Meicher's salary for the 2005-06 school year was $69,170, plus $29,826 in benefits. Bartels' salary in Portage for last year was $82,898, plus $14,465 in benefits. Baraboo District Administrator Lance Alwin was out of the state Tuesday and Meicher, who is on family leave until May 7, did not return calls at home for comment.
- Jen McCoy contributed to this story.
================================================
There goes another fine Baraboo School District administrator. The "A-team" is starting to break apart. Maybe Meicher got tired of covering up for employee harassment by his teacher buddy, student harassment by his staff, the district administrator's "visions", school board members and their dereliction of duty to our community, as well as his own missteps and outright lies to school district staff, parents, and the people of Baraboo.

I'm still not convinced it's all about the kids. Note the higher pay where he's going. I said it before and I'll say it again...it's all about the MONEY. Don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.

Board approves athletic director position

By Christina Beam-Baraboo News Republic 4/10/06

The search is on for a full-time activities director after the Baraboo School Board approved adding the controversial position in a 5-0 vote Monday, with Judd Maxwell abstaining and Patty Spragg absent.

"It's a sensitive issue to bring something back that's been cut… but the main thing is it's a positive step forward," said baseball coach Paul Kujak after the meeting. The director will be able to "develop trust and friendships and the kids will realize the commitment to helping them develop," Kujak said.

Several members of the DREAMS music fundraising group again turned out to oppose the position, including Milissa Hintz, who said administrators' explanation of it as the leader in planning and supervising district activities gave her some reassurance. "I feel it's a warranted position," she said. "I'm just not so convinced it's good timing because of some of the cuts made just last year."

Opponents of last year's referenda and fine arts supporters found common ground standing against the activities director position, and the board tabled it at its March 26 meeting amid heated discussion. Monday they came back with a unified message.

"Two weeks ago I said the timing wasn't right," board member Kevin Bartol said. "I've changed my mind. The timing was late." Bartol said the position is necessary to increase student achievement and free up other administrators to be leaders in staff development. He suggested an assessment to track how effective the position is on those fronts.

Enrollment increased by 71 students this year, bringing in more revenue for some new expenditures, Director of Business Services Jim Long said. He did not have an estimate of the new position's cost Monday night.

High School Principal Machell Schwarz said the district has been reinvesting new revenue into programs that will in turn increase enrollment even more, such as online learning. "It is about providing the structure (and) the support to the students and staff in this district," board member Jill Ellinwood said. Maxwell said he abstained from voting for personal reasons.
The last full-time athletic director, Mike Devine, left in 2003, and Associate Principal Dave Hedgepath has covered those duties on a part-time basis since then.
=========================================================
Let's review: The Baraboo School Board created a full-time Athletic Supporter position for which there is no job description and no estimate of how much the position will cost. The reasons given by the Administration include because everybody else has one, it will increase enrollment in online learning, and provide structure and support for district staff and students. No wonder it passed unanimously. Just goes to show how out of touch with reality and misprioritized our school board members are. Lemmings, all.

A School in South Carolina-REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Our readers come through with support, but the Legislature doesn't.Sunday, April 8, 2007 12:01 a.m.Last month our Brendan Miniter spotlighted the story of Faye Brown, a former public-school teacher who four years ago opened a private school to give low-income families an alternative to failing public schools. Most of them are African-American students in rural Johns Island, South Carolina. The article also featured 16-year-old Rontrell Matthews, who is working to pay his own tuition.
Two things have happened since the article appeared: an outpouring of financial support from Journal readers and a vote by the state Legislature that would undermine the school.
Like Rontrell Matthews, Ms. Brown's little school--Capers Preparatory Christian Academy--was scraping to get by. Even as her students outperformed their public-school peers on the SATs by nearly 400 points, she dipped into her own retirement savings to keep the lights on.
That may change now. To date our readers have donated some $32,000. One couple in Austria sent $10,000; another person sent money asking that it be used to get each of the nearly 50 students something for Easter. Mr. Matthews now has his tuition paid through next year. And several people have already made a second donation to the school. There is also a gentleman who wants to use $100,000 he recently inherited as seed money for an endowment.
For the first time in the school's history, it has all of its bills paid in full and it has $26,000 in reserve--not a small sum for a school with an annual budget of about $160,000. Ms. Brown told us she was often up late worrying where her students would end up if she were forced to close her doors. Now she knows she's not the only one worried about her students.
Late last month the state Legislature voted against giving school vouchers to tens of thousands of poor kids in failing public schools. The bill would have helped many of the Capers kids pay their tuition. (original article)
======================================================
It's amazing and wonderful that a community of strangers (most without a vested interest) can come together to support private education, but a community where everybody knows your name can become so divided when it comes to public education. Must be that private schools invest in our kids more responsibly, with greater accountability, and therefore are more trustworthy. Wise people recognize this.

Thank you, those in history who impacted the formation of the United States of America and our free market economic system. Shame to those who try time and again to undermine your work.

School District Investigates Porn Bill

Apr 7 10:49 PM US/Eastern

UNION CITY, N.J. (AP) - School district officials are trying to identify who watched $250 worth of pay-per-view pornographic movies using a school cable television box, officials said.

Someone after business hours used one of the five cable boxes in the Board of Education building to order the films, priced between $4.95 and $9.95. The cable provider, Cablevision, has refunded the school district the money, and is helping to investigate the purchases. School officials have since gotten rid of three of the cable boxes. A board official said the building had cable in case there was an emergency.
=======================================================
Tax dollars at work!