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justme
Advanced Member
1428 Posts |
 Posted - 06/23/2008 : 5:18:39 PM
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| Freddie owns the school committee and until that changes, nothing Stat says, or does, is going to matter. We need people that don't have family working for the schools system and can't seem to get them............... |
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arthur
Senior Member
212 Posts |
Posted - 06/28/2008 : 03:48:57 AM
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School system retirees 'double dip' with waiver
Collect full salaries plus their pensions
By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | June 28, 2008
Nearly 100 retired educators in the Commonwealth were allowed to earn their full salaries while collecting full pensions in the past school year, a growing practice critics call state-sanctioned "double dipping."
The retirees collectively made more than $5 million on the job while taking home $5.5 million in pension payments, according to information obtained by the Globe.
The Globe review found that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education routinely approved these special arrangements and frequently ignored its own guidelines that require school districts to provide proof that they advertised for the position and were unable to find other qualified candidates.
Critics say the practice, which was designed to make it easier for districts to fill hard-to-staff positions, leaves the door open for abuse, enticing a pool of well-connected retirees to move from one job to the next or stay indefinitely in a position that should have been filled by a nonretiree. In some cases, school districts have been allowed to continue rehiring the same retiree rather than readvertising for the position each year and providing fresh proof that they could find no one else to fill the spot, another state requirement.
The use of the exemption has tripled over the past eight years, growing to the point that it has prompted the governor's new education secretary and legislators to call for closer scrutiny of the practice. Some lawmakers suggested that the state should place a cap on how much these retirees can earn and how long they can serve.
"You don't want to be paying them twice what they otherwise would be entitled to," said state Senator Robert Antonioni, cochairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on Education. "That's not good public policy."
Education officials said the use of retirees in these positions is necessary, but acknowledged that the application process could be more rigorous.
"We don't just rubber stamp these applications," said Heidi Guarino, Education Department spokeswoman. "We work with the district to make sure they have done their due diligence. . . . Could the process be tightened? Probably."
And many of the working retirees defend their pay, saying they are fulfilling important roles nobody else wants, positions taxpayers would otherwise pay less-qualified personnel to perform.
"I'm double dipping and I'm happy to be doing it," said Ralph Olsen, 62, who is finishing up his second year as principal of Durfee High School in Fall River and plans to return next school year. Olsen, who retired as Framingham High School principal in 2004, earns $87,311 a year in pension income and makes $140,000 a year in his new position.
The income boost sets him up for his real retirement down the road, providing extra "security in my waning years," he said. "I'd like to think the benefits are mutual."
State law strictly limits how much public retirees can earn if they return to a government job, barring them from earning more, pension and salary combined, than they would receive if they had not retired. But in 2000, the Legislature created an exemption for certain educators, because of concerns that an early-retirement incentive program would send hundreds of teachers into retirement and create widespread shortages - an exodus that never came to pass.
Under the law, school districts can request these "critical need" waivers for educators filling hard-to-staff positions, such as math, science, and special education jobs, and for those willing to be superintendent or principal - positions that have become more difficult to fill nationwide with the increased focus on accountability.
With each application, school districts are supposed to demonstrate that they have made a "good-faith effort" to hire nonretirees by providing proof that they advertised for the position, a list of candidates, and an explanation of why they were not qualified or declined the job, according to state Education Department guidelines. A Globe review of the applications, obtained through a public records request, revealed that dozens failed to meet these basic requirements.
Some watchdogs criticize the very premise of granting anyone this sort of exemption. The state pension system was set up in the early 1900s, before Social Security, to provide retired public employees with a measure of security and income, not to supplement a salary, pension officials said.
"The notion that somebody could be collecting a full salary and full retirement benefits really is an abuse and is very troubling," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "In effect, it is double dipping. It's this kind of practice that undercuts the public trust in government."
Eugene Thayer, the highest paid of the working retirees, said taxpayers are getting their money's worth. He earns $192,000 a year as superintendent of Framingham schools, the latest in a string of short-term superintendent posts over the past eight years. His pension is worth an additional $85,000 a year.
The 72-year-old just signed on for a second year leading Framingham schools.
"It would be a shame to waste the experience I've gained over the years," he said.
Nothing prevents the waivers from being renewed indefinitely. About 25 percent of districts request renewals, according to the state Education Department; several retirees have already been granted permission to continue in their positions next school year.
Although Boston headmaster Peggy Kemp retired in 1992, she has been leading Fenway High School for the last five years. She commands a $116,945 salary as well as a $20,822-a-year pension.
Kemp declined to comment, but the application the district submitted contained no documentation of yearly advertising or any attempt to find a nonretired candidate. Materials supporting her yearly renewal request have not been updated since 2003.
Paul Reville, who will become state education secretary Tuesday, said the department must reexamine how these positions are approved, but acknowledges that the need for the waivers will continue, in light of continued teacher shortages.
"You wouldn't want to disadvantage our school districts from getting the talent they need," he said. But "nobody wants to see the pension abused in any way."
William Guenther, president of Mass Insight Education, suggested changing the retirement structure to allow educators filling critical need subjects to go into partial retirement and collect only a portion of their pension as they continue to work and earn a full salary.
"We need to go about it in a way that's attractive to the employee but also fair to the taxpayers," Guenther said, "so we're not charging taxpayers twice."
Globe correspondents Kate Augusto and Matt Collette contributed to this report. Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
I FOUND THIS INTERESTING, COULD IT HAPPEN IN EVERETT? |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2008 : 8:08:47 PM
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With the City Council meeting postponed until Wednesday night, I made myself sit thru a first run of a school committee meeting. Stat wasn't there so there was no possibilty of fireworks. I had thought that the temporary bleachers would get a mention; they didn't. It was kind of worth it, even though I had to sit through FFF reading a letter praising him to the hilt (How does fit his ego through the door?), as I found out a couple of interesting facts.
- The school department intends to re-open at least a portion of the Adams School to house their program for three year olds.
- It doesn't sound like the school department has any intentions of vacating the old high school until the city forces them out. Of course, this also means that they are responsible for maintaining the building. They are planning on spending money on repairs to the building so that they can hold night school there. They continue to store stuff there and use the field house on a regular basis. The TV studio also is still there. It sounded like there would be a problem in the future with the space needed for all of the school activities if they lose access to the old field house.
I guess that I was probably wrong last night when I said that the school department wouldn't be looking for any more money from the city. |
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Gadzooks
Member
16 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2008 : 10:28:19 PM
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| Nothing new under the sun, Tetris. As long as this school committee (with the exception of Smith) is taking in oxygen, they will be looking for more money. Let's see how the mayor handles this now. |
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imbroglio
Member
47 Posts |
Posted - 09/22/2008 : 12:20:40 PM
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| Joe Guliano always votes with Stat. He also volunteered in the recent campaign. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2008 : 11:16:10 AM
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| I hear Fred and Lorna are in court again today on the ethic charges. |
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charm
Senior Member
264 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2008 : 06:40:03 AM
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| their lawyers were not them, I understand they are not going to drop the chargers against FFF for the painting of his house on tax payers time, I am so happy |
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Tails
Administrator
2682 Posts |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2008 : 11:12:58 PM
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| FFF should just resign and not put the city through more embarrassment. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2008 : 9:08:23 PM
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Because the Common Council meeting got over so early, I was able to catch the end of the school commitee meeting. It appears that one of the items (only?) that I missed was a discussion of MCAS scores. I'll have to catch a replay to see that show.
What I did catch though was a request by Stat Smith, prompted by the bills approved for payment by the school committee's finance committee, to discuss the amount of money that the school department spends on newspaper advertising. I thought that things might explode but it got referred to the next meeting of their finance committee. Those meetings take place before the regular school committee but are not televised. I would think that there is a good possibility that there will at least be an attempt for that discussion to spill over to the next regular meeting of the school committee. We'll have to remember that in two weeks. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2008 : 9:11:54 PM
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| The amount of advertising the school department does in our local papers is outrageous. I can only imagine what that is costing the taxpayers. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2008 : 9:21:20 PM
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| We may find out; Stat asked that the amount that the school department has spent so far this fiscal year be available at the meeting in two weeks. |
Edited by - tetris on 10/06/2008 9:22:03 PM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/20/2008 : 10:58:27 PM
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| I barely caught any of it but there was a discussion of the amount of money that the school department spends on advertising at this week's school committee meeting. The school committee took a vote to continue spending the advertising money. Only Smith and Juliano voted against it. I'll have to catch that entire segment. |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2008 : 11:00:14 PM
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I got a chance to watch almost all of a re-run of last night's school committee. I guess that I didn't miss that much of the advertising discussion; there just wasn't that much to it. It was reported that, since the start of the fiscal year, the school department has spent $25,000 on all types of newspaper advertising. Some of their advertising is required by law; other advertising is purely discretionary. Presented in this fashion, it was really hard to tell anything. I guess more detail was presented at the school committee's finance committee meeting but it wasn't shared with the public. As I stated last night, Smith and Juliano where the only members that voted against continuing the discretionary advertising. It seems that Smith might also begin to vote against the regular payment of school department bills because of this. At least, that's what he did last night.
Of just as much interest, it seems that Smith submitted a number of items to appear on the agenda that did not make it there. Mr. MacLaughlin took responsibility for this as he stated that he thought that the items were scheduled to appear on the agenda. He promised that they would at a later date. It seems as if Stat has gone to the state's Department of Education (or whatever they are called now) to see if they agreed that these were legitimate items to appear on a school committee agenda. He assured the committee that they were. FFF did not seem pleased. With the State Rep race pretty much behind him, it appears that Stat is finally going to look to try to make some impact on the School Committee. There may be fireworks ahead. |
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massdee
Moderator
5299 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2008 : 08:51:25 AM
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I always forget about these meetings. I think it is due to the majority of the members always rubber stamping everything Freddy wants. I wish there was more interest in different people to run for the School Committee, not necessarily anti Fred people, just concerned people that are willing to vote their own minds.
Cutting back on their advertising would be a way of saving some money in these tough economic times, without impacting the educational process. It's my opinion, that page after page of advertising in our local papers is frivolous and only feeds Fred's huge ego. |
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School Committee
