2012 Brandywine School District Referendum
The Brandywine School District announced plans to hold another referendum on March 28, 2012 to yet again raise property taxes. Click HERE to view their own statement.
I worked for the Brandywine School District from 1993-2010 (WMPH). For 17 years, I witnessed so many cases of wasteful and extravagant spending. In 2010, the district laid off over 70 teachers and support staff; yet EVERYONE on any type of administrative level not only had their contracts renewed, but got a raise. Are you aware that the superintendent makes more annually than a United States Member of Congress?!? Did you know most schools have four principals (i.e. Principal, Assistant Principal, Assistant to the Principal, Dean of Students), a State Trooper on district payroll, fully staffed wellness centers separate from school nurses, several interventionists per school, etc.
The Brandywine School District is a case-in-point for how not to manage people. I've seen their bully tactics so many times. The politics, nepotism, and stealth bookkeeping should be better analyzed by the public. They are masters at demotivation. I love our community and our schools... but not the politics associated with the district.
Although there is a so called Freedom of Information Act, the Brandywine School District is a long way from being transparent. I believe in freedom of information pertinent to the pre-decisions made by our superintendent and administrators. The administration and other support staff only exist to serve the teachers who actually educate our children for a better future. We the People need to know our tax dollars are being spent for wisely. I believe an independent committee of citizens should review all pre-purchases over a designated amount. For example, any purchase order in excess of $10,000 would be submitted to our watchdog committee with a brief explanation for the necessity of the purchase. Of course, all raises and contracts should be reviewed by a non-partisan committee.
When the school system fails, our society seems to throw more money at it. In my professional opinion, the greatest problem with our local schools is the lack of discipline. Teachers often spend more time 'trying' to deal with unruly behavior than teaching. I've seen students curse at teachers, and even the principal, saying "There's nothing you can do about it!"
In tough economic times, citizens need to say ‘No’ to school referendum tax hikes. Like all of us, the Brandywine School District needs to budget with what they have. Here is their track record over the past two decades. When citizens vote ‘yes’, all administrators always get a big raise. When citizens vote ‘No’, the district intimidates citizens that programs will be cut if they don’t get their money. It would be very foolish to continually give these school district administrators more and more of our hard-earned money. Vote ‘NO’ on the upcoming Brandywine School District referendum.
Delaforum
Read the Delaforum news article on the upcoming referendum HERE.
Edutopia
Empowering and connecting teachers, administrators, and parents with innovative solutions and resources to better education. Click HERE for more solutions.
Thoughts on Demotivation
(1) POLITICS: Most employees are all too familiar with subjective decision-making which operates according to unwritten “rules of success,” having little to do with performance. Under such conditions, the lion’s share of rewards, promotions, and resources go to those who are the best at “playing politics.”
(2) UNCLEAR EXPECTATIONS: Mixed messages and confused priorities often cause employees to work on the wrong tasks and accomplish the wrong results, only to find out – after the fact (usually at performance appraisal time) – that they were on the wrong track.
(3) UNPRODUCTIVE MEETINGS: Meetings are important, but too many are unnecessary, disorganized, passive, lengthy, and boring – leaving employees, according to one observer, “feeling powerless as another meeting wanders into oblivion.”
(4) CONSTANT CHANGE: Change is vital to organizational success, but today’s workplace is turbulent enough without unnecessary changes, which employees deride as “programs-of-the-month” and which are often adopted and discontinued without any follow-up whatsoever.
(5) DISHONESTY: Whether it involves making a false claim, covering up a mistake, omitting a key fact, saying one thing but doing another, or an outright lie, nothing demotivates employees like being deceived by their organization.
(6) WITHHOLDING INFORMATION: One of the most common employee complaints is “not being informed.” How many times have you heard, “I wish I had known that earlier” or “The Company doesn’t keep us informed about what’s happening”? Lack of information makes employees feel stupid and distrusted.
(7) DISCOURAGING RESPONSES: Too many organizations and managers say they want employees’ ideas, but then ignore them. Most employees are familiar with discouraging phrases (such as “It can’t be done here”) and many suggestion systems are “black holes” into which suggestions seem to disappear, never to be seen again. Just consider how many millions of great ideas were killed by this demotivator alone, not to mention the devastating impact it has had on workers’ self-esteem.
(8) UNFAIRNESS: Nothing offends employees like preferential treatment, special favors, and perks given to some but not to others. Most workers become particularly irate when they learn of astronomical management compensation packages, while excellent employees are paid only a few dollars more than those who do the minimum.
(9) BEING TAKEN FOR GRANTED: Employees everywhere report that they receive little or no positive feedback or recognition, not even for their outstanding efforts.
(10) BEING FORCED TO DO POOR-QUALITY WORK: Short-term time and cost constraints too often force quality compromises. Being robbed of the right to pride in workmanship is demoralizing and demeaning to employees. As one discouraged worker lamented: “We all knew the product was garbage, but it was shipped anyway. We left work each day feeling awful.”
