Vote NO on Tuesday and send a message to the SF School Board, Constituents Matter!
l3wis 
SF School District
Are our local TV Stations skewing the school start date debate
My first reaction is to blame it on bad journalism and ineptness, let’s face it, coming from a station who has a long standing anchor resigning because she just realized she is grumpy and grouchy and another station that is more concerned about photo-ops with the mayor at their company Christmas party we shouldn’t be too surprised.
First, Sammi starts it off with her bad math skills;
The later start also means pushing the end of school back. The last day of school this year is May 14th.
With the new proposal, it would be nearly a month later on June 2nd.
Not sure what math classes Sammi took in college, but last I checked a month is between 28-31 days. The difference between 5/14 and 6/2 is 19 days, about 11 days short of a month. But nice try skewing the topic.
Let’s move on to the Grouchy Nancy station.
Contrary to popular belief, this group is completely student run, other than a mentor needed to oversee the students. Students are not given extra credit to join the group or vote in the election. These ideas and opinions are all student based and are what the students want.
Ah nice work (wink, nod, nod, SF School District Attorney Sue Simons) yeah, not one single teacher or administrator, or PR person has spent ANY time during instructional time on school property helping these students, because see that would violate state law, and let’s just take their word for it. But why would KSFGrouchy spend anytime actually investigating if what the students are saying is true? Because that would take being an actual journalist instead just a microphone stand.
Where to VOTE next Tuesday, April 14th
I know it is a shocker, but the SAME super precinct voting centers are being used for the School Election as were used in the Municipal Election. That’s right, for the first time in YEARS you will be able to vote at the same place you voted at in the last election.
I was surprised to see that Bev Chase w/the School District and Lorie Hogstad with the City Clerk’s office figured out how to communicate with each other. Not sure if they used phones or carrier pigeons.
I know, I had to double check myself.
But if you are still tired of the musical precincts games, as I am, you can absentee vote at the County Administration building up until April 13.
Sample Ballot: (SampleBallot)
Click to Enlarge
Were we getting a bargain with Super Pam Homan?
Actually, I don’t think we were, but look at what the new Super was making in Kearney;
The KPS Board of Education on May 9 voted to freeze administrator salaries for fiscal 2011-2012. The breakdown of the superintendent’s compensation package: salary, $188,605; health insurance, $6,398; dues, $761; retirement, $15,772; unused vacation (varies per year), $3,500; and, personal use of car, $.51 per mile.
Notice that the process of hiring the NEW Super has been done under a cloak of secrecy. I heard that the media knew who the new Super was before the teachers were even given the news.
Make no mistake, the lack of transparency wasn’t to protect the identities of the candidates, it was there to protect the contract negotiations, and from the public knowing what we are going to pay our new super. It’s been two days since the announcement, and the ink on the contract is supposed to start drying this afternoon, yet we still have not been told what we are offering him?
Realize, he was making $188K for a district of 5K students. What do you think he will be asking for to run a district (he is NOT familiar with) that has almost 5x that many students? (Pam makes $194K currently)Â Get ready Sioux Falls property tax payers, this is going to hurt.