SF School District

Looks like the SF School District screwed another one up

While the Gargoyle Leader constantly rails that teachers need to get paid better, apparently they only mean full-time teachers;

While some people are concerned that substitute rates don’t reflect full-time teachers’ salaries, the daily amount that Sioux Falls substitutes get is a fair rate on several levels.

For one thing, the $90 daily salary is well within the range that is paid in neighboring school districts.

Brandon Valley pays $85.

Harrisburg pays $95.

West Central is the highest, with $107.

I guess they forgot to mention the teeny-weeny town of Tea, SD pays $115 a day. It is no secret who the AL is talking about when they say ‘While some people’ , Theresa Stehly, who is heading up the effort for more sub pay. The AL still has sour grapes over the indoor pool vote and any chance they get they will try to get back at her about it, even chiding KSFY into dedicating a segment tonight about a new indoor pool (drop it already, voters rejected it, move on).

The irony of all this is that the subs gave the School District the opportunity to raise the rate on their own by simply asking them to, but now that they said no to a raise and got the AL to cheerlead the effort, it could blowup in their faces. My assumption is that the subs will now organize and join the SDNEA and have them negotiate a pay raise. Once again the SFSD passed up an opportunity and now it will cost them. Go Figure.

LEAVE IT TO KOCH HAZARD TO DESIGN ANOTHER WHITE ELEPHANT

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Here we go again, designing a facility that is too extravagant for Sioux Falls, and not having a way to pay for it. I think Kate Parker’s unemotional Spock stare says it all;

School board members say they don’t need a new Howard Wood, but they’ll be happy to build it to make room for a new city events center – as long as someone else pays for the upgrade.

And who is gonna pay for it? Mickey F’ing Mouse? Get a clue.

I also found this letter to the editor informative. I think Joe sat on one of the original Event Center taskforces? I have met Joe on a couple of occasions, he is very bright and intuitive, and considering he an urban planner, he just might know what he is talking about;

The events center task force deserves praise for having dedicated countless hours to public meetings and fostering a transparent process. But its current proposal – a new facility to be located adjacent to the Sioux Falls Convention Center – falls short as an economically sustainable venture, as experts recently have illustrated. Thus, it is imperative for the task force to rethink its proposal.

The proposal does not maximize the potential for economic development, which is the most significant criterion. Furthermore, the task force has assumed the proposed location can leverage the current Sioux Falls Arena and the convention space. This assumption is over-emphasized and problematic because it disregards current trends in the convention center industry.

There is a glut of convention floor space across the nation, which makes for cutthroat competition among cities trying to attract conventions. “Cities can no longer just build convention center space and expect to get their fair share of demand,” according to Hans Detlefsen, an industry expert. “There is not enough business to go around.”

Joe, I suggest you will have more luck banging your head against the wall instead of trying to convince the task force otherwise. It is no secret that Terri Ellis Schmidt (Head of CVB) has them in a chokehold and she is running the show.

Some Other Problems With The Current Proposal Are:

• Using a new events center for conventions thwarts efforts to attract concerts, as Omaha experienced.

• It is unwise to have multiple facilities at one location because simultaneous events will proliferate traffic congestion.

•  The convention center site significantly diminishes opportunities for patrons to bike, walk or take public transit to events. Furthermore, traffic studies indicate downtown as a suitable site.

You only list THREE PROBLEMS!? I could fill a newspaper.

If the task force cannot take the long view on this issue, then it would be better not to build a new events center rather than make a 50-year mistake.

That’s gotta burn.

Substitute teacher pay increases in Sioux Falls

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Theresa Stehly told me today she is fighting for higher (competitive) substitute teacher pay. She is only asking it equals what surrounding communities are paying. Subs get paid $90 a day in the SF school district, she is asking it gets raised to $115. She has been contacting school board members and basically saying she would like to see them raise it on their own without getting the teacher’s union involved. There is approximately 600 subs in the SF School District.

Currently the Harrisburg School District pays $110 a day and Tea, SD pays $115 a day.

The Wacko Teabaggers are at it again, now they are trying to censor presidential PSA’s

When are these fartknockers gonna knock off their BS? It’s not funny and stupid anymore, it is starting to become annoying;

The National Tea Party Coalition called on parents to take their children out of participating classrooms in favor of alternative activities. Member Katrina Pierson said on hallpassonthat.com that Obama’s lesson plans were “uncomfortably partisan.”

What freaking color is the kettle Katrina? You idiots created modern partisanship. It’s not like he is asking students who are in school band to put on a free concert at the expense of taxpayers in a public park for a freak show political demonstration, if that was the case, then I would understand your objections.

Tea Area schools will not show the webcast.

“We are not showing the feed, but encourage parents that want their children to see the message to record it and show it to their children at home. We have had numerous phone calls from parents objecting to their children seeing the speech,” Superintendent Jerry Schutz said by e-mail.

Don’t you mean you have had numerous TEABAGGER parents object to the speech. C’mon, we know this is just a handful of kookbags objecting. What is wrong with the president telling kids to study hard and stay in school? Seriously? Heck even GW and his mom did a PSA about eating supper with your parents. Where was the objection to that?

The Sioux Falls central office received its first handful of phone calls Wednesday afternoon from parents who wondered how the schools would handle Obama’s invitation. The district responded with a recorded phone call and e-mail to parents Thursday and a news conference with Superintendent Pam Homan.

A News Conference! Give me a break. I wonder how much that cost taxpayers? Homan, don’t you have better things to do, like proofread pamphlets that are handed out in your school?

Homan said the district’s protocol is to let individual teachers decide “when and how that might fit into the curriculum.”

Duh. Why censor the PSA from all students when only a select few parents don’t want their kids to see it? It should be handled like sex ed, if you don’t want your kid to have comprehensive sex ed, pull them out of class, but don’t ruin an important educational opportunity for other students because you have a white hood and bible shoved up your ass so far you see and hear cross-eyed.

Harrisburg parent Terri Feilzer said she worries about what Obama might say during the address. She said that if her son’s teacher plans to show the address, she will remove him from class for the rest of the day.

Feilzer said Obama’s message is not worth interrupting class time. “I don’t think that he needs to take the time to talk to kids about staying in school. That’s my job as a parent,” she said.

BAHAHAHAHA! “If the president is going to be telling my son to stay in school, golly, I’ll pull him out of school. That’ll show them sushi eating lefties!”

Barbara Christen, a Sioux Falls parent, said it would be good for kids to hear a pro-education message directly from a president who most kids think is “cool.”

She is disturbed by those who fear Obama will use the opportunity to somehow indoctrinate students to his way of thinking on other issues.

“When I was a kid I remember watching Jimmy Carter talk about the importance of education,” Christen said. “To me, it’s displaced racism. … All we’re doing is promoting hate.”

So the teabaggers get their way once again? F’ing Tards.

When is the SF school district gonna grow a brain?

First, the communications director allows a distasteful ad to print, because she was not doing her job and proofreading the material. Then instead of Homan firing her or scolding her for the action, she defends her. Then the school board listens to a bunch of lawyers instead of parents and bans outside materials. Now they take advantage of the stupid ban and are selling parents names.

SIOUX FALLS — The Sioux Falls School District is likely to review its practice of selling student information to outside groups, after it has come under fire from some parents who worry about privacy issues.

Kevin Kunkel, who leads a group called the Parents Action Committee, says he plans to make a formal complaint. That would put the policy on the Sept. 1 agenda of the school district’s policy review committee.

School Board president Kent Alberty says the practice complies with federal law, but if there is a written complaint the practice will be re-examined.

The names of students and parents, their addresses and phone numbers are available for $100 for every two grade levels of information. Twenty-three lists were sold last year.

A parent can request that information not be sold to outside groups, but such a decision also will prevent the student’s information from appearing with such things as sports rosters and theater programs.

I know Kevin personally, trust me, when he takes something on, he gets it done.