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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Ocean City Volunteer Fire Chief Chris Larmore Speaks Out


In the upcoming days, the remaining truth and facts regarding the fire service in the Town of Ocean City will continue to unfold. In the meantime, although I will not become embattled in a media or chat room war, I must submit the following to:

Actual Info 700, and the one or two against us that claim to belong to the to fire service, an institution of loyalty, honesty and integrity. If you wish to condemn, growl, and eternally find fault, then leave the organization, and damn to your hearts content. However, to do this, and remain a member, means you are both a coward and foolish, for as you condemn and demoralize the organization, it is a reflection upon you. Lastly, to do so anonymously is further indicative of your character.

Chris Larmore
Chief OCVFC

Wicomico Board of Education - It's Not Just About Retirement Anymore

Thanks to a well written article in Sunday's Daily Times (along with a very interesting supplement on pages A6-A7), discussion of the Wicomico County Board of Education's (WCBOE) Early Notification Program (ENP) should take a dramatic turn. The WCBOE's stated purposes for the ENP are simple: retention (especially for those with 20 - 25 years of service) and HR planning. However, it is the supplemental information provided that should give the greatest cause for concern.

On pages A6 and A7 of the printed edition of the Daily Times is a list of WCBOE employees with 25+ years of service. Should the salary levels shock the average taxpayer of Wicomico County? No. By themselves they should not be cause for great concern. However, taken in context, this information should (at least) be grist for the grinder of public discussion.

Let's remember, the average teacher works less than nine (9) months of the year. There's the summer vacation plus all of those Holiday's and breaks that the average private sector worker doesn't get off, much less paid for. Let's take one example. There is a third grade teacher whose salary is listed as $80,179. Annualized, that salary is $107,000. Administrative personnel are (hopefully) a slightly different matter because (again, hopefully) they are "working" twelve months per year. Of course that's not really the case because I do know that they still get most (if not all) of these other holidays and breaks (plus vacation).

The next time you read a letter to the editor from some poor teacher claiming that they have to work as a waitress over the summer "just to make ends meet" at least be more of a skeptic. I'm actually more concerned for the single mom who has to work all year as a waitress and has to pay taxes to provide those teacher salaries.

As a political conservative I don't buy into the typical class warfare arguments. Again, the salary level by themselves shouldn't be cause for alarm. However, where else (besides the Federal government) can you get a job that pays an annualized six figure salary; from which it is almost impossible to be dismissed for poor job performance; where you have great benefits; and where a good share of your medical benefits are paid in retirement?

As I stated in a previous post, if WCBOE teachers and staff want salary levels commensurate with the private sector then their jobs should truly be equivalent to the private sector. That means:

For top level staff, they should be held accountable for the millions of taxpayer dollars they spend. Productivity in the bureaucracy should be one of the core benchmarks against which they are measured. How much money would be saved each year if the hierarchy were flattened out and the same (or more) work was accomplished with half to two-thirds of the personnel. That's what's occurred in the private sector over the last 20 years. Of course that would mean that an EdD (PhD in education) would automatically disqualify an individual from being a superintendent. I can hear the shirt tearing coming from our universities now.

For mid, and lower, level staff there should be NO benefit for seniority. Merit and/or productivity should rule the roost - 100%. Of course you will hear all sorts of the reasons that this can't work from the education bureaucracy. Don't worry, I'll address those later.

For teachers, the remedies are just a bit different. Teachers are, in effect, the infantry. They do the work that matters. Everything else is a support function. Don't get me wrong. Many, but definitely not all, of these other positions are necessary. However, the bottom line is that a school system is supposed to teach our children.

Teachers should be well paid. Teacher pay should NOT be determined solely by seniority. If there is a shortage of math teachers or science teachers then they should be paid more than teachers in areas where there is no shortage (a point made by the Daily Times editorial in Sunday's edition). Tenure should be abolished outright. Teachers should be forced to maintain competence, not only in teaching, but in their core subject area.

There should be merit pay. I constantly hear all of the arguments against it. "You can't trust the principal to evaluate fairly", etc. How do you think it works in the private sector? If a manager (principal) keeps rewarding his buddies instead of the best teachers, then the best teachers will transfer to another school or leave for another system. When top management sees the discrepancy the principal should be FIRED, not merely transferred (which is what happens today at the WCBOE). Of course there are inefficiencies; but in the long run they are worked out of the system.

Teachers should be evaluated on RESULTS. Now, that has to vary depending on the teacher's subject or pupil base. A special ed teacher can't be expected to deliver test results equal to a teacher who's students are classified as "gifted". However, don't tell me that metrics can't be established for measuring these types of activities. Has the public education community ever heard of "Six Sigma"?

Of course there should also be core changes in the curriculum, like making kids read. I get sick to my stomach every time my son, who graduated from the county schools, or one of my nieces or nephews tells me about something that they learned in school and I find out that they watched a movie. Movies are what you watch on the weekend after all of your school work is done. Movies don't claim to be historically accurate or true to the work on which they are based. But in this day our kids are learning Moby Dick from watching "that Star Trek dude" (they mean the version starring Patrick Stewart, which is supposedly the truest to Melville's novel). And we wonder why Johnny can't read?

These are just a few possible solutions, and I readily admit that they primarily focus around pay. There are many more solutions out there and many (most?) of them are worthy of consideration. The question remains - what are we willing to do to improve our public schools? I'm willing to do a lot, including pay higher taxes, IF the WCBOE was serious about fixing the problems of our schools. Unfortunately, I do not believe that there is the political will on the part of the school board (particularly under an O'Malley administration) to actually address these problems. The answer from the MSTA is always a simple one - spend more money. We need only look across the Bay to the DC school system to see that throwing money at a problem is not a solution.

cross posted at Delmarva Dealings

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Help Wanted?


"Did you happen to see the WCDC advertisement for a "CORRECTIONS FACILITY MANAGER"? It's for a maintenance supervisor, for cripe's sake! And they honestly think they're going to get someone certified in electrician, plummer HVAC etc., with good leadership qualities, for $35034 a year? Have you had an electrician or a plummer do any work lately? Plummers get $180 an hour! This is a joke! It's got to be!

Perhaps you also noticed that the requirements for this particular position are a lot longer than those for Chief of Security? Clearly, 3D is of the opinion that one cannot emerge fresh from college and do a sufficient job supervising maintenance personnel, but they can supervise CO's and handle all of the security issues pertaining to inmates. Interesting revelation, that. Perhaps we begin to see how 3D's mind works . . . when it works."

A Little Known Perk at the Wicomico County Board of Education

NOTE: This article was posted 5 days ago here on Salisbury News. GA and I had been working on it for weeks, obviously forcing the "Daily Times" hand as they're all over it in today's Sunday Paper. Expect a follow up article from GA some time later this morning.

Are you aware that the Wicomico County Board of Education has a program to give teachers and staff a 10% raise for each of their last three years on the job? The program is called the "Early Notification Program" or ENP.

Here's how it works. You file for the program stating your intention to retire at the end of three years. You receive an automatic 10% raise. In year two (2), whatever your salary level is for that year it is automatically bumped by 10%. Ditto for year three (3). At the end of year three (3) you are officially retired. The justification for this program is that Wicomico County has a tough time keeping teachers for their full careers. Reportedly, Worcester and Talbot counties provide a much better salary package as well as a much better retiree medical benefit.

Contrary to the beliefs of some, there does not appear to be anything nefarious about it. It was passed by the school board in an open meeting and the program details are right on the BOE's web site.

That said, I still have a problem with the program. You constantly hear public sector employees whine that their pay and benefits should be comparable to the private sector. I happen to be in complete agreement. EVERY aspect of their jobs should be comparable to the private sector.

What would that entail for the WCBOE teachers and staff:

1. Their wages would be set by the market, not a negotiation between the teacher's union and another group of civil servants at the board.

2. Their job security would have the same protections as the private sector provides. Merit, not seniority, would dictate pay and promotion. If a teacher or staff person is not doing their job they are terminated, NOT transferred to another school or office.

3. In the case of teachers, they would give away ALL of their union protections. They claim to be professionals. They demand to be paid as professionals. FINE. Professionals don't have unions. No ridiculous grievance procedure, etc. (see 2).

4. Teachers would have an opportunity to contribute to a 401-K type account (which is usually better than the 403-B's I have seen) with a market based match. This would save the state $million$ in retirement costs. As for medical benefits, they would get what the market delivers. Today, that is usually nothing. The days of defined benefit plans with hefty medical benefits are gone. Sure we all know a few people who are receiving them now, but how many people do we know who have 10+ years to go until retirement and have these plans? Read the Wall Street Journal once in while. Companies are choosing bankruptcy rather than being saddle with these liabilities. (for the record, I blame the management who signed the contracts and not the unions who won the contracts)

the list can go on... and on... and on.

Teachers, and all public sector employees, have a right to change jobs just like everyone else. If you want to be a teacher and can make more in Worcester County, you are free to go. Do not give me a song and dance about "losing our best teachers". Truly good teachers don't go into it for the money to begin with. Additionally, since teachers (and most public sector employees) do not face market forces when it comes to every other area of their employment they have no right to claim the free market when it comes to pay and benefits.

Now I am sure that I will receive a great deal of negative comments about this. So be it! Again, this is America. Public sector employees have a right to move, change jobs, etc. just like the rest of us. It makes me think of a story from a friend of mine.

He was having a discussion with a government employee who whined on about how the local government wasn't doing this, wasn't doing that ...

"Where's your draft card?", he said.

"What do you mean? I don't have a draft card."

"Exactly. No one is FORCING you to work for the (enter city, county, state, federal government). You have a perfect right to go work somewhere else. If you are SO unhappy, that's just what you should do."

There endeth the conversation (very abruptly).


I want to thank Bill Cain and Tracy Sahler for answering my questions and providing me with all of the information that I requested.


cross posted at Delmarva Dealings

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