The WTHR report says in part:
The administrators' severance policy, in place for more than a decade, includes free health insurance and roughly a year's pay in addition to their pensions.
For many administrators it wasn't a tough choice. Retire now with full benefits or retire later and receive less generous benefits similar to what teachers receive now.
Stinson expects board members to discontinue the special retirement benefits and he intends to replace only two of the retiring administrators, saving roughly $750,000 a year, about equal to their one-time retirement costs.
The 'Stinson' referenced is, of course, Don Stinson, Superintendent of MSD Decatur Township.
But, surprise, surprise - the retirement benefits policy signed by then School Board President, Larry Taylor, and Secretary, Judy Collins, on May 11, 2004, emphatically contradicts Don Stinson, and clearly eliminated nearly ALL of the items in the retirement packages Stinson supplied to Jeff Baer, Gary Pellico, Dave Rather, Pat Jones, and Janet Larch.
Totaling well over $800,000 for the first year, and including paid health insurance for an unnamed number of years going forward (which can easily total $100,000 per year), these retirement packages are just one more extravagance Stinson is bestowing upon Administrators. This level of expense could have covered all other RIFs forced upon other employees in the District. RIFs continue, as well, in case you hadn't heard. For perspective, $800,000 could fully fund 15 young teachers for a year.
A little background - back in the early 2000's, the State Legislature finally acted to get ahead of the unfunded retirement benefits looming to become budget busters in Indiana schools. These unfunded mandates were obligations set up by employment contracts for certain items to be included in retirement packages, but for which no money was being set aside by the Districts. The State enacted a window of time during which school districts could float bonds to pay for unfunded pension obligations from the past. MSD Decatur School Board approved this type of bond issue in the amount of $8 million at its September and October, 2003 Board meetings. The September, 2003, minutes state:
Dr. Baer, Assistant Superintendent of Business, explained that the purpose of requesting the additional appropriation was to purchase bonds to cover the School Corporation’s unfunded retirement or severance liability.
All School Board members voted in favor: Larry Taylor, Don Huffman, Judy Collins, Cathy Wiseman, and Herb Bazemore. Huffman, Collins, and Wiseman continue on the Board to this day and should certainly remember the changes in retirement benefits.
The retirement benefits policy, ""Metropolitan School District of Decatur Township Administrators' Employee and Retirement Benefits (July 1, 2004)", sets in motion the change from unfunded retirement benefits for Administrators to fully funded benefits. The fiscal impact would be to put money away each year, according to the commitments in the Teachers Contract and the Administrator's addendum to that contract, instead of trying to come up with money from operating funds in future years after these administrators retired. To achieve the change, the previously contractual obligations had to be appraised for their monetary value, that money invested in appropriate retirement accounts set up for each individual administrator, and future contracts written in keeping with these changes. The 2003 bond was to be used to pay for these buyouts.
The administrator addenda for the 2009-2010 school year for Jeff Baer, Gary Pellico, Dave Rather, Pat Jones, and Candace Milhon-Baer, are all consistent with the new retirement benefits laid out in this 2004 Board policy. I do not have a copy of Janet Larch's latest contract. Don Stinson's contract, however, has several additional retirement benefits, including:
10. A retiring Superintendent shall have the option of remaining in his/her selected corporation health insurance program until qualifying for Medicare, if the minimum requirements of the insurance plan are met. The Corporation shall pay an annual amount equal to the full employee/spouse premium.
11. There will be no limit on the number of accumulated personal illness leave day. [sic]
and a rather long item 18 that invests part of Stinson's 2004-2005 benefits buyout into a series of $15,500 annuities in each of 5 years. The total value of this item is $77,464 - part of the value of Stinson's retirement benefits buyout that resulted from this 2004 Board policy. Other Administrators may very well have recieved as large a buyout as Stinson.
According to the July 1, 2004 Board policy on Administrator retirement benefits, a company named Educational Services Company, was to determine the value of each Administrator's unfunded retirement benefits, and how much money should be deposited into each of the new retirement accounts set up for each individual Administrator. You can read all of these details at your leisure and according to your interest in such things.
The policy states (page 1; emphasis is mine):
Any rights to retirement and severance pay, including, but not limited to, amounts payable following termination of employment for years of service, accumulated sick leave or health insurance from any policy, contract, or addendum to a regular teacher's contract... currently held by an Administrator are terminated and shall not apply to any Administrator retiring or severing employment with the School Corporation on or after the Effective Date. In replacement, the Retirement Benefits of the Administrators employed by the School Corporation as of June 30, 2004 shall be bought out and contributed to the 401(a) Plan and VEBA, as described below.
The policy describes the annual contributions that the District will make to a 401(a), 403(b) and a VEBA retirement accounts (begins page 6). The last is an account designed to purchase health insurance and pay for health related costs after retirement.
The policy requires Administrators to pay for their own health insurance after retiring (page7):
Following retirement, an eligible Administrator and spouse shall be allowed to remain on the group health, dental and vision plans then maintained by the School Corporation, if any, at their own expense until the first day of the month following their eligibility for Medicare.
An Administrator may carry forward a maximum of 30 vacation days each year (page 7) and any in excess of 30 are turned into personal illness days. They may carry forward no more than 5 personal business days each year (page 8) and can cash in the extra for $100 a day, or they will turn into medical illness days.
The policy states (page 8):
Upon retirement, an Administrator's unused and accumulated person illness (sick leave) and personal business leave days shall be forfeited and not otherwise purchased by the School Corporation.
According to this policy and the lack of anything to the contrary in the contracts for Baer, Pellico, Rather, or Jones, they are not entitled to severance payments for service years, leave days, 30% of base salary, compensation for any more than perhaps 30 days of vacation accumulated, and no buyouts for additional years toward the Indiana State Teacher Retirement Fund. Most of the $800,000 in these severance packages are not in accord with Board policy nor are they contractual obligations. Any future payment by the School District for health insurance through the District's health plan, are also strictly forbidden by this policy and is not in their contracts.
Let me go back to Rich Van Wyk's report:
The administrators' severance policy, in place for more than a decade, includes free health insurance and roughly a year's pay in addition to their pensions.
For many administrators it wasn't a tough choice. Retire now with full benefits or retire later and receive less generous benefits similar to what teachers receive now.
Stinson expects board members to discontinue the special retirement benefits and he intends to replace only two of the retiring administrators, saving roughly $750,000 a year, about equal to their one-time retirement costs.
The Board policy does not include free health insurance nor roughly a year's pay upon retirement. The Board already discontinued the old, unfunded, retirement benefits 6 years ago. When you figure in the buyout of their retirement benefits in 2004-2005, some of whom could easily have seen as much as the $77,000 + obtained by Stinson, AND the fact that taxpayers have been contributing to several retirement plans for these Administrators since 2004, it becomes double or triple dipping. This is entirely a give away, far better than a gold watch, using taxpayer money that could have been used to save jobs in the District instead of further feathering nests that did not need to be further feathered.
Posts
57 comments:
Thank you for all you do. This blog is and has been an invaluable source for information.
It's absolutely amazing the arrogant disregard for the township from these administrators.
What recourse do we have, Pat?
anon 9:18 - thanks for your kind words, but I think we are all doing this together.
anon 9:25 - let's see if any of our great posters have any suggestions. But, don't discount the impact and value of the community becoming informed about what is going on.
Diamond Don has convinced our bobble-head school board to ignore the rules so he and his fat-cat buddies can loot the money we had set aside for the education of our kids. He doesn't give a damn about unfunded pensions...he's got his, that's all that matters.
Anybody notice the gaudy rings Stinson wears on his fingers at school board meetings now? I don't know who it was that recently pegged Stinson as a "bloated caricature" of the what's in it for me disease that infects our public servants. I couldn't agree more. He should be horse-whipped for stealing from children.
It's tragic that school issues tend to fly under everyone's radar at election time. Most voters aren't up to date on what actually goes on in local school administration and, consequently, the thieves keep getting re-elected.
If all this is as dirty as you say Pat, take it through the legal system and get it fixed. All this supposed "informing the community" is doing is "tarnishing" people's reputations and showing just how bitter and angry some of you are. This blog is not really doing anything useful, even though you keep stating that it is. If you sold this at the grocery checkout line, quite a few people would look at it but most would not buy it because no one really believes it. Of course there are those who do buy it and some of them have seen Elvis working at the local 7-eleven.
I'd say the people in question had done a thorough job of "tarnishing" their reputations long before Pat posted anything here...or is this the only place you come to catch up on what's happening?
Last I heard, Elvis was working for the caterer who prepares the haute-cuisine dinners that "Ringo" Stinson and the rest of the cake-eaters on the school board enjoy at taxpayer expense before each meeting. For my part, I appreciate Pat exposing the under-the-table graft going on in the school systems admin office. If the check-out line tabloids were as well documented with as many links to gov't records as Pat's blog postings are, I'm probably consider buying them.
Inquiring minds want to know...
Yoda, you're a nut. It's not easy to go through the court system. It takes a lot of money, you willing to contribute? This isn't something an attorney would work on contingency for because there is no money involved should you win.
This is something the public and media has to put the heat on. Ideally, the state legislature should start regulating this sort of thing.
Yoda, it's interesting to see how you think. Pat posted COLD HARD FACTS with links to support her case. Care to share your facts? You mainly have musings and observations.
I wonder...a year or so ago job titles were changed and we suddenly had numerous "assistant superintendents"... was that so these people would qualify for the retirement benefits listed for the superintendent?
I think Yoda is Webster, defending his buddies anonymously, since they told him to stop responding.
I don't think it matters a whole lot who yoda is. It's more important what Diamond Don and his cronies on the school board are doing.
It is rather dificult to work for people one does not respect. Good thing there are principals between the admin and the "workers". How can Adams be an assist. super. when she does not have a super. license?
Why wouldn't the attorney general look onto something like this issue?
I think that "Honey" Adams indeed has her superintendent's "license" and has had it for several years now. It is a key component of her single-minded obsession with clawing her way up the the position of superintendent. She has been stepping on nameless little people, compromising herself and, in one case, disrupting an entire school district in pursuit of her goal. She is one promotion away from her goal. If I were Diamond Don I'd keep in mind what she did to the supt at Perry Twp. The Dragon Lady is coming.
With deferred annuities, the investor does not start receiving payments for a certain length of time. That time can be months or it can be ten’s of years, it’s really up to you (but you must be at least 59 and one half years of age before payments are possible, without tax penalties). Usually deferred annuities are purchased by someone too young to receive payments (younger than 59.5 years of age), however people over 60 can also purchase an annuity with deferred payments. The payment type that makes sense (when you’re of age to make the decision) depends on two things:
1. Liquidity: If you have other funds, or plan on earning income through other means, than a deferred annuity may make sense. If you may need money quickly, then obviously locking up your money for a long time doesn’t make sense.Lump Sum Annuity
Ohhhhhhh! This school board! They are SO out of control! When do they have meetings? I have work and baby sitters to schedule or I'd go to every one! If I knew when they held meetings I'd go and speak! They are so sneaky they don't tell anyone! I'd get more involved but I don't know how. Are they elected or appointed? How do you be a school board member? They are awful.
Has anyone notified the State Board of Accounts(SBOA)?
"As an agency of the executive branch, the State Board of Accounts audits the financial statements of all governmental units within the state, including cities, towns, utilities, schools, counties, license branches, state agencies, hospitals, libraries, townships, and state colleges and universities. "
I am not Yoda. I have never been asked to stop writing anything. I read the blog, but I do not know enough about the retirement packages to comment on them. I do trust the people who are running our schools. I do think that they are doing the best they can for the children of our township. I know these people and they are honorable people with good intentions. When you call them names or mock what they do it seems to me that you are taking the easy way out. Name calling and blame calling results in very little change. Public Schools are hurting but you have a mayor who bails out a private business (The Pacers), builds a football complex for a private business ( the Colts),and Works out a tax abatement deal for a private corporation (Ameriplex). He even grants charters for private schools resulting in public schools losing students and receive even fewer dollars. I do not see you writing condemnations of the mayor or the governor for what they have or have not done for public schools. No you just write about people who struggle to allocate diminishing funds to school system in need of much more community support
Everyone wants to beat up on the public schools and anyone connected to them. We have in recent years educated students who are currently graduating from medical schools and receiving their doctorate. We have many students who are strong contributors to our community and who are doing real well.
Is there anyone on this blog who would like to say something positive about their schools. Most of you can read. ( thank a teacher). Most of you can write. ( Thank a teacher). Most of you successfully do very difficult tasks every day. ( thank a teacher).
Our colleges and Universities are the envy of the world and students from all over the world want to come to them.
Yes we have problems and I would love to share my ideas about them with you where we have more space. I am proud to be a teacher and I think that the purpose of public discourse is to improve what we have not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
I will never hide behind a name or the term anonymous. Put your name on what you write and help us create a discussion on how we can work together to improve the already good product that we have
Phil,
Sorry, but as a current teacher in Decatur township who doesn't quite share your trust and admiration of the administration, I feel I must remain anonymous.
I wish I could trust the administration. I want to have faith in Mr. Stinson and I don't want to be a complainer but, when Mr. Stinson goes on TV and tells a reporter that we are only 11 teachers down form last year, using the number RIF'd teachers minus the number called back while conveniently omitting the 25 teachers who retired, that really bothers me. at the time of that comment we were really 36 teachers down from last year. He knew that. You and I know that. Whether or not anything can be done about it, tell the truth! The elementary schools have been completely reconfigured for the coming year, in part to alleviate the over-crowding at West Newton and Valley Mills. Because of the reduction in the number of teachers, many, if not most, of the elementary classrooms currently have 30-35 students on their rosters.
At the same time the administration agrees to pay roughly $20,000 per year, for as many as 11 years, for health insurance plus a year's salary for individuals who no longer work in Decatur Township.
I have heard Mr. Stinson and members of the school board say on many occasions that when it comes to decision making, they always ask "Is this the best thing for our kids". Can you honestly tell me that 28 (the current number, I believe) fewer teachers and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on retired administrators is the best thing for our kids?
My faith and trust have taken a beating.
Yea Phil; remember what I said about the "good ol days" when school used to be the place to be? I dare you; go wax your car under a tree at the high school like we used to. You'll be surprised how fast you'd be arrested or ran off. Oh wait...there ARE no trees left. In doing what's best for our kids, this administration and board bulldozed them in the middle of the night. So much for the memorial trees that were planted over the last 50 years! Remember who they were for? I do...and remember where they were? I do... A couple were for Vietnam vetrans; DCHS grads that lost their lives there. GONE. You can say what you want and I have a right to say what I want (you taught me that). This administration and board are not doing what's best for our kids! They are here for one reason and one reason only. Themselves. Money and trips. Is it really true that we have over 30 students in a classroom? Wow. What you say to that? I used to believe in you; but you've lost a huge amount of respect and credibility by defending this administration and board. I don't agree with all the nut jobs here that scream bad names or claim that "laws were broken". I simply can't comprehend the amount of money that's spent on administration and school board! It's way too much; and for you to defend that is not cool. It's your opinion though and that's OK.
Phil will you please call CO and find out when the playground will be installed at Blue & Gold? School starts soon and I don't see any there.
If they have $ to give away I would think they have $ for a playground.
Phill all you have to do is read what Pat posted and you will learn about the retirement package. Then please tell us how you feel about them.
Per the manual for schools
http://www.in.gov/sboa/files/sch2009_013.pdf
;
"Compensation
All compensation and benefits paid to officials and employees must be included in the labor
contract, salary ordinance, resolution or salary schedule adopted by the governing body unless otherwise
authorized by statute. Compensation should be made in a manner that will facilitate compliance with
state and federal reporting requirements."
Do those retirement agreements violate the above provision?
Jon: So what if they did??? There's NO law broken here. Perhaps an ethical law; but no LAW was broken. No reprecutions if they were. I said it in an earlier post...it's just like spitting on the sidewalk. What's your point? No one did anything wrong!
Jon, thanks for the citation. It looks interesting and on point.
anon 2:32 - feel free to have your tax dollars wasted while they continue to lay people off and close an entire elementary school.
I don't see why we should tolerate nearly $900,000 this year followed by easily $100,000 a year for an unknown number of years to go to EXTRA compensation for individuals who had their old contract provisions bought out in 2004, then had more tax money contributed to 4 different retirement accounts every year since then. This is almost a million dollars that was clearly prohibited by board policy and not contractual obligations.
Too bad they have no money to keep good employees who are being kicked to the unemployment line as we speak.
Send a note with your property taxes and another to the Governor to cover all the other taxes that you pay - your money can be thrown down a rat hole.
I object to my tax dollars being spent in this way.
Why did Cathy Wiseman get board president over Henson? Is there something going on that we don't know about??????? Why was she so vocal about her being president of the board this year???????? Perhaps a power struggle???????
The entire point of this blog is to make note of the unequally of the people who work directly with children and those at the CO. Teachers above 20 years have a frozen salary as the retired admins will probably take a cruise. The adim will pay less in matching retirement money and these admins get a golden parachute. WHY WOULD ANY TEACHER TRUST THE SUPERINTENDENT WITH THESE UNEQUALITIES. "There is no money," was a statemnt repeatly told to the DEA.
There must be plenty of money. They are hiring a new administrator at the high school - another assistant principal since Kelly McWilliams is now the AD with Dave Rather helping her.???????? Why doesn't the board just put on a hiring freeze for administrators until everyone knows what all of the retirees are doing???????
A review of the Decatur football website reveals that Decatur has approximately 72 students playing varsity football with 13 coaches plus an athletic trainer. 1 coach for every 5 or 6 players. Better than the class sizes in the elementaries! Hmmm.
Anon 1:59: LOL! Who do you think is running the DCHS football program? Don Huffman! I'm surprised they don't have more than that.
Is Huffman's grandson, the DCHS head football coach, and his Joe Hollywood cadre of asst coaches, still dipping snuff and spitting tobacco juice in the grass at the varsity football practice field? I thought tobacco products use was prohibited by school employees on school grounds?
Oh, wait...there is no "law" broken since the coaches are all over the age of 18. So it's at worst only a violation of "ethics" for the coaching staff to be chewing snuff during practice, right? And, as we all know, "ethics" don't matter in the back-slapping, cash-pocketing world of Diamond Don Stinson and his bloated cronies on the school board.
Anyone care to compare the win-loss record of our "wonderful" new head football coach against the "terrible" former head coach that Don Huffman wanted fired to make a head coach position open for his inexperienced grandson? Our "terrible" and "incompetent" former coach's new team down south is winning championships. Imagine that...
The following is from School Board Policy 3215: "In order to protect students and staff who choose not to use tobacco from an environment noxious to them, and because the Board cannot, even by indirection, condone the use of tobacco, the Board prohibits the use of tobacco by professional staff members in school buildings at all times. Such prohibition also applies on school grounds, on school buses, and at any school-related event."
If coaching are using tobacco on school grounds, this needs to be reported immediately to the board and administration and if it doesn't stop immediately then report to Channel 6 or Channel 13!
It is time for everybody to "clean up" their acts.
Get a grip! There is NO law prohibiting adults from using tobacco products, so there's nothing illegal about the varsity coaching staff dipping snuff. It's like spitting on the sidewalk, or in this case, the practice field! No one's getting hurt and no one's getting arrested. You people need to give up on your slanderous attacks against our school's hard working senior administrators. They're honest and they deeply care about the children. If you people would just give up on this witch hunt and follow Phil Webster's urging that we all get behind Mr. Stinson for a new referendum, perhaps the Superintendent would finally have the money he needs to realize his vision for excellence! People need to watch what they say here because this blog is being MONITORED. Know your place; shut your face! Try busying yourselves with something constructive like memorizing when the next school board meeting is scheduled. LOL!
Well, Gary, for once I agree with you. If Stinson can ignore school board policy when awarding himself and his fat-cat pals some sweet deal contracts, then that sets a precedent that surely allows the varsity football coaches to ignore a school board policy about dipping some snuff. But I would hope that Don Huffman or Susan Adams would appeal to the coaches to at least carry an empty 20-ounce pop bottle to spit their dip into. It saves them from spitting on the grass that the football players will be rolling around on. Plus, it makes them look more the part of a ruff-and-tuff-and-hard-to-bluff football coach. After all, it ain't what you do, it's what you're seen doing. If you can't win many games, at least you can look the part. I can't help but observe, though, that while I understand Don Huffman seeing a lot of Tony Dungee in his grandson, I don't think Tony Dungee would approve of his coaches having a can of dip sticking out of their back pockets. Perhaps I should know my place and shut my face, though. Huffman's grandson will doubtless soon be winning more games than Tony Dungee ever dreamed about.
anon 10:03 - Did you really say "know your place, shut your face"? That may be how the school district is run, but it won't fly with the public. You all answer to us.
What's got your and Don's panties in a bunch is that the district is what is being monitored. Finally.
Dipping snuff is as intelligent as a pregnant woman smoking a cigarette. Just ask any dentist.
And..
"Know your place; shut your face!"
That's been the prevailing attitude in this township for way too long, those days are over. Welcome to the 21st century.
"A review of the Decatur football website reveals that Decatur has approximately 72 students playing varsity football with 13 coaches plus an athletic trainer. 1 coach for every 5 or 6 players. Better than the class sizes in the elementary schools! Hmmm."
July 22, 2010 1:59 PM
And we wonder why organizations such as the Pacers and Colts receive such large public subsidies. So,who do we thank for this mindset?
It's a matter of cash flow. The varsity football program, especially if we have a well-followed winning team (which is the obvious reason we need a top-flight head coach like Huffmnan's grandson), is the only program in the MSD that actually makes money. The extra cash comes in handy for funding otherwise un-funded administrator pensions, out-of-state party junkets for school board members, and the occasional tip for the caterer who bakes the cake for the school board's pre-meeting dining menu.
Uh...I dunno if I'd go so far as to say "top-flight" with regard to the head coaching abilities of Don Huffman's grandson. My understanding is that Grandpa Don had plucked our new head coach from a briefly held asst coaching job elsewhere in the city. It always helps to have a relative in a position to create a premium position for you when your resume is a little thin...well, a lot thin.
Putting astro-turf on the DCHS football was a nice gesture on Grandpa Don's part, too. Enabled a few school board cronies to turn a buck on the installation contract, and no doubt will provide an exciting ambiance that will get the new head coach's Tony Dungee creative juices flowing. That was certainly worth a million dollars of our kids' education money to a doting Grandpa. What's not to like?
THE GREAT MALEFACTOR of MALFEASANCE DONALD STINSON is very similar to Bernie Madoff in the way he handles himself about keeping things hush hush around Central Office. He has been watching his steps carefully so he thinks.
By reporting the package to WTHR 13 before we even got the info thinks he can maneuver his way into the taxpayers' opinion. He must truly believe that we are that naive. Hey, here is a thought, HEI is there anything unusual about the construction on the High School, oh maybe how the School Board, Jeff Baer, and Don Stinson came up with something to obtain the funds on how much construction work was to be done on this wasteful building project?
Anon, July 22, 3:58
Our "terrible" and "incompetent" former coach's new team down south is winning championships. Imagine that...
I hope you were talking about Coach Able and not Gillen. By the way, New Pal is East not south. Coach Gillen may have won conference championships at Indian Creek but he only won one Sectional Championship (2002) while there and that one had quite a few DCHS players on the team. Coach Able won a Sectional this past year and was the Indy Star All-Star coach for the South All Stars. Not bad for a guy that most of the school board thought couldn't coach.
The present coaching conglomerate will probably not do very well until they fix all the nonsense football politics in the township. Until the High School head coach is the head of all the leagues in the township and they all follow his program, the team will continue to be so-so. As much as I like JD, he is no Tony Dungy. LOL
I don't think there was ever any argument about Coach Able being a good head coach. But he occupied a position that Don Huffman needed vacated so JD could be elevated to his very first head coaching position somewhere. I'm not a bit surprised that Able won the Sectional last year and was honored as an All Star coach. We parents were ashamed of Huffman and the school board the night they fired him. The boys on the team felt terrible, too. What an example Stinson and the school board set for our kids!
Yoda wrote:
"The present coaching conglomerate will probably not do very well until they fix all the nonsense football politics in the township."
___________________________________
Fat chance of that. The present coaching conglomerate owes its very existence to the cesspool of MSD Decatur Township politics.
Let's not forget that it also helps to have a talented group of players to help in your success as a coach, which I believe is what Able walked into last year. I am not saying that he is not a good coach, but so is JD. Let's see if Able's success continues this year knowing that he was filled with a huge Senior class last year!
So Able was picked as All Stars-South coach because of his school's senior class? Seemed to me like he is a pretty good coach, and an honorable man. He doesn't even need to have an astro-turfed field, or a Grandpa who wears big fancy rings and has the fix in to win games.
Don't think it is about whether JD is a good coach or not. It is about making decisions that very much hurt people (like Abel) for selfish reasons (Stinson and Board were selfish). The other person hurt in all of this was the AD who refused to recommend the dismissal of Abel. All of this is wrong, wrong, wrong just like the unthinkable administrator retirement packages and their current salaries. Interesting that Stinson has said he might sue for defamation of character. There is much evidence of the character.
anon 1:39PM: When did Stinson say he might sue for defemation of character? That's new to me.
Another poster is right. I think our former AD lost his job largely because of that reason - he did not go along with Stinson and the board. Our AD, like Able, had won state awards for his leadership. Apparently, only in DUH-Cater would winning awards lead to firings.
"Phil all you have to do is read what Pat posted and you will learn about the retirement package. Then please tell us how you feel about them."
{{crickets}}
The issue of benefits for retiring administrators is a complicated one. We do get one side of the story from Pat who makes a compelling case that retiring administrators seem to be getting too many benefits. The other side of the story is yet to be told. Regardless of the facts presented by Pat's discussion of the retirement packages given to the retiring administrators it needs to be remembered that Don Stinson can not give any retirement benefits without the approval of the board by a majority vote. The Board is an elected body representing the citizens of Decatur Township and answerable to the citizens for their actions. If you and others are concerned with the retirement packages call the MSD office and asked for Becky Broadhacker, Don Stinson personal secretary, and have yourself put on the board agenda. Tell her that you would like to speak on the subject of why the retiring administrators are being given such an extravagant retirement package. Quote the statistics that Pat has been giving on her blog and ask the board if those statistics are correct. In fact if you do not feel comfortable doing this in public why don't you ask Pat to address the board with her statistics and see what the boards reactions will be.If they say that the statistics are accurate you might ask them to justify the amount of money being given to the retiring administrators. This is your right as citizens in a republic and in some respects it is your duty to confront them publicly instead of hiding on this blog where you feel safe to be critical and blame others.
I do not know if administrators have a retirement fund that they can draw from like the teachers have through the state of Indiana. It would be interesting to compare what is being given to other retiring administrators from other school corporations in central Indiana. I wonder how much money is being saved by retirement of these administrators. Teachers were given an inducement to retire to save money it might be the same strategy to get administrators to retire as well. You just do not know until you get the board to justify what they did and why they did it. When we hear both sides of the story then we can make a better judgment. To do that somebody has to get on the agenda and ask them publicly if Pat's figures are correct, and asking them to justify how the children benefit from these retirement packages. Who is going to step forward? Pat are you reading this? You would be a perfect spokesperson for the people who want some answers.
I would like to again recommend that we place on the November ballot a referendum to place a one time tax to cover the shortage of money that is so desperately devestating our schools. If everyone would pitch in a small amount of money it could go along way in solving many of these problems and give this current generation of teachers and students the chance they deserve to compete in a highly competitive world.
Re: Phil, the crux of the matter regarding the administrator's pensions is simple; did the board approve those pensions or not? Did the board amend the retirement policy from 2004? By Indiana statute the school board must approve all payments, if the school board did approve those payments then fine but if there isn't board approval those payments to those administrators are more than problematic.
Jon,
If that is the crux of the matter then the only way to determine if the board did approve the payments is for someone like you to get on the agenda for the next board meeting and ask them. The problem is that people would rather delve into conjecture than to find the facts and live with them. I wish the board members or the administration would come on the blog and explain the pension issue. I do not think that this is going to happen. So if you want the answer to your question go to the source and make them go on record at a public board meeting.
On July 10 I requested any board policy or action that granted these retirement benefits. I have not received any documents. I don't think it exists.
And Phil, why would we give more money to send down this rat hole? Whatever happened to the $23 million tax proceeds that should have been used to pay off the 2009 tax anticipation warrant? Instead we have a new loan to pay off, increasing our debt service needs. Great money "management".
Throw in the $900,000 parting gift to Administrators, and you have a clear view of grossly misplaced priorities. In case there was ever any doubt about that.
Pat,
Who did you ask for confirmation of the board action concerning the retirement packages? There is no excuse for taking that amount of time to get the information to you. It does not make sense that they could be so incompetent in giving retirement packages to retiring administrator without board approval. I assume that these administrators are counting on receiving their retirement benefits. If they have been told that they will be receiving these benefits, and after retirement the money does not materialize because of a lack of board approval somebody is going to be sued.
I do not know about the 23 million dollar tax proceed that you claim was misspent. What is the source of the 23 million dollar tax proceed?. Was this additional tax income that was given to the school corporation or is it part of the normal tax income that the board receives to run the schools?. Was there a legal requirement that the board spend the 23 million dollars on the 2009 tax anticipation warrant?. What loan taken out by the board caused us to increase our debt service?.
I would hope that the expenditures that the community is making to educate their children are not a rat hole. People want a great education for their children. I think it is unfair to blame this administration for the turn down of the economy. Every day decisions have to be made concerning the education of our children and there will always be disagreement about how the money should be spent. That is why we have elections and why this blog exists. One thing we can say for sure is that our children will be affected by the decisions we make. What we have done is to say to the children that we are going to cut back on your education. We are going to increase the number of students who will be in your class. We are going to cut back on the subjects you can take to increase your knowledge. We are going to cut back on the programs you can participate in and we are going to make it more difficult to participate in extra curricular activities. After they leave Decatur Central High School they will be competing with students who have benefited from a school corporation that provided them with subjects, programs, and extra circular activities that give them an advantage in college, vocational school or the work place. When the students come to us and ask why they were denied what others had been given we will have to tell them that we did not want to raise the money to provide it for them. The amount of a tax increase would probably amount to a dollar a day for the average property owner. It would be a one time only tax to get us over this temporary economic down turn. I can anticipate your response that we would be giving money to a board and administration that has miss spent the money in the past. That is our responsibility to watch how the money is spent. That is why we need you, and I mean you Pat, to go to the board meeting and make your accusations in front of the board. Make them respond to you face to face. Many people who read your blog will come and you will put pressure on the board members to respond to your accusations. It is time for you to come out of the shadows of the blog and into the light of the boardroom.
Phil - I make all my open records requests of Gary Pellico, the district's information officer.
The $23 million is a tax anticipation warrant, that should have been paid back when the district received its check from the state from various tax collections. Instead, the board just okayed the TAW be turned into a 4 year loan. I await further details as to principle and interest.
No - I don't need to go to the board meetings. They don't tell you what is going on. Only through open records has any of the true information been obtained. I don't even know how much the Board knows.
Again - it doesn't make any sense to send more money to folks who don't spend it on the education of children anyway. Not only that, these are the very same folks who got us into this mess - the economy has had a minor impact compared to their spending sprees.
Phil,
HEI has provided verifiable information to many who desire to read information about schools at a time when accountability and responsibility are characteristics of schools that succeed despite the economic atmosphere in our state and nation. It appears that an "educated" and "informed" public are threatening to some (superintendent, board members, and others). School Boards have the opportunity to decide if they will answer the public's questions or if they will just take comments at public board meetings. This school board has decided not to answer public questions at board meetings.
Several of the administrators who retired this year have openly stated that the retirement benefits such as the 30% of their last contract salary and their district paid health insurance until age 65 was probably going to end. In reality, and there is documentation, it ended six years ago. Unfortunately, some administrators were told there is a reduction in force when those very jobs have been filled (athletic director, DILC principal). The promises for "consulting" dollars are being counted on by several administrators BUT those administrators know (they should not have administrator licenses if they say they don't know)that if it is not in writing, it can end tomorrow. HEI has asked for those written - public - records. Yes, attorneys may get involved in this. It would be interesting to know the $$$$bills from the attorneys who have already worked on these administrator retirement benefits?????
The information on this blog has caused discussion. The administrators feel no worse than parents and other victims of selfish, extravagant spending of the taxpayers hard earned monies.
And yes, it is getting warm in the kitchen. Not because there is a cake baking but because there is someone stirring truth and justice for the final course.
"It appears that an "educated" and "informed" public are threatening to some (superintendent, board members, and others)."
These people are not accustomed to such scrutiny. They're comparable to those cartoon characters known as The Bratz.
Pat,
I am sorry that Gary is late in getting you the information that you are requesting. I do not have knowledge of a tax anticipation warrant. I do realize that 23 million dollars is a lot of money and that 23 million would go a long way toward elimination of our current economic problems. According to you the board received the money and turned it into money that they spend on what you consider wasted projects (rat hole). Then later when they ran into economic hard times they had to take out a loan to cover shortage in their budget that cost the taxpayer to pay needless interest on the loan. You write on Had Enough Indy about many, if not all, of the mistakes that the board makes concerning their fiscal responsibilities. Some of your accusations claim the board is acting illegally. You claim that the board and the administration never provides you with answers and that they hide behind a secret wall of silence. You cannot assume that they read your Blog. You need to do what you have urged others to do and take action. You need to get on the boards agenda and take your accusations to the school board meeting held in a public setting. You need to publish on your blog that you are going to address the school board and that you intend to confront the board and the administration on all of these issues that you write and have a passion about. If your supports know you are going to the school board meeting to address the board they will come to the meeting to support you When you do this the board will be forced to answer you or sit there in silence. If they sit there in silence your movement will gain integrity and pressure will be exerted for them to produce a response. You have encouraged people to run for the school board and two people responded only to be defeated in the election. You have repeatedly asked for people to go to the school board meetings to voice and display their displeasure of board action and only a handful have shown up. Most of what you write about is your disagreement with the policies of Don Stinson and the board on their priorities and on how they spend the taxpayer’s money. That is the nature of politics that the people out of power disagree with the people in power. You are the leader of the Had Enough Indy movement and as the leader you need to set the example by going to the school board meeting and looking the school board members and Don Stinson directly in the eye and ask them the hard questions that you are asking in the bog. If they say nothing then the people will see their detachment from the people that elected them and the campaign can begin to remove them from office when their time for reelection comes around. In the name of fair play they need to be confronted in public and given an opportunity to respond. I for one hope that they have answers to your questions and that your accusations are wrong.
As for your response on not raising money through a referendum so that our children can have the benefit of the same education that you and I received is wrong. I would agree that we need to be more diligent in watching how the money is being spent but to deny important courses, increase class size, make it more difficult to participate in extra curricular events, and deny our children the skills they will need to compete just because you disagree with the current administrations policies is in my view wrong. We need to work together to watch how the board does its work and at the same time give the board the money needed to make our schools first class.
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