WTHR reporter, Rich Van Wyk, posted a story today on the perks handed out through early retirements of Administrators from MSD Decatur Township.
In the report Superintendent Don Stinson says that the early retirement perks include paid health care benefits, and a years salary as a parting gifts. The salaries alone add up to $750,000. This is in addition to their pension benefits from the Teachers Pension Fund; payments toward which have been paid entirely by the overly generous, rubber-stamping school board.
I requested the severance packages back on June 9 and have been stonewalled since then. It is obvious that the cookie jar contents that would be exposed by these public documents were too hot to release. They remain hidden in the District files regardless of the public's legal right to them. Maybe now that Stinson thinks he has laid the proper spin control through Van Wyk's report, maybe now they will release the documents so that the public can see for themselves exactly how many years of health insurance payments are involved and exactly how much of a full year's salary each administrator gets to pocket at taxpayer expense. For now we are left with the rumor that it is a full decade, which would easily add up to over $300,000 per administrator.
In addition, talk is that at least a couple of these 'early retirees' will be back under contract - milking the pension system and continuing to milk Decatur Taxpayers.
I must add that there has been a loss of 34 teaching positions, not the reported 11. There were 23 teachers who decided to retire; Stinson's spin not withstanding. This is the equivalent of over one entire elementary school - which was always going to be the case ever since Stinson decided to move the kindergarten out of the moldy ECC and send all the the Lynwood elementary students to beefed-up class sizes in other schools throughout the rest of the district.
I will post as soon as I get the public documents on the retirement packages for each of the administrators.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
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30 comments:
Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say rape, but pillage and plunder comes to mind...with plenty of salted fields in their wake.
Thank you. Agree that Stinson is "using" Channel 13 to put his spin on this. Really, when we are able to get the documents I would project that these 6 retirements cost more like $1.2 mln rather than $750,000. This public information is important for public examination. The taxpayers in Decatur and statewide will foot this bill. P.S. Those decade old retirement benefits were to be abolished when the district established VEBA accounnts for administrators and teachers.
Just remember....YOU elected this School Board. YOU had a chance to change it and didn't. Easy to gripe and complain; harder to affect change.
Are there any ethics violations that should be addressed?????
anon 9:21 - I have deleted your comment and will repost parts of it. It is not kosher to quote an entire article from somewhere else. One or two paragraphs are standard. Thanks for your cooperation on this point.
I kept intact all of your original composition, and will repost two paragraphs as well as the link to the channel 13 piece.
from anon 9:21's posted comment:
"Half a dozen administrators responsible for running Decatur Township Schools for decades are leaving before the district cuts its generous retirement benefits. Their departures will cost taxpayers $750,000.
"It's a lot of money," said Don Stinson, Decatur Schools superintendent.
The above is on the Channel 13 website. The six retiring administrators are: Jeff Baer, Candace Baer, David Rather, Pat Jones, Gary Pellico, and Janet Larch. The only administrator hired since VEBA was Candace Baer. All of the others have VEBA accounts purchased by the district. What is Candace Baer's retirement package. She was supposed to work two years and be gone - didn't happen! Guess these administrators figured out what the superintendent and board couldn't figure - more profitable to retire than to continue to work. Why would the district be willing to pay people to retire rather than pay them to work???? If the Decatur board either can't or won't address this then the state lawmakers need to get this corrected. Funny that the retiring administrators want the teachers to feel sorry for them. They should be sorry for taking this bribe.
[channel 13 report link: http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=12762734 ]
HEI 7/7 9:39 a.m.
No problem. Thanks for your help and guidance on this blog.
Will Stinson still get his healthly retirement package when he retires or leaves?
According to Stinson's contract published by the Indianapolis Star, he has already been guaranteed health insurance paid by the district until he is eligible for Medicare, he has received the value of the 2204-2005 retirement and severance package paid in 5 installments by July 1, 2009, and the district, as of July 1, 2010 has purchased 7 years of service credit from the Indiana Teacher Retirement Fund. Stinson took care of himself ahead of time!!! Thanks to Decatur Township and Indiana taxpayers, he should not ever be homeless or hungry. Wish the education of children would have been as well thought out and planned.
I hope the DEA is proud of themselves.
- pay cuts in the form of insurance increases
- teachers lost to retirements + RIFS = increased class sizes
- a district in shambles from at least 6th grade down
- a middle school and high school where kids with special needs get lost
- a superintendent that is an expensive embarrassment to the community and a bobble-head school board
There's more to negotiate with and for than money. They took advantage of NOTHING they had in their favor. Everyone will suffer next year for their lack of backbone.
Don Stinson is a filthy slime-ball. Even looking at a photo of him, like in the linked WTHR story, makes me want to rush off and shower thoroughly, so I can feel clean again. He's a bloated caricature of the what's-in-it-for-me crowd that makes decent people turn away with the stench in their nostrils. What makes it so horrible is that bloated, filthy man steals from our children's future.
Anon 12:22: Ouch that's harsh. It's one thing to have an opinion and express it. Your comment borders on slanderous. Not very good to call people names no matter how you feel. LOL odds are you voted this school board in!
Please use a little discretion when making comments. Thank you.
I believe the "retiring" administrators are Rather, Pellico, Baer, Baer, Jones, and Larch. Supposedly Rather and Pellico are staying on the payroll while collecting their nice pensions and retirement benefits. Jeff Baer has already been replaced. Candy Baer was saved from her demise at Center Grove by a temporary grant that turned into about three years and a nice retirement for her, in addition to the sweet deal Jeff worked out for himself. Janet Larch, it is believed, that she was allowed to retire after the district purchased additional years of service from the ISTRF. Why was she given this special treatment? Why has any of this been allowed when class sizes are increasing, buildings are reorganized, teachers are taking pay cuts and more expensive benefits?
Stinson is not being honest with himself or anyone else when he says that we will continue while only filling in two of the retirees. This money is NOT being saved, with those continuing to collect a check even after retiring. The district has paid Jeff Baer's replacement for months already...was that figured in? It will take years to realize a dime of savings on these retirements. Isn't it time to clean house, cut our losses, and move forward with new leadership?
Larch was not given special treatment. They purchased years of service for all of these administrators. Stinson has had 7 years purchased already and they purchased 5 (?) years for all of these retirees. Quite a deal. Look forward to reading what Pat gets in writing from them.
Does anyone know if board members can be recalled in Indiana? Some states have that.
Anon 1:00 PM (CO correspondent):
So sorry the truth hurts. It IS quite all right to have an opinion and express it on this blog unlike at your board meetings. The comments were not slanderous. Don Stinson is a narcissistic, arrogant thief. That is my opinion. Again, the truth hurts. Just stating how I feel and that is my right. LOL I did not vote this school board in! They are only there because the majority of residents, at that time, were not aware of what has been and is going on so did not vote.
Why sugar coat what is going on? I only hope that one of the TV stations or the state board of accounts who are onto Stinson and his illegal activities expose him to everyone. Let's all throw discretion to the wind when sharting info on HEI.
Anon 3:31:
Yes.
http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2003/IN/IN1649.1.html
Good luck!
Sorry after the 1 it's .html
Anon with the slanderous posts, you are entitled to your opinions but that is what they are, "opinions". Posting them in a public forum does make them slanderous but luckily you stay hidden behind the anonymous facade.
I too will be interested in what HEI finds and would like to have my own copy of the documents. Maybe I will have to ask for them too in order to ensure the truth and nothing but the truth is being discussed.
Yoda, everyone knows you are an employee at CO. You might be Diamond Don or his defender. Why don't you get the info Pat has requested? Bet when that happens, there will be no more Yoda. It must be hard as you constantly look over your shoulder, trying to figure out who "anonymous" is and what you would do if you could find out.
If only the superintendent,school board, and administrators had pursued the journey toward excellence with as much enthusiasm and skill as they have pursued their own interests,we'd have one hell of a school system.
@ Anon:July 7, 2010 8:18 AM
"Just remember....YOU elected this School Board. YOU had a chance to change it and didn't. Easy to gripe and complain; harder to affect change."
I can't argue that.
Decatur has posted a position
HS Small Learning Community Director on their homepage (Human Resources). Who are they replacing? How many administrators at the high school?
The position is for Director of the EDGE Small Learning Community.
That is very ???? The director of the Edge Learning Community was Kelly McWilliams who is now the AD with Rather as a consultant for AD and now a replacement administrator for McWilliams is being hired. $$$$$$$???????? Don't think Opel was riffed?????
The State Superintendent said today that "more dollars should be directed to Indiana’s classrooms where they can benefit students most,” said Bennett. “I encourage school board members, administrators, teachers, and citizens across the state to closely examine the way dollars are currently allocated and evaluate whether their budgets truly put student first."
The citizens of Decatur township must continue to insist on this. The blog is one way to let the administration and board know that citizens are examining the way dollars are spent. Attendance at board meetings is another way to let them know that everything needs to be on the "up and up". Telephone calls to board members and the superintendent also let them know. Really, it is going to take a lot of pressure.
Anon July 9, 2010 8:55 PM
You are so right! Tell everyone about this blog. Dollars in Decatur Township are not being spent on our children. Administrators are having their way with us! Talk about this at the grocery, ball games, everywhere you can strike up a conversation. This will start the domino effect and before long, we will take over out schools. The winners will be our kids.
...continuing our journey toward mediocrity.
Let's show our support for our bobble-head school board members, whenever we see them in public, by assuring them that any extra pounds they've picked up from eating richly-prepared catered-in dinners before each school board meeting really aren't all t-h-a-t noticeable. No one wants to hear that Stinson's special order cake makes their butt look big. Support your local school board!
Anon July 8: You have as much a clue about where I work as you do about what is going on around you. LOL. That fact that some of the things at the CO are as dorked up as they are is proof that I am not there. The fact that SA is still there is another.
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