Even as CPS opens more new schools, children with special needs have a tougher time finding options. Placements in private therapeutic schools are scarce, and some charters are reluctant to enroll them.
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Fired From Central Office
By: Alexander Russo / June 23, 2009
An email from someone named Hari Chengalath came in earlier today:
"Yesterday, I got a call from the person who handles
hiring/firing at ITS who directed me to a meeting in a conference room
with Arshele Stevens, who is chief information officer at CPS and heads
our team...I was surprised and had to laugh when I found
myself sitting across from me at a conference table reading from a pro forma script that she had to request from an HR person who was also in
attendance. She barely made eye contact..."
I have not yet verified the authenticity of the email or its author, but with that in mind I would still encourage you to read the full email below.
If you have similar stories or insights, please comment.
Dear Alexander and Steve:
I chose both of you as recipients of
this missive because you are proprietors of two compelling
Chicagocentric blogs that I'm linking to here for the benefit of cc and
bcc recipients who may not know of you, District 299 blog (http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/RUSSO/) and The Beachwood Reporter (http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/).
You need to know the classless, low-rent way in which layoffs are
being handled at Central Office, in general, and specifically at
Information & Technology Services (ITS) where I worked until being
given my walking papers yesterday.
At the outset, I must make mention of some particulars:
My name may be used with redaction of my e-mail account information;
Please disregard/redact anybody else's e-mail account information;
Anybody being criticized here is in the cc box;
Interested other parties are in the bcc box;
I am not bitter about being let go; I'm definitely taking the summer off to write, and just be; and
Fortuitously, I hit a major slot machine jackpot this past weekend in Indiana this past weekend.
Yesterday, I got a call from the person who handles
hiring/firing at ITS who directed me to a meeting in a conference room
with Arshele Stevens, who is chief information officer at CPS and heads
our team. I have copied her e-mail of June 10 to prove my point that
she lied in that communication (I have redacted her direct line and
related information). I was surprised and had to laugh when I found
myself sitting across from me at a conference table reading from a pro forma script that she had to request from an HR person who was also in
attendance. She barely made eye contact as she read from said script;
you've failed as an organizational leader if you can't/don't/won't take
interpersonal communication seriously. This was also the same
individual who danced with me at a Christmas party in December. I had
high hopes for her when she was named CIO but I'm afraid that she's in
over her head.
I was laid off along with Stephanie Book yesterday. In the
proverbial single fell swoop, they let go the most experienced, skilled
and versatile writer and the only phot[o]grapher and graphic designer on
the ITS communication team (Stephanie Book is one skilled
photographer!).
As I said, I'm set financially and my beef now is with how this
clusterfuck is being handled. For instance, the woman who legitimately
should head the ITS customer relations team has been shunted off to be
a technology coordinator in the schools (good for whatever school gains
from Stacy Butler-Cross and her skills & experience but bad for
Central Office customer relations efforts). I know that this move
resulted from the relationship between Arshele Stevens and Veletta Bell
(the current customer relations honcho at ITS).
Further, my immediate supervisor knew this past weekend that I
would be gone Monday. Thom Goodwin and I worked on the communications
team at ITS. He could have called me over the weekend to let me know,
even taken me into confidence if necessary to save his job (a move I
would have understood and even hailed). But his inaction (furthered by
how he was prepared to return a book unread that I had loaned him)
tells me that he can no longer lay claim to being a "professional
communicator." How he slept over the weekend is between him and a god
if he has one.
Finally, I must address the idea of Ron Huberman as CEO of CPS (I
would have included him in the cc box but, unfortunately, he has
despotic tendencies such as not listing himself in the CPS e-mail
client Outlook address book). I am entering my twenty-second year as a
corporate communications professional. I have seen organizations
communicate poorly in a crisis or do so in mediocre fashion; however, I
have never, ever, known an organization that DID NOT COMMUNICATE AT ALL
during full-blown tumult (Arshele Stevens lied when she said "However, as soon as there is any information, it will be
shared with you..." in
the e-mail below because there was NO communication whatsover; in fact,
CO employees heard about layoffs on June 10 from media reports and the
next thing people being let go knew was the "meeting" such as I had
yesterday with Arshele). Either Huberman's internal communications shop
is filled with worthless people (I know this to be untrue given that
I've worked with the gifted Anitra Schulte) but, more likely, nobody in
power there has the testicular fortitude (please pardon use of the
Blago coinage) to call Huberman on this communications fiasco.
As an inveterate copyeditor, I must also state that Thom Goodwin
(who was involved in the drafting of Arshele's e-mail below) and others
on my team had to be told by me that "prideful" in the e-mail below was
a singularly unfortunate word choice. They will miss that expertise
that I brought to the table, regardless of whether they admit it.
This exercise has been delightfully cathartic. I will continue to follow both your blogs with considerable interest.
Best regards,
Hari Chengalath
From: Information & Technology Services
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
6:55 PM
To: 12510 ESP - TechnologySvcs;
12510 TEACHER - TechnologySvcs
Subject: CPS Budget Update
ITS
Team,
I
know that many of you have concerns about the recent media coverage on the
state of the CPS budget.
At
this time, the details of how ITS will be affected by our budget are not
available. However, as soon as there is any information, it will be
shared with you.
Until
that time, I ask that you continue to be diligent and prideful in your work.
Thank
you,
Arshele Stevens
Information and Technology Services
Chicago Public
Schools|www.cps.edu
125 S. Clark 3rd Floor|Chicago, IL 60603
Fired From Central Office
Please help me with a rumor.
Is it true that one department (Office of New Schools) has been expanding while everyone else is getting hammered in this Huberization of CPS? In other words, we need to expand privatization, but can destroy every other service.
And if it's not true, please let me know who is now gone. I have the position files to double check, as you know.
Fired From Central Office
Having been fired by idiots and very bright people -- and laid off during purges that hit thousands -- the one thing I know is that it takes people a little while to stabilize. Just doing the paperwork is time consuming. When Marilyn Stewart fired me from CTU in August 2004, her minions (viz., the lawyers) also tried to prevent me from getting COBRA to sustain my Blue Cross. Since Josh Schmidt was about to be born (he was born at Northwestern Memorial Hospital September 30, 2004), the attack on my right to medical benefits was very serious. We had planned for a hospital birth at Prentiss -- not a home birth or something else. It took me a whole day on the phone just to begin to undo the damage done by the ruthless way in which Marilyn Stewart attacked that one simple and straightforward benefit (i.e., COBRA continuation of Blue Cross - Blue Shield family coverage).
Those are the kinds of things people have to deal with when they have been ruthlessly purged (like most of the people who've been Hubermanned) or forced to "resign" (like a few).
I have three bits of advice, in order.
First, straighten out your access to medical benefits and make sure you get all the necessary paperwork.
Second, apply for unemployment compensation immediately. Given the state of the economy, you may be getting this small benefit for as long as 12 months, and believe me, it can be a lifesaver (although it's clearly a disappointment after a CPS salary).
Third, sue the SOBs. Even if you have been told you are an "at will" employee, you'll have more leverage filing a complaint than if you simply try to make a few phone calls.
When you've covered yourself and your family as best you can, get in touch with us. As you know, we expanded our reporting staff to the largest in history over the past 12 months (during the same time we revamped our Web site).
Every news organization is only as good as its sources. Our sources have never been better, and they will soon be better still.
As everyone knows, if Substance agrees that you are "off the record," you are "off the record." In 34 years (soon to be 35) we have never burned a source. I'm assuming that the next 24 months will reveal some of the most incredible stuff, and we will be glad to double check every fact and then put it in print (in the monthly Substance) and on the Web (at www.substancenews.net).
There are very few people to whom I'd say "Good riddance" when they lose their jobs. So far, not one of those purged by the Daley Boys (and Girls) is on that list. We're easy to get in contact with.
Fired From Central Office
I have some good news! I know that Xavier Botana and Mike Lach resigned!!!! Happy days. Apparently, neither guy got along with Huberman (imagine that!) Xavier Botana can't get along with anyone!
They let him "save face" by resigning instead of firing him. I heard he was going to Oregon. Good bye! Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out! He was horrible!!
I don't know much about Lach, other than to say that he has now resigned. Don't know where he is going or what the circumstances were surrounding his resignation.
Office of Math and Science (according to a manager there) are going to see the same type of cuts in August as what the Office of Literacy had in July. If this is the case, most of the management at CMSI will be out as well (however, they are posting new positions with different titles...their way of getting rid of anyone that they don't want back).
This continues to get crazier and crazier by the day!
Fired From Central Office
The "packet" came. It does not contain much of anything of value. A cold form letter signed by the new Chief Adminstrative Officer; a list of "potential" vacancies with positions ranging from office clerk to teacher's assistant...but the instructions are clear that you should "call first" to verify that the positions are actually still available.
It's insulting and ridiculous! I feel like I'm reliving the initial classless and low-rent dismissal that I received courtesy of the new Chief Information Officer. Will it ever end?
Fired From Central Office
I am so confused about a system that needs something called reading coaches. I thought teachers knew how to teach reading.
Fired From Central Office
Are you so naiive that you actually think reading scores went up due to any intervention coming out of central office? Duh! maybe it is the teachers...
Fired From Central Office
So, although reading scores have improved, that department was wiped out? What about the Math and Science Department? The scores have been on a steady decline for years, not to mention all the money wasted on IDS. Is Lach and company out, or is he still there because he and Botana are such wonderful snitches?
Fired From Central Office
You are so right. We had one of the people/managers you mentioned and she was obviously incompetent. She worked in Region 5 as a "reading expert" about ten years ago. I was on a walk through with her and honestly a parent with no education background in reading or any other subject could have done a better job. Her comments, suggestions and overall attitude was negative. She obviously knew less about reading than our first year teachers. It was embarrassing. Instead of the AIO remediating her as you would with a poor teacher in a school she was promoted. CPS likes to speak about making teacher evaluations more stringent which is long overdue but who evaluates these highly paid teachers/managers/administrators?
Fired From Central Office
It seems that Striving readers is not working. CPS got about 22 million for the program. Up to now there has only been one evaluation that showed very little if any improvement for weak readers in the grant schools. Does the person who posted about that office know why this program seems to be not working?
Fired From Central Office
Serious business? slaughter is serious business.
Fired From Central Office
Not so fast
Please nicknames are serious business.
Fired From Central Office
Simply....Hubris.
by name, by nature
(Danny, you'll have to look it up)
Fired From Central Office
Ronnie the Reagan
Not as good as above, but a try.
.
everyone needs a nickname
Huber the Horrendous
Fired From Central Office
thanks to those who posted with info about the firings. There must be many more stories. Anybody? I read in the paper that the "Reading" coaches were being let go, then, "redirected"? huh?
What about math & science coaches? (worthless scum - they are the only ones I am not sorry about. Walking through like nazis asking about word walls, and too much BS to even mention. Good riddance. the only problem is they'll be back in schools acting holier than thou.
Fired From Central Office
where do you get that botana has a phd? he is there because he was working for ISBE and they let him go, he was a guy and he is hispanic. Little talent, but this does not matter at CPS.
Fired From Central Office
The fella never taught in a classroom!!! His PHD is worth?
.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_J._Dunlap new=true]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_J._Dunlap[/url]
Albert John Dunlap (born July 26, 1937) is a professional corporate downsizer popularly known as "Chainsaw Al" and "Rambo in Pinstripes". CNBC has named Dunlap as one of the "Worst American CEOs of All Time", and he is barred from serving as an officer or director of any public company as a result of his conduct at Sunbeam Corp.
By firing thousands of employees at once and closing plants and factories, he has drastically altered the economic status of such corporations as Scott Paper and Crown Zellerbach; however, when he attempted to use his methods to increase the share price of the Sunbeam-Oster Corporation, this backfired dramatically as despite Sunbeam's stock rising from $12 a share to $53 temporarily, it plummeted back down to $11 within four months.
Industry insiders revealed that Sunbeam's revenues had been padded because Dunlap had given large discounts to retailers who bought far more merchandise than they could handle; the excess merchandise was shipped to warehouses to be delivered later, but the sales revenue was booked immediately. With the stores hopelessly overstocked, unsold inventory piled up in Sunbeam's warehouses. Investors grew edgy, then panicky, and Dunlap himself was fired. He agreed to pay $15 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit.
[url=http://securities.stanford.edu/news-archive/2002/20020904_Settlement03_Roland.htm new=true]Chainsaw Al defrauded investors by firing thousands of workers[/url]
[url=http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_42/b3651099.htm new=true]Dunlap drove Sunbeam into the ground [/url]
[url=http://www.e-businessethics.com/sunbeam8.htm new=true]Chainsaw Al’s Reputation Backfires[/url]
[url=http://www.businessweek.com/1998/27/b3585090.htm new=true]Dunlap handsomely rewarded loyalty[/url]
Fired From Central Office
To Elizabeth...Yes, Jodi and company are out. She found out on Thursday this week and Adonia, Sandee, Tara, all the evaluators, and 3 administrative assistants found out on Friday.
Several were devistated. As of now, there will be new jobs being posted for positions with different titles on next weeks e-bulletin. Some of these people could reapply; however, many won't be asked back. The coordinators currently have their jobs because someone has to create the PD for the upcoming year; however, their jobs are being redeifined and they will have to work for a fraction of their salary. The two teams attached to grants, Reading First and Striving Readers are fine. Elizabeth Cardaneus-Lopez has been temporarily in charge of the Office of Lteracy until there is a new manager chosen.
As for the "team" now looking for jobs, some of them were excellent and some needed to go (just like at any job. Adonia and Sandee got what they deserved! I have never met two more unfriendly, incapable "managers" in my life! Many of the debocles that happened in the Office of Lteracy were due to them not knowing what the hell they were doing! Others, like a couple of evaluators and Tara were really great at what they did. I hope they have the opportunity to get a position back.
Jodi is another story. We have been telling her for years to go back and get her Type 75. She never did. So, now that she is out of the Office of Literacy (and she will most certainly be one of the people that they won't ask back) what will she do? She was making a HUGE salery and now...what? She can't even be an administrator within the system. She doesn't have the credentials. She is super smart and knows literacy; however, she certainly will no longer be making the same money as she was at OL. She will probably go to a university or turn to consulting, unless she finds a director position at a suburban district (at this time most of those types of positions will have been filled. On top of that, in the suburbs, many of these positions still require a Type 75.)
Soon, the entire country will be on the basal series. Lovely! That's what the mayor wants and he has the perfect person in Xavier Botana to help him accomplish this! Now, with Arne being Sec of Ed... the entire country will be on a basal series. The poor kids who are either above reading level or below reading level.
Fired From Central Office
One of the reasons I've delayed posting more to substancenews.net about this purge is that the other side (the appointment of all the Skippies and Buffies to enormous titles, positions and salaries at the top of the Huberman pyramid) is being covered up, massaged, and deferred using some of the most screwball language since "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap was doing corporate "turnaround" at Sunbeam (if you don't know about those days of "turnaround", Google "Chainsaw Al") or AIG was explaining why it was such a genius with its "Credit Default Swaps" (not "insurance," mind you... blah blah blah).
Huberman is cooking the books at every level, and Michael Scott and the Board members are right there with him doing it. As I reported earlier, for the first time in history, the Action Agenda from the June 24 Board of Education meeting was not available immediately after the meeting. Usually, the printed Action Agenda is available either on Friday or Monday. As of the beginning of July, it was still not available. Why? Because the Board voted on stuff it hadn't really voted on because the "CEO" was adjusting what the Board was voting on -- ex post facto.
I finally waited around at CPS Thursday (July 2, 2009), surprised, demanding to read the personnel information that was voted on by the Chicago Board of Education on June 24, 2009. In other words, the actions had been taken eight days earlier, but the actions were not "public information" because the Actions were not really Actions until the Chief Executive Officer decided what they really were at the time the Actions became Actions.
Which is why you may not be able to read the Action Agenda at the new crazy CPS "public" Web site tomorrow (July 6, 2009), even though all these people appointed by Ron Huberman are drawing enormous salaries and (again, ex post factor) taking legal action in spending enormous sums of money in the name of the taxpayers of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, and, of course, those of us in need of "stimulus" from the Obama/Duncan team in D.C.
But I digress.
Here is one of the Board Reports you will eventually get to read when the public is allowed to know what Ron Huberman and the Board are up to.
There are many of them.
June 24, 2009.
BOARD REPORT 09-0624-EX10 — APPROVE APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER EFFECTIVE MAY 1, 2009, AND RATIFY ALL LAWFUL ACTIONS TAKEN AS CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER SINCE MAY 1, 2009 (ROBERT RUNCIE)... NAME, Robert Runcie.
FROM
: Functional Title: Executive Officer. External Title: Chief Information Officer. Position Number 242650. Pay Band 10. BASIC SALARY: $179,166.67.
To
: Functional Title, Executive Officer. External Title: Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Position Number 262996. Pay Band: 10. Basic Salary: See Financial and Personnel Implications.
FINANCIAL: The expenditure contain in this report is contained in the FT 2009 Budget and will be contained in the FT 2010 Budget. Salary increases associated with this appointment, if any, will be determined in conjunction with the FY 2010 Budget. PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS: Any salary increase associated with this appointment will be determined in conjunction with the FT 2010 Budget and submitted for approval to the Board.
I thought Paul Vallas was a disaster, as history has made clear.
We wrote about all the ways Arne Duncan was an even larger mess, down to documenting hundreds of his lies.
Even I have been surprised at the churzpah of Ron Huberman and his merry team of mercenaries.
And the flaccid impotence of corporate Chicago -- and its media mavens -- in the face of what amounts to a coup d'etat that should even worry them.
Fired From Central Office
I'm the poster who commented on the kite tail of memos and payroll calendars that [i]had[/i] been posted on the HR home page..
'Had' is the operative word. I posted about this on Thursday and went back to double check the shill's rhetoric ('can't you read, it was clearly yada yada yada') and copy the link to the 'side by side' comparison.
Today, I went back to the website and 'poof'! the memos and charts are gone.
In their place is the following statement and hot links to documents dated July 3rd-
[b] Attention CPS Employees on Deferred Pay Plan
In an effort to improve the consistency of deferred pay during the summer, Payroll Services is pleased to announce an improved deferred pay summer calculation payout for 2009. For all ten month employees (excluding 60/20 employees) a new calculation method will be used to pay out deferred pay during the summer months.
Click on the links below for more information:
Summer Deferred Pay
Summer Deferred Pay Personal Calculator [/b]
Anyone noting what the 'improvement' is, feel free to post here.
Personally I think they need to work on their communication and timings skills.
Fired From Central Office
What is happening at the central office is at best obscene. People who were hard working professionals have lost their jobs and their livelihood. Those that are "friends" of those in higer positions are still swiping in everyday to do nothing more than online shopping. It is absolute craziness in it's purest form. Additonally, it is my understanding that morale is at the lowest point ever. Many are now floundering without any clear direction as to what they should do or what they should expect.
The worst part here is that the news media continues to report spurious information including "those let go from central office will receive a severance and money to look for new jobs". NONE of that is true. Hari stated it best in the original email that started this blog...this is a mass screwing of all those unfortunate enough to be caught up in this MADNESS!
A sin and a shame
Yes, thanks George...and I thought AIG was bad.
Fired From Central Office
You're like Batman. Thanks.
Fired From Central Office
"No you cannot [get more than numbers]. No one knows what is happening at Central Office; it's like the Wild West. A reorganization is planned for right after these cuts, yet it still hasn't been finalized.Some higher ups are making power grabs for assets they think they will need in the new structure..." (earlier).
Huberman made cuts without a plan because he is there to destabilize the system -- top to 'bottom' -- and privatize as much as possible. I was actually shocked when I tried to get the June 24 Action Agenda on July 2 and was told it wasn't ready yet because Huberman was still working on it.
Actually, he was re-creating it. Since January, when he was appointed, he has been making executive appointments without them going through the Board agendas. He has continued through this week. He also created a new system reorganization plan without going through the Board.
The sheer audacity of it is unprecedented, but it's likely to be ignored because (a) my colleagues in the corporate media simply transcribe handouts, and (b) the people who are closest to the debacles (that's a deliberate plural) are not talking to those of us who would
put the pieces together and
write the truth
I had to wait around the 6th floor yesterday for a half hour to get the Personnel Actions that came out of executive session more than a week earlier! And everyone went home for the July 4 long weekend without an Action Agenda published, either in print or on line. Why? The new CEO is massaging everything, in violation of the law, to create things his wacky way ex post facto.
Just to give a few examples that are not yet made public (from the Action Agenda which I insisted on getting because it's been "law" since the Board voted "yes" on everything in mid-afternoon June 24).
Bob Runcie is now "Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer" (that's a new title, if I'm not mistaken) at grade 10, at a salary of $179,166.67.
Michael Shields ("New Employee") is now Director of Security (a grade 9) at an annual salary of $150,000 per year. That's more than 10 percent higher than Andres Durbak was being paid.
Monique Bond is "Communications Officer, Department of Communications" at a salary of $130,380 per year. That, too, is higher than anyone ever made in that department.
Meanwhile, the Skippies and Buffies (the young guys and gals who are coming in from Huberland by the truckload) generally are showing up with no educational training or experience, and often not even the "MBA" that seems to be the closest thing Huberland has to a Type 75. But some of them have no degrees at all.
Yesterday, I asked Michael Scott whether the Board was going to order the Freedom of Information Officer to release the curriculum vitaes, work histories, and resumes of all these new executives, since he was among those voting to approve their careers in public service, at salaries above $120,000 per person per year.
He said "Yes."
I'll let you know when I get these papers. Needless to say, it will be interesting to see the latest and most absurd iteration of complete clout in CPS since all this nonsense began with Mayoral Control 14 years ago.
As to the crew (posse? these are all really cool guys and gals right?) Ronnie brought over from the Chicago Transit Authority. Everyone knows that the best training to operate a school system in the USA today is experience running a screwed up public transit system.
Rumor also was that without Huberman to protect them, the Hubermaniacs at CTA couldn't walk around without a bodyguard. With those silly "data driven" meetings and all that prattle about "You're either on the bus with me or off the bus..." they had made a lot of enemies.
Some of whom will find them over at CPS eventually. I'll be there to cover that part of the story. We'll headline it "Justice."
SCRMA
Is the SCRMA literacy program gone? Are Jodi @Co. out?
Fired From Central Office
Unbelievable. I guess next we should expect an initiative called 'Pension Alignment', wherein you will be paid via a payday loan from your own pension funds, and each paycheck will be running 1 year behind the month it is due.
If people drop dead with the Board owing them a year's worth of pension payments - well, then that money can be confiscated and booked as loan interest against the horrific deficit created by the Board's ten year 'pension holiday', since they have not been paying into the teachers' pension fund for over a decade now. It's the landlord's security deposit at the mega scale...
Problem solved!
Fired From Central Office
It is amazing that teachers, assistant principals and principal whom retired on July 1,2008 are still receiving an estimated pension check because the data from payroll and People Soft cannot be generated in an acceptable format needed by the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund. Good luck to the 2009 retiress. Now that most of the HR people who could have assisted have been fired- it may take years to correct with no interest paid on your funds being held back.
Fired From Central Office
Get it straight - we were supposed to get 3 full checks in May, on the 1st, the 15th and the 29th. [i]PLEASE STOP [/i]trying to characterize this shell game (which is more of a function of Central Office's inability to meet a payroll on time with a one week delay that the symmetry of 'alignment') as some sort of gift. OK? Understand? [i][b]Just stop[/b][/i]. You are addressing grownups. The fact that these missives are more badly written than most of the student papers I grade is not a function of the readers' but of the writer's intelligence. If you had bothered to click on the link, you will realize that information was deliberately sprayed piecemeal into an endless stream of letters, charts and messages, none of which all stated what was in the pdf I linked to - the shorted checks were supposed to start on July 17th. Today is the 3rd. What part of that do you not understand?
You feel like post-nuclear tap-dancing ? Fine; explain the fax notices to schools telling them the teachers could ask to flip the half check/full check paydays if (ahem) [i]they could not pay their mortgages[/i] and gave them till the end of that same day to do so, as if schoolteachers are standing around the office fax machine waiting to see what Central Office wants us to do by the end of the day in order to get paid(besides educate children). What does that tell you about how well planned the rollout was, that nobody thought of the repercussions, only of the problems it would solve for Arne & Co.?
Any time left over after that? Tell us how it was that [i]hundreds[/i] of employees woke up yesterday to find they'd been locked out of the network, and their e-mail accounts suspended. IT claims they are not cuts, yet people who called IT were being [i]told to call HR[/i], leading people to believe they'd been fired.
You people are a stroke. But fine, don't speak up as they round up and exterminate your colleagues and the people you are supposed to be serve.
Just don't expect anyone to be around to speak up when they come for you.
Fired From Central Office
To 12:20 You must have 33.9 years in order to get a full pension-yes you can retire earlier but it is reduced 6% for EVERY year you are under 60. If Ron had stayed on the police department he could have retired at age 50 with no age penalty. He could have received a master's with tuition reimbursement-we get nada. His family insurance would be about $670.00 per month whereas a teacher retiring with a family would pay $2,500 a month. Interesting discrepancy don't you think?
If Ron had stayed with the CTA he would have received a pension AND full social security-we are under the SS Windfall Rostenkowsi bill which reduces our SS benefits (some teachers work second jobs and pay into SS) to what amounts to a stipend-I hope this is explained to career changers who apply at CPS.
Fired From Central Office
ONLY IF YOU ARE currently a principal do you not have to be on the list--ONLY until September. ALL others were thrown OFF the list and had to get back on it. THERE are only 67 on it now. So, if this LSC hired a current principal from another school--then that person should be approved. If they hired a person who was on the old list, BUT was not a current principal, that person's contract should NOT be apporved by the BOard. If it is, the 67 on the list should sue!
Fired From Central Office
The new list does not have to be used until September. The people on the old list did not have to jump through all of the hoops that the new list people jumped through. I suspect the people on the new list were already on the old list and they were just preparing to keep themselves viable for openings in the future. Many on the old list were desperate for jobs so they tried to get them under the old guidelines before it becomes to hard to make the new list.
Fired From Central Office
so LSC do NOT have to use the list! Nuts--there should be a lawyer who can take this case since they made people apply, then have a list, then NOT use the list. ! Were there not enough minorities on the list so they pulled it off and OPPD is waiting to add more? LSCs ARE not using the list as stasted above! Did that principal get a contract? if so and they were not on the list and they are a new principal--it is time to sue!
As for PEP, there is a minimum age requierment to get retirement benefits. You can take PEP, but you MUST be 55 to get your pension. If you are not 55--YOU ARE SCREWED!
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The Personnel Bulletin released this week (July 1) lists no principal vacancies. Information for this bulleting had to be submitted by June 17th.
There are a few Assistant Principal vacancies.
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Wild Wild West. Well put. I just thought those slashed unmercifully would have no reason (no loyalty here) to fill us in on the carnage. I am safe in a school but I feel bad for them. They have bills, too. Starting over? In this economy? Man. So, were the cutees given and end date for a month or so, or told to just wait to see if they'll be kept, or shown the door? Lots of voicemails are "full".
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No you cannot. No one knows what is happening at Central Office; it's like the Wild West. A reorganization is planned for right after these cuts, yet it still hasn't been finalized.Some higher ups are making power grabs for assets they think they will need in the new structure. Too bad they are doing this without consulting BEW or the assets themselves (since they can't actually use those people they way they want - Amen grant funding).
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I would imagine that any principal who is retiring would take advantage of the PEP Program which gives monetary incentives via usage of sick days to increase salary to those employees who give notice of retirement before March 1st-this provision is in this contract until 2012-CPS would then know how many positions they need to fill for September. Some say there will be massive retirements due to PEP in 2012 which is the last year of this contract. Some of these teachers, especially those with certificates in a shortage area, will end up working in other systems.
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A top manager who is on the top of things would have published with details the firings. The Daley clone keeps things under wraps and unclear. Bond should earn her money and have the "data"! Data is the word, right? Incompetents!
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My point was in response to retired principal suggesting that there were 24 schools who needed principals. I just wanted everyone to know that it isn't necessarily true. We advertised our principal's vacancy back in March and selected the new principal by the end of May. In fact, two of the people we wanted to interview already had principal contracts by the time we called them for the interview. I'm pretty sure the retired principals informed their LSCs so that a principal could be in place by July 1st. Most schools would not want an interim selected by the AIO so I bet all 24 of those principals' positions have been filled. Also, The eligibility list that we used was the old one. We did not use the new one.
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I've read the numbers about firings (1200, then 500, 500 more to come, many citywide, etc.) The numbers are so vague. Is anyone out there with specifics?
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If the current principal vacancies are not posted, how do prospective principals know about the vacancies? Is the hiring process now based only on who you know or is there some equity? The same seems to be in place for teachers. Positions are not publicly posted, but selectively advertised by principals. What chance do teachers have that are not politically connected?
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The memo clearly stated that Teachers were having their money taken out of their deferred pay.
To: All Employees
From: Human Resources
Payroll Services
Date: January 20, 2009
Re: Changes to the Payroll Calendar
The Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
...
"The change will not result in the loss of pay to any employee. It will only affect how long after the end of the
payroll period you are paid. However, during the transition to the new Payroll Calendar, the change will
impact employee groups as follows:
For 38.6, 42.6, and 44.6 week Teachers (teachers on deferred pay):
• Teachers on deferred pay will not receive the Pay Period 9 pay check on May 1, 2009.
• Teachers on deferred pay will be paid 5-days pay from their deferred pay bank on May 1, 2009.
• Teachers on deferred pay will receive the Pay Period 9 paycheck on May 8, 2009 and shall be paid
every two weeks thereafter, 13 calendar days after the end of the payroll period in which they worked.
• Over the summer, Teachers on deferred pay will be paid the balance of their deferred pay at a rate of
9 days per pay period or other pro rata amount as appropriate to offset the 5 days paid from the
deferred bank on May 1st."
...
This memo in particular does not say when that would be taken out. But I have to ask, does it really matter? The whole point of getting your deferred pay in the beginning was to "ease the transition." you should be 5 days ahead in your bank account, not worried about "paying your mortgage on 9 days instead of 10."
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24 principals retired June 30, 2009 from CPS. Are these principal positions filled? Some are and some might not be. CPS is no longer posting the principal eligibility list on the CPS website and CPS may not be posting any open principal positions on the CPS job bulletins. My point is, people who want to become principals need to contact the schools where there are vacancies.
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"How do you know if the 24 retired principals' positions are still available. I am a member of the LSC that replaced her because she was retiring, unfortunately. I wished she wanted her contract renewed. Probably most if not all of those openings have been filled by the LSCs!"
I do not understand your point, but thre are 67 on the list looking for principal jobs--how many have gotten one, and have the LSCs really hired those from that list? Watch, all these layed off administrators will be GIVEN a principalship!
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Not everyone was let go. Ron Huberman was adding City Hall hacks and CTA cronies to the top ranks. You can read that part of the story at www.substancenews.net this morning. As I noted earlier, the reason the "Action Agenda" from the June 24 Board of Education meeting is not up yet is that the Hubermans and their Skippies and Buffies don't want anyone reading how many new jobs they created (starting at the very top in the $120,000 and up range) for their buddies.
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On the HR home page you will find links to all the tap-dancing memos on this boondoggle.
This document -
http://www.cps-humanresources.org/Sbs_TCH_Cal.pdf
calls the 1/2 paycheck on May 1 a 'supplemental' check. The reason you did not realize this was happening is because the memos did not mention where the 'supplemental' was coming from. Instead of paying people on May 1 for the two weeks preceding, that check was cobbled from money they took from your deferred pay, your summer pay. They nicked a day from each of the five paychecks you will receive this summer. effectively docking you one day's pay per pay period.
Ok, so let's just assume I accept that Payroll's need to 'align' paydays supercedes my need to pay the mortgage and Visa on time so I don't go into foreclosure and/or have my credit account go into the 30% interest bracket.
Except - if you consult the document in the link above, the shorted (9 day) paychecks are supposed to start on July 17, not July 3rd. Today's check is supposed to be for 10 days.
Please note, Alexander, that even though you assume I lack the vigor and zeal of the young, I managed to wade through the memo sh**storm, comprehend the bs it contained, and still pinpointed where the bs contradicts itself.
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Posted Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 8:18 AM By: Retired Principal
How do you know if the 24 retired principals' positions are still available. I know one of them. I am a member of the LSC that replaced her because she was retiring, unfortunately. I wished she wanted her contract renewed. Probably most if not all of those openings have been filled by the LSCs!
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What departments are on the 11th floor?
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Yes, there were layoffs yesterday. Some from the CO said there were many shedding tears after being let go. I understand many were from the 11th floor. It is so sad.
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I can't believe the lack of information. Who is out? They say 500 people fired yesterday, and not a peep? That's weird. Did it even happen? I hope not.