Comments on: Two Top AAPS Administrators Get Raises

By: Fred Zimmerman

Fred Zimmerman — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:16:30 +0000

If the board is routinely meeting until after midnight, that is a sign that it is managing its time poorly. It is not an adequate excuse for anything, let alone giving raises at 1 in the morning!

By: David Cahill

David Cahill — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:12:35 +0000

Granting raises to administrators after 1:00 in the morning is particularly unappetizing.

The gratuitous attack on AnnArbor.com also leaves me wondering why I should support yet another millage for the AAPS. Paula Gardner is an outstanding reporter. The fact that her article was edited after it was posted shows that AnnArbor.com cares for accuracy. This editing should be commended, not criticized.

By: Alan Goldsmith

Alan Goldsmith — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 11:23:47 +0000

Maybe Ms. Stead you and your fellow board members can work on the issue @ this link and be more open and transparent? It's one of the reasons some voters are a bit skeptical of how the school is being run: [link]

By: Christine Stead

Christine Stead — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:19:29 +0000

Yes-Robert’s Rules of Order (thanks).

I can’t speak to Dickson’s article, except that this is not what the Board understood. This topic was covered at three meetings, which is plenty of time to have this change be known and offered.

By: schoolsmuse

schoolsmuse — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:56:06 +0000

James Dickson’s article implies that the union would have been happy to reopen the contract for this particular reason.

By: ScratchingmyHead

ScratchingmyHead — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:43:53 +0000

Christine. Did you mean Robert’s Rules of Order?

By: Christine Stead

Christine Stead — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:49:52 +0000

I’ll try and respond to a couple of questions:

Our BOE meetings often go past midnight, so the timing of this action is not atypical. The procedure used to reconsider the topic followed Roger’s Rules of Order and has been used in the past. There was nothing ‘sneaky’ or inappropriate about the procedure used, nor was the timing atypical.

The reason the 2,000 hrs of HVAC work (or 1 FTE) was not an internal hire was because the contract was not open, making an internal hire not an option. I argued for the contract to name the two specific resources with the most expertise (39 and 30 years of experience) so that we have the most experienced resources and it was $65K less than other options available.

Hope that helps.

By: Maria Huffman

Maria Huffman — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:27:18 +0000

oops, overall good,

By: Maria Huffman

Maria Huffman — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:26:56 +0000

Well, people have to decide no matter what crosswinds are going on, good decisions for the overall goo.That’s kind of calculus goes for people who vote as well as people who get to make decisions because people voted for them.

By: Alan Goldsmith

Alan Goldsmith — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:28:47 +0000

@20. If the Board is going to send these sorts of messages to the public, rightly or wrongly, people are going to take out their frustations with their votes. The Board doesn’t seem to be getting messages any other way. I’d like to hear the answer to paying more for non-local contracted staff. Guessing because it was a ‘blue collar’ employee, it doesn’t matter how they were treated? So are you saying the Board should be given a blank check and voters should just approve everything without questioning every penny?