Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, November 1, 2010, 1:17 PM
Town Square
Statewide report blasts community colleges
Original post made on Nov 1, 2010
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, November 1, 2010, 1:17 PM
Comments (20)
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 1, 2010 at 3:11 pm
And these are the guys asking for $49 Million at the ballot box tomorrow!
Vote no on Measure E parcel tax!
A photography teacher earns $208,169 a year. A computer instructor takes home $222,791 and a maintenance worker's annual paycheck is $93,706.
These are a sampling of wages at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and De Anza College in Cupertino, which make up the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.
a resident of Cuernavaca
on Nov 1, 2010 at 3:47 pm
vote against measure E. THese adminstrators want to squander more and splurge even more. The adminstrators are shameless crooks with no conscience.
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Nov 1, 2010 at 5:52 pm
The sal1aries reported above are correct - It’s absurd and outrageous.
VOTE NO ON E!
a resident of Cuesta Park
on Nov 1, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Links, please.
a resident of Waverly Park
on Nov 1, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Three different people say "it's true"! Must be true. Or maybe it's the same person three different times.
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 1, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Three different people say "it's true"! Must be true. Or maybe it's the same person three different times.
a resident of Rex Manor
on Nov 1, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Three different people say "it's true"! Must be true. Or maybe it's the same person three different times.
a resident of Waverly Park
on Nov 2, 2010 at 8:58 am
"But at Foothill, students in remedial courses had an 81.5 percent rate of successful completion -- the highest among peer colleges, according to an accountability report issued by the state Chancellor's Office.
In addition, the community college has been recognized by the Gates Foundation for innovative remedial education, Miner said."
Yes, these ARE the guys asking for Measure E to support the OUTSTANDING job they are doing.
VOTE YES ON E!
@"No Links," "Fred," and "Cindy": Thanks for the reality check and a good chuckle :-)
a resident of Whisman Station
on Nov 2, 2010 at 4:32 pm
We've been short changing high school education for years, and now we're worried about the "remedial needs" of our community college entrants. Maybe we should be putting our money back where the education was supposed to happen. And maybe we should let teachers build curriculum rather than politicians.
And remember that for all the community college students with remedial needs, there are 10x more HS graduates who didn't go to community college; how are we going to be competitive internationally if our workforce is dominated by remedial needs?!
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 2, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Here is the link to the SFGate site (San Francisco Chronicle)
High salaries cast doubt on Foothill-De Anza colleges' parcel tax
Web Link
a resident of Cuernavaca
on Nov 2, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Here is the link to the SFGate site (San Francisco Chronicle)
High salaries cast doubt on Foothill-De Anza colleges' parcel tax
Web Link
a resident of Rex Manor
on Nov 2, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Here is the link to the SFGate site (San Francisco Chronicle)
High salaries cast doubt on Foothill-De Anza colleges' parcel tax
Web Link
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 2, 2010 at 7:36 pm
And this is the SF Chronicle "liberal" readership's view on the topic
High teacher pay at DeAnza-Foothill community colleges:
Unjustifiable at time when they're asking for parcel tax (752)
56%
Reasonable for top faculty teaching extra classes (266)
20%
Where do I apply? (323)
24%
Total Votes: 1341
Read more: Web Link
a resident of Cuesta Park
on Nov 2, 2010 at 8:15 pm
The SFGate article isn't a slamdunk against Measure E by any means, nor does it portend excessive salary to employees. It does highlight what is wrong with our education system.
As mentioned in the article, those individuals that earned double their annual salary did so by putting in more than double the amount of time at work. That's just compensating someone for their time, which would have to be paid by another worker if this individual didn't put the time in.
Note too that the rate for overtime work is at a reduced rate, so no extra dollars there, other than fair compensation for time spent.
Under this scenario, any of us who are non-exempt and make more than 80k a year could also pull in double that if we spent twice as much time at work, less that if we got paid time and a half, as required by state law.
More disturbing to me is the amount of remedial education required by CC's to provide to incoming students, and the low percentage of students who continue on to 4 year universities.
This suggests poor preparation in high school and highlights the actual problem in our education system: Our education system as a whole. Poor, inconsistent funding controlled by the state, a large population of under-educated immigrants, and intransigence of unions and education administrations all play into the low numbers we see by the time these students reach a CC.
Justifying a "No" vote on Measure E because of this article is like cutting off your nose to spite your face...its short sighted and does not address the root cause of the problem.
a resident of The Crossings
on Nov 3, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I am very disappointed that E did not pass. I am a part-time instructor at Foothill College, and I make only about 60% of what a full-time, tenure-track faculty member would make, for the SAME amount of work. What many people do not realize is that the majority of faculty members at ALL colleges and universities these days are only offered part-time positions and must piece together a living by working at more than one college, often having to teach a more-than-full-time load in order to make ends meet. These part-time instructors need to be paid more; they need to be paid a fair and liveable salary! The instructors making over 100,000 a year are the tiny minority; most of us need something like Measure E to provide funds for the college so we can simply make a basic living (by basic I mean a measly $30,000 a year). I am disappointed in Palo Alto-Mountain View-Los Altos for failing to support education.
a resident of Monta Loma
on Nov 3, 2010 at 12:27 pm
You know, if we reformulated high school in a way so that current middle class earning jobs would take High School Grads more it would do more in saving the middle class than making everyone go to college would ever.
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Nov 4, 2010 at 2:35 pm
@Kristine: Have you heard of grammar and punctuation?
a resident of another community
on Nov 4, 2010 at 3:34 pm
"@Kristine: Have you heard of grammar and punctuation?"
What kind of useless posting is that!
Does this forward the topic at hand in any way?
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Nov 4, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Like Alison, I am very disappointed E did not pass. However, it did not appear that the E supporters undertook a methodical, thorough approach to getting E passed. All of the local high school and elementary bond and parcel tax measures that I am aware of that have passed in our area in the last 8 years or so have had campaigns managed by a grassroots team of supporters that undertakes a consistent calling effort--calling likely voters night after night, week after week, finding out first whether they support the measure, and then calling the supporters to put out lawn signs, join the campaign, getting them to vote early by absentee ballot, and then finally a huge get out the vote and vote yes push. For example, the local elementary and middle schools organized calling teams on specific nights to support the high school bond that passed last spring. I don't think that happened here.
The anti-incumbent furor that was so prevalent in this election did not help, either since a huge number of "no" voters were voting. Perhaps if the community college goes out again for a new parcel tax during a quieter election cycle (when not as many people vote--so your supporters have a better chance to be "heard") and enlists the support of teams from the local "feeder" high schools--and in turn from their feeder middle and elementary schools, this can pass. MVWSD's tax did not pass the first time, but since has had two successful tax measures. The money is sorely needed--and so is the access to higher education that our wonderful community colleges offer.
a resident of Cuesta Park
on Nov 5, 2010 at 8:35 am
"What kind of useless posting is that!
Does this forward the topic at hand in any way?"
----------------
Nope, it doesn't. Unfortunately, in an open forum, this is bound to happen. I remind myself of the sign I read when I entered the door: "Don't feed the trolls". They seem to be prevalent when relevant discussion develops.
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