Damn it feels good to be a school administrator.

@MV Resident

Seriously? That's all you got? You do know that MVWSD pays less than almost every other nearby district and in this area that means our teachers are either driving a ridiculous amount of time to get to work, or are always looking for a higher paying job. I truly wish some of the people in this district could look past their own interests to the interests of the greater good here. It does us all no good to have teachers constantly coming and going because we pay so little. Just cause you work for a public agency doesn't mean you have to take a vow of poverty.

@Cleave Frink

I do believe @MV Resident was referring to the salaries of the Superintendent(s) not the rank and file teachers. And their Ghetto Boys/Office Space reference was quite quick and witty. It’s the internet comments section of a small time newspaper...lighten up buttercup

@RedBarker,

Couldn't care less if this person was talking about the Superintendent or the Custodian.

I find comments like this laughable, and typically posted by uninformed people who have nothing better to do than complain. These comments are posted by people who often are troublemakers and pot shot takers rather than problem solvers in our district. And since this is about our kids and since I spend a good portion of my time working on these problems in person, rather than on a message board, I don't really care to "lighten up" buttercup!

Cleave,

Many of your comments have been shown to be wild assumptions and guesses, particularly regarding administrators, so you're guilty of the very admonishments you make. You echo the district office and an aimless school board while school sites and families wreak their havoc.

According to the Compensation Study conducted last fall, MVWSD teachers are actually among the highest paid in the area in comparable districts. Salaries are higher than Sunnyvale and Los Altos among others. And the latest raise is not included in those numbers.


The study can be found here:
Web Link

@Observer,

Please inform me which of my comments are "wild assumptions". My comments often mirror what you hear from the district because I was most likely on the task force creating the policy with which you disagree. You know where we meet for months at a time and review piles of data to come to a logical conclusion, rather than write anonymously here on a chat board with no facts or credible information. Again, sign up. Love to have you on the next one.

@ Cleave

It's a nice data set, but it doesn't include PAUSD. Los Altos is very small and ours is relatively small as well. Sunnyvale is likely a lot bigger. And on that list, MVWSD was not the highest and in fact, was in the middle or in the bottom 3 for most categories. I say that we struggle on this issue because we seem to be hiring a lot of teachers who leave for higher paying jobs. Which means we might need to pay a bit more. So, I"m happy to see a pay increase for our district up and down the ranks. As long as we're competitive and not constantly last in this area we'll be fine. I don't advocate that we need to be the highest paid in our area, just competitive. We weren't as competitive as we could be and that's an issue. But thanks for the data set. Great read.

Those Superintendents sure are getting cashed out for having summers off. Bling bling Ching Ching here comes the cheddar

A very well deserved raise. The 13 and 14 year olds I talk to all love their teachers. That's saying a lot coming from teenagers!

@Clive, your comments on comparative salaries - your understanding of CURRENT SALARIES in K-8 elementary districts - are outdated. Please, please, please, follow the link of the study posted by the resident of Rengstorff Park. Otherwise we are starting to find your posted comments more "truthiness" than "truth". And that will mean we will take your comments less seriously in the future!

BTW, it is very hard to compare executive level public salaries. K-8 districts only? (about 4,000-6,000 students)? Does "years of experience" (as administrator or in district) matter at all? Does - helped improve academics (if it is a Board Goal for the District) matter? Comparing MVWSD's Chief Administrative Officer total compendation directly to PAUSD's does not make much sense (at least to me)!

Take a break, Open a cool one (if you can) and chill. "It's another sunny day in Mountain View"

Rookie Teachers deserve the same compensation as a rookie cop.

MVPD starting SALARY $102,099 to $123,984 annually
source Web Link

BENEFITS
Generous paid leave, CalPERS medical coverage, dental insurance, vision insurance, life insurance, and an employee assistance program (EAP). Access to CalPERS retirement (3% at 50 for current classic members; 2.7% at 57 for new members) and retiree medical benefits as well as access to IRS Section 125 flexible benefits for pretax child care, health spending accounts and tuition reimbursement.

The executive level management positions at Fire, Police and even schools are pretty nice jobs with excellent salary and benefits. I get that teachers are underpaid compared to a new police officer but they don't risk their life and work nearly as much. The real issue for MV taxpayers will be supporting the very, very generous public pensions that will be paying out over the next 30 years. That unfunded liability will drive our taxes much higher and are locked into the equation. That is why California will have to tax you to death.

Cleave,

What I am well aware of is how parents with time to get involved with district committees, blind cheerleading and rumor mongering are usually the ones rewarded with entitlement and privilege to have the ear of the district and board when it comes to their children and getting their way, for example best teachers, immediate attention to the slightest concern etc. So yes, I get it. Get involved and get what you want. Better to have you on the district's and board side than not. In return you will be rewarded.

Sorry, besides not having the time, I believe in a great public education for all, not just for those who parents ingratiated themselves blindly to the district bureaucracy and serve as attack dogs for those who dare criticize the status quo.

@Cleave Frink
Yes you do need to lighten up and your name is Buttercup. Accept it and please move on.

@ Cleave Frink

Why do you build me up, Buttercup?

Just to let me down

Dear cleave you have an awful lot to say about everything. Since you are so informed, could you please reveal your identity? It's bizarre that you comment on virtually every school district article, bit are afraid to take credit for your insightful comments. In other words, stop being a troll.

@Cleve Frink

Steve Nelson is that you???

Steve Nelson is the real Cleave Frink! And he would’ve gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling kids!

Haha @Is Cleave Frink. Fortunately Steve Nelson typically posts his crazy nonsensical rhetoric under his real name. Perhaps since Steve is running for MVLA high school board, he has gone incognito as Clive....but still, he remains all the crazy whether he uses an alias or not. Who knows? But regardless, no one should listen to Clive unless he actually reveals himself. He has too much to say and expects us all to care, all while using a false name . No thanks

Cleave has been around forever. He’s real and he’s not Steve Nelson. IMO he’s a PACT parent OR district employee with unrealistic goals and hopes and dreams for the district that can never be achieved because the district isn’t good. Schools are 5 or 6/10!on great schools and he says “we need more parents out there”. I was that parent. When 66%!of the remaining parents don’t speak English and don’t work but also don’t help it gets old real fast. Gang task forces at MVWSD middle schools. That says something doesn’t it? Cleaves world is pink though, I will give him that. Maybe we’d all be happier if we were him.

The Truth is Cleave Frink ("registered") is real and posting under his own ("registered") and password protected login.

Just like Christopher Chang has for eons (2005?). However Cleave is a relative newcomer - the first time I saw him at a MVWSD meeting was in late 2014 (I think), when he and his family were new with this district and area. Moving in from out-of-state, he came from an environment where school segregation was a consistent problem - and he worked on that issue / on a citizens task force / from when his kids were much smaller.

Cleave is a jump-in-and-work-on-it type of person. I think he Usually does due diligence in his study of public issues (though - IMO he sometimes "follows the bureaucrat's road" too closely, without question). He seems to have been hasty and 'maybe made a mistake' on his postings above - but I did read WHAT I THOUGHT was at least a partial retraction (?).

Cleave is REAL and not an anonymous troll. To me that makes his opinions more REAL.

Thank you so much, "Cleave is real". Cleave being a Stevenson parent makes everything make so much more sense.

For those worried about the Pension obligations of MVWSD, the State has required increased obligations by schools over the last several years. Other agencies with more PERS employees (as opposed to mostly CALSTRS school teachers and administrators) are likely in much worse shape and it does not pay to generalize. Education quality would be nice to measure objectively, but none of the current methods have really worked.

BTW-Real C Frink, keep up the good work, and don't let these knuckleheads drag you down.

The teacher's salaries seem fair to me. It's not overly excessive nor is it low by any means. Teachers salaries go as high as $137,827 in Mountain View and they have around 3 months off for summer break. Plus they get pensions and health and everything else.

Here's REAL government data on teacher salaries in bay area. The total compensation average is about $160K from quick glance. That's with 3 months vacation. Web Link

I believe teachers deserve at least as much as the average salary of the parents of the children in their classes. I don't understand why administrations should receive more than the teachers. Are administrators more influential in making the children better adults than the teachers? Do we value administrators more than teachers? Why do we?

I would like to stay on the point that teacher's salary is absolutely fair and there are many sources to prove that Web Link http://www.smartcric.website/ The total compensation average is about $160K from quick glance. That's with 3 months vacation.

Regards,
Mitchell. (http://www.mysmartcric.com)

If you know anything about teaching or know a teacher,then you would know there is no such thing as 3 months of vacation!!!