Comments on: DOE to award $12 million in raises to central office employees

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:03:20 +0000

Poor Joel, I’m so sorry for the poor wimp; it was so hard for him to make the decision to screw the people who work the extra hours for him and who lead the organization which makes him look good. He sounds pretty pathetic. All other city mgr got 4 percent in ’08 and 4 percent in ’09. Not us. Singled out. On one hand he tells us we are the best group he has ever worked with and on the other he slaps us down. Our last raises were in 2006 and paid in 2007 so it has been 3 years. Just not right. WE did not take the jobs for the money but we have families. They take and take. These raises came out in June by the Mayor, they were approved by the Mayor & but Joel knows best. Just the arrogance of the man & the ignorance of the man. We are the people who sacrifice our evenings and weekends with our families to do the noble work of the Department of Education. We are dedicated employees who believe in trying to help the city children to have a better chance than those that went before them. But he tells us we are worth less and less important than other city managers. I know we are in tough times but everyone else got paid. Why were his best and brightest singled out? Especially with the things that they choose to spend our precious city tax dollars on. The Education Department blew almost $375,000 on a New Age management consultant who brags about being a master hypnotherapist and earning a degree from an online university. And that is the tip of the ice berg. Just my humble civil servant opinon.

By: JB

JB — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:16:32 +0000

Come on David! DOE managerial salaries are inflated when compared to rest of city? Not when you take out the mandated superintendents and the pedagogic managers. You know that when you compare DOE adminstrative managers to the similar managerial titles used in rest of city DOE managers are at similar level. Unlike you David , a Bklyn College prof who gets regular increases through the Professional Staff Congress ( the union for professors ) ,city managers only get a cost of living increase when the Mayor grants it to them.

The issue is not whether test scores are up or down or the Mayor is championing merit pay, but whether hard working DOE managers deserve the same cost of living increase as every other manager in the city. The mayor thought they did but the Chancellor did not. The fact that Klein has chosen to send thisnot will serve him badly in the years to come. By the way I bet the Bklyn College profs didn’t turn down the 4 % increase they received in 08 or the 3 % increase they received in Oct 09, which is very close to what the Mayor gave city managers.

By: Judy

Judy — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:15:25 +0000

David Bloomfield your quote” these across-the-board raises seem ill-conceived and hypocritical” is very funny when your whole profession is selling your consulting services to school districts, i always find it interesting that its always the consultants criticizing DOE raises (when they themselves charge ridiculous amounts).. Don’t worry there will always be money left for you guys.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:51:23 +0000

Jason, get off the cross, we need the wood.

By: David Bloomfield

David Bloomfield — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:39:24 +0000

Managerial employees are not entitled to automatic COLA adjustments. DOE management salaries are already inflated compared to comparable city positions. In addition, in the face of system-wide belt-tightening, flat test scores and almost 2 dozen school closures, these across-the-board raises seem ill-conceived and hypocritical when contrasted with the Mayor’s and Chancellor’s merit-pay rhetoric.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:06:15 +0000

David Bloomfeld, give me a break. These are COLAs (and at this level, not even that). Teachers get automatic annual salary steps based on years of service. The salary levels at each step also increases annually to reflect COLA adjustments. Two separate things. Additionally, central managers can be fired on the spot for incompetence. They also can be promoted (with raises) based on meritorious service. You are a smart guy. I have to believe you know that.

Citizen – COLA adjustments for city managers followed the same pattern as union employees. Should we have asked all the union employees not to get a COLA so we could save money and keep programs and services? There are 80,000 teachers and only a few thousand DOE managers — think of the savings if teachers didn’t get their COLA adjustments! (Note – I don’t think that should happen — I’m just saying that it’s a lot to begrudge city managers the modest COLA adjustment that union employees got when — like teachers — most of us could make a hell of a lot more money in the private sector, when we don’t get paid a dime for the extensive overtime we put in, etc. Oh, and even though as a DOE manager I’m one of a few thousand city employees not getting the 4% adjustment, I am okay with that. I don’t love it. But, like teachers and principals, I didn’t take this job for the money.)

By: Citizen

Citizen — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:10:30 +0000

Now if Bloomberg had led the way and asked all city managers and employees to do “more with less” there would have been many $millions more to offset the cuts. But wait…Oh yeah… it was election year! Could he have gotten re-elected without those 8% raises and retroactive payments?