Timing is everything. Hasn't Michael Hanson learned that yet?
So I'm in a van with five other people, and we're on our way to Huntington Beach for a half-marathon tomorrow. One of the people I'm traveling with -- I'm not giving up any sources -- works for Fresno Unified. Looking at today's paper, conversation immediately turned to the article about how trustees and teachers are irked about Hanson's decision to suspend all hiring -- just a day after he persuaded trustees to authorize the hiring of a new top administrator.
"What kind of message is that?" said trustee Larry Moore. "The state is $42 billion in the hole, they're talking about eliminating class-size reduction, and our school board and the administration is acting like everything is fine and hiring more administrators."
Yeah, that was pretty much the reaction of my friend in the van too.
Michael Hanson; Fresno Unified superintendent, and the trustees approved hiring another top administrator (salary $148.000) while freezing all other hiring. The kids have already been shortchanged over and over again. Is that one single administrator going to teach those hundreds of seniors so they can graduate? And whose protégé or relative is it going to be?
So if Michael Hanson is taking money from the district, ( money that should be spent on teaching and supplies) it is a faux pas. How charming. But let someone take a few bucks and spend it on the students, than it becomes tantamount to stealing in the worst of ways during this very real fiscal crisis. The Pillory is only for lower income employees in education. Six digit incomes can steal from the system legally. I lived around here (continuously) for 57 years, and I have been in the loop for most of them.
Please! Let this post stand in for judging the City of Fresno. Michael Hanson is one thing wrong with Fresno, and so are the trustees, less the two who voted against this pork barrel hiring. And those two, I count a plus for the City of Fresno. The trouble with that lagniappe is that trustees Carol Mills' and Larry Moore's decency and prudence was free to the tax payer. The rest of that caboodle is costing us plenty in an economy that is anything but one of plenty. Some beehivers reject me for being a Euro immigrant; but by Jove; they don't chintz on the kids' education in most of the countries. And by Jove, by George and whatever else, Austria did not chintz on mine. A guy called Otto Gloeckel made sure of that in 1919, (the First Democratic Republic of Austria.)
Why does it take a new high-paying administrator to keep track of the seniors who may be short on credits? Isn't that the job of the counselors at each school site? They should be reviewing every year the student's progress and inform him/her where the shortfalls occur. Also, at the end of the junior year, the student should receive a report indicating if all required subjects were met and if there are any to make up. A person making 148,000 is not required. Mr. Aguilar is another paper pusher. What a waste of money!!!