Unfortunately Mr. Gannon the private sector solution to the phone issue is not viable.  This is because the public sector does not problem solve the same way the private sector does.  You see in the public sector such a solution would just lead to the inevitable “We need more staff in order to comply with new demands of monitoring our employee’s phone reimbursements.”  Thereby not only negating any savings but actually increasing spending over the current situation. 

Right now the public school system is doing what they have always done.  They are playing a shell game which is designed to make citizens dance around and argue amongst each other.  This is done so the school system can maintain its huge budget.  They are taking from areas people value (sports, teachers, etc.) knowing the resulting public outcry will most certainly mean increased funding.  It is nothing new but times are changing and folks are finally starting to wise up.

I worked in a number of private companies before working for myself.  I may have used a personal phone, but with every company, I have always expensed the business related portion of the phone bill (which was usually most of it) and received an expense check from my employer. 

Is that a viable solution? 

Pat

All of us, School Board, Administration, Goochland Education Parents Association, Mrs. Christie and myself, struggle with putting forth comprehensive information on complicated issues.

I too call for better communication, on all parts (self included).

These meetings can be true marathons, so I suggest better use of the blog system for communication. However, we all still need to be effective and efficient at the daily duties of our jobs. Now back to mine….

The vast majority of people employed in the private sector use their personal cell phones for work.  It should be no different in the public sector.  The argument should not be about whether we are “saving” money by using one company or another or one type of phone or another.  The argument should be focused on why any school employee has a publicly funded cell phone in the first place. 

Public employees are all too often afforded benefits those in the private sector routinely do without.  Some could justify this many years ago when public employee salaries were far below that of private sector employees but those days are long gone.  Put another way, if you want to have every holiday and weekend off, have two and half months off over the summer, have a secure retirement, have full coverage health/dental/eye insurance, and make an average 50Kor better a year salary then the least you can do as a public servant is use your personal cell phone for work purposes once in a while.

John you’ve helped make my point for me.

Unless one has been closely involved, one reading the Christie LTE would not know all the background.  Ms Christie may very well have some legitimate complaints known to the select few who participate here.  Her letter however was intended for the general public who do not know all these background details, and to me, her LTE cannot help but be interpreted as a personal attack based on insinuations and innuendo. It’s clear she wants Underwood gone.  I didn’t know that then - but I do now, so I understand why her letter was written to evoke emotion against the Board and mostly against the Supervisor.  It may or may not be well deserved, but I don’t like the way she went about it.  That’s my whole point.  Making that point does not make me a defender of the Administration. It makes me a defender of fair play and civility. That’s it. 
The fees were a red herring and she offered nothing in the way of evidence or support to address a disagreement over the cell phone policy.  Thanks to my LTE, the issue has received a great deal of attention, so that’s the good news. 

I don’t recall advocating for iPhones - merely reporting what the FOIA said they had.  If they can be justified for educational purposes, then I’m OK with them. If they are just Executive toys, then let’s see what can be done in the future.  At this point, they’re bought and paid for, so what difference does it make?

So, you ask - how would I have done this?  Well first I would check and see what neighboring, similar schools have done with regard to cellphone policies.  I’d look at what they spend vs what we spend and who has phones and what they have.  I’d ask Purchasing/Procurement what other purchasing vehicles were available and I’d try to do some research to see what other, better options, they might have had. I might call AT&T or Verizon and try to find out what kind of deal I could get for the number of phones and service we have in order to get a sanity check.  I’d interview some of the people with phones and see how they are used.  If I didn’t like what I was hearing I might do an FOIA request for the phone records to see how (and if) they are being used.  There are a lot of things you can do to support your position. Then, if I felt I was being ignored at Board meetings, I would write a detailed LTE laying out a clear, concise argument supporting my position, using all the evidence at my disposal.  There’s nothing unfair or uncivil about that. 

Not that I care, but there seem to be two issues:  1) Should anyone have cell phones?  Christie seems to say NO, and it appears that you and I agree that some phones are necessary; and 2) If cell phones are permitted, who should have them and what kind of plans and phones should the county use in order to reduce costs (taking into account the fact that the iPhones are water under the bridge - we own them so it makes no sense to buy new ones if they still do the job). 

Hash it out for the next budget cycle. I’m OK with what they have, but if tweaks can be made to reduce costs - then by all means push for it.

My concern is fairness and civility.  I’m not that concerned about fees or cellphones. I don’t see a real problem with either.

My plea, to the Board and Administration if they monitor this blog, is to speak up and communicate with the citizens of this county.  Explain the difficult decisions and the rationale you used to arrive at your decisions.  I’m not convinced that you are bad guys - but your communications skills could use some work.
Does Goochland have a debating team?

Pat

I’d love to retype everything I put in my response to the 8/26/10 LTE comment thread, but I don’t have the energy. Click on that link for more background on the phones.
Mr. Gannon has a point about fees being the same. They are the same. He fails to see that Mrs. Christie is talking about a larger subject matter (though she does reference fees). Mr. Gannon is correct in assuming that the fees aren’t going to change, or that they really are a part of the larger subject matter.

Mr. Gannon, please start attending the school board meetings. It would help you to understand the background behind Jane’s comments. In fact, take some time and go back and read school board meeting minutes - though they are sparse on actual information, it will help.

I agree that we all need to present constructive suggestions for the betterment of our schools and the students success. That is, after all what we are all doing.

iPhones, despite what Pat thinks, are a luxury and do not enhance the administrations ability to provide a safe and secure learning environment. Basic cell phones come for free with contracts and don’t cost $199 (which when multiplied by 32 equals $6,368 before sales tax) and also don’t have data services charges associated with them - yet still provide a means of communication in the event of an emergency.

I’m sorry that the schools had a bad contract with sprint. Any teenager could have told you that would be the case. The fact that they had one bad contract doesn’t excuse them from entering into another one. Let’s not forget that this new contract didn’t offer any true savings, or if it did, they didn’t account for it in the budget. However that budget did cut textbooks and supplies, not to mention teachers. Those items ARE necessary.

So, I too disagree with much of what you say Mr. Gannon. You are correct that user fees aren’t part of the overall budget. However, Mrs. Christie’s points about budgetary priorities are valid.

I’d love to see people with so much interest at the school board meetings and workshops. Though I must warn you, there is little information that can be gathered by attending just one.

Let’s all put our heads together and make constructive suggestions to help out in what will be an even worse budgetary cycle. The schools need all the help they can get, and perhaps this year they will give true consideration to the suggestions. Either way, I will be there offering help at every turn.

I must really be slow, because I just don’t get it.  We have always paid these fees - over and above what we paid in taxes. I certainly did.  So, I guess what you’re saying is that parents should not have to pay them any longer. How nice for you.

That means the costs must be borne by the taxpayers at large, including those of us who no longer or never had children in the system.  You would have us pay these fees for you; fees that we always paid for ourselves?

Is that what you are saying?

Again, I think you should let the fees issue go…  I paid the fees.  You can pay the fees. 

Now your comment regarding the fact that no changes were made to the telecom budget - well that’s a pertinent and important point. Believe me, if everybody is being civil and playing fair, I can be a pain in the neck for the Administration just like I am for you.  Mentioning this in your original LTE would have been to the point and much more powerful in its effect.  You had great information with the FOIA, but instead of using it to make your point in a fair way, you confused the issue with the fees, and your letter came across (at least to me) as a personal vendetta with vague charges and insinuations that were left unspoken.  Your letter seemed to be designed to elicit emotion against a person or persons, rather than to address the problems at hand.  At least that’s how I saw it, and perhaps I was tainted by having seen your letter that circulated in email earlier.

So, it seems that what we’ve learned is that the wheels of governance and education turn slowly (ask those of us in sales and we could have told you that a long time ago); so now is the time to start working on the telecom budget for next year.  You caught it at the last minute this time.  See if you can’t find a way to convince the powers that be that there are ways to trim the budget that don’t endanger the education, health or safety of the kids. Don’t give up.  Don’t assume that because you don’t get what you want right away that the powers that be are necessarily evil.  And if they are, prove it and I’ll help you run them out of town on a rail. 

But do it with integrity.

I’m not sorry I called for a return to civility and fairness with my LTE, but I think I’ve made my point and it’s time to turn to more important issues like deciding who we are and how we plan to live up that vision.  Cause we ain’t doing it now…

Hope we get a little rain…

Pat

With the utmost civility and patience, Pat, by additional school fees, I mean school fees that are over and above, or additional to, the amount that parents are already paying in taxes for the education of the children in this County.

No insinuations. No hidden meaning. Just plain, simple English.

The telecommunications costs in the budget approved by the School Board for 2010/11 are exactly the same as the telecommunications costs in the 2009/10 budget. While I appreciate Mr. De Weerd’s well-written explanatory letter in response to my request for information, the Superintendent and School Board did not cut these costs by as much as one cent. They chose instead to make massive cuts to areas of the budget which directly affect the quality of education offered to the children.

And yes, GCPS Parent of Goochland, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus. He is alive and well and living at the North Pole that is Goochland High School right now, where my child wears a thick, woollen, long-sleeved winter sweater on a 96 degree summer day for protection from the extreme cold generated by the school air-conditioning system, at the expense of the taxpaying public!

Jane.

I don’t intend to get too wrapped up in the cell phone issue.  I have my own opinion, but not my problem to be frank.  I will continue to point out that my LTE was about civility and fairness. This topic is certainly fair play for a civil discussion.

The FOIA is in a format that only allows me to copy it as an “image” rather than text, and I’m not going to type out the whole thing.  In a nutshell it explains why AT&T was chosen (using the Fairfax contract at discounted rates up to 20%) to replace Sprint based on improved reception, cost savings, sychronization with the Mac computers, ability to use new apps for the student information system and to solve ‘synching’ problems.  The FOIA details the difference between plans and clearly some thought went into choosing the vendor.  My guess is that the whole thing was offered as a package including the phones which were $199 each.

Sprint continues to provide service for 10 cell phones primarily by maintenance, transportation and support staff (you really don’t want the transportation guys to be without a cell phone when a bus breaks down do you?).  Nurses turned in their phones when they were assigned to specific schools rather than travel. There are a few more details about the Sprint phones and a handful of connection cards for laptops for those traveling out of the county.

The FOIA response letter ends by saying, “A review of phone requirements takes place at the start of each school year.  We anticipate additional changes and reductions to occur as we evaluate needs for current staff as we start the 2010-11 year.” 

So if you have feedback on cell phones, this is probsably the time to make it.  I still see them as a necessary and critical component - but if you’re willing to take risks with your children’s education, safety and welfare, then go for it.  We’ve become too much of a nanny state anyway.  Nothing wrong with a little risk (until it’s your kid!). 

Pat

I do not believe that iPhones are really justified (or justifiable). Cellphones maybe, but the iPhone is a trendy handheld computer and music player that also happens to be a ‘Status’ phone. There are plenty of less trendy phones that cost less to buy, and plenty that cost less to use. (I don’t suppose the iTunes store bill was in that FOIA?)  No doubt the superintendent can update her blog, check powerschool and interface with her staff (didn’t know I could choke ya through the tv did ya?) whilst shopping at FoodLion, but is it really necessary?

Given the choice of $30K for textbooks or $30K for executive toys I would pick textbooks. Mind you, given the choice, silly ‘ol me would also have picked a free energy audit (offered by a parent & Dominion employee) over paying tens of thousands for an outside consultant to conclude that the school computers should be turned off along with the lights to save energy. Needless to say the Superintendent went with the latter.

Pat should also understand that some parents have spent the last year at school board meetings attempting to point out ways money could be saved
in the school budget, only to be *totally* ignored, resulting in the cuts we are now experiencing. To find that the administration can afford their status phones but the kids get no books is more than ridiculous.

Regardless, phone costs (and even the AP fees) can all be fixed with no further expenditure. We simply have maintenance remove all the high school’s Promethian boards that were purchased at a cost of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer’s dollars but are either never used or are not working. I suggest listing them on EBAY, (perhaps using an iPhone app), and see if they have any residual value on the secondary market. Any funds so raised can then be allocated to textbooks, supplies, white board markers and even AP fees.

Lastly, savings could surely be made on the power bill at this time of year if we can simply persuade maintenance to abandon their snow making
experiments through manipulation of the HVAC system in the middle and high schools. Kids are coming home with hypothermia…