Within this article there are two messages. The first, of course, is another call by the Plain Dealer to pass a school levy.
The less obvious message is that when the schools do have money they spend much of it on administrators and programs and bureaucratic activities that have little or nothing to do with the day to day business of teaching.
Without a doubt there are hard working and personal sacrificing teachers who are working against great odds to touch the lives of inner-city children.
Unfortunately their union does not openly condemn the administrating of the schools and the waste of money on that administration.
The best example--now nearly forgotten--is that an administrator called a linkage coordinator was paid $191,000 per year. While having an affair with one of the persons she supervised she gave that individual a $10,000 raise. Did the teachers union show their outrage? No!
Still another example of waste and corruption would be the story of Ruby Weems. Her charter school was closed for extreme financial mismangement. After the demise of her charter school Ms Weems was hired by the Cleveland City Schools at $70,000 per year.
These are stories we know about. How many more such examples could Mark Naymik find if he truly wanted to expose the mess in our school system.
The Plain Dealer has a obligation to expose the waste and corruption with the same commitment they have for the passage of a levy.
Links:
[1] http://www.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2012/05/teachers_in_cleveland_schools.html