The Virginian-Pilot
©
PORTSMOUTH
If the latest roster of division employees and salaries evokes déjà vu, that’s because the 2,253 workers are earning the same base wage they did last year.
School employees’ last pay raise was in September 2009, when they moved a single step on the wage ladder. A year ago, full-time workers got a $500 bonus, with a $250 bonus for part-time employees, drawn from the division’s share of the federal Education Jobs Fund act.
Some employees say they can’t go on without an increase. Paula Gibson, a representative for school bus drivers and monitors, told the School Board at its Nov. 10 meeting that those workers deserve a 5 percent raise.
“The cost of living has risen in the past few years, and we have an obligation to ourselves and our families to provide a balanced life for them,” Gibson said.
At the same meeting, Eva Williams, a representative for paraprofessionals, asked the board for a 10 percent raise for that group. Both Williams and Gibson asserted that their colleagues get paid less than people doing the same jobs in nearby divisions.
Paraprofessionals are teachers aides; their pay in Portsmouth ranges from $13,600 to $21,000.
That claim will be easier to verify when the latest wage comparison of PPS and nearby divisions are presented to the board at its Dec. 8 work session.
With a $15 million revenue gap projected for the next budget year, the division’s ability to raise pay is dubious unless the General Assembly unexpectedly increases education aid.
This fall, Superintendent David Stuckwisch called the school funding landscape the bleakest of his nine-year career leading the division. He raised the prospect of more layoffs but said some jobs, such as custodians and bus drivers, had already been cut so severely that further reductions would be impractical.
“Our financial situation does not look encouraging for raises at this point in the process,” Stuckwisch said this month.
Seven of the 2,152 employees on the roster, or 0.3 percent, earn more than $100,000.
The lowest-paid workers are crossing guards earning $4,741, followed by bus monitors earning $7,982.
Both groups work part time and only during the school year.
Steven G. Vegh, 446-2417 or steven.vegh@pilotonline.com
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teacher salaries
I am one of these teachers. I cannot go another year without a raise. Everything has gone up: utilities, insurance, food . . . . Morale is low among us. I am a qualified, experienced teacher who sometimes works 12 hour days, and during summer. Still, I cannot earn enough to cover emergencies or even new clothes. I am thankful to have a job, but at the end of the year I will need to search for something else to ensure tha tmy family can make ends meet. So sad for the students who need us.
It won't ever change
The situation will never change. The problem is we have to many chiefs and not enough indians. We have a Superintendant, two Assisant Superintendants, we have 10 directors, 7 Coordinators, 20 Supervisiors, and 5 Assistant Directors and Managers. Most of these never step foot inside a school building and they never work with students. A pay raise doesn't hurt those that are over paid to begin with. Also take into account that all of these positions have secretaries to assist them. Cut these jobs by 10 and theres your pay raises. It's a shame when you've been with a system for 12 years and those just start make more than you do and both of you have the same schooling and qualifications.
solution
I say cut the superintendents salary by about 80 grand. Cut the assistant superintendents salary by about 30 grand and so on, so forth all the way down the top ten line.
In the meantime higher ups
In the meantime higher ups are changing their job titles and asking for big raises. All the workers are given more work and are told there is no money in the budget for raises. Not surprised by it but not fair if you ask me and the rest of us working our butts off.