PPS Midlevel Manager Bloat
I don’t think I’m alone in my perception that PPS has a lot of bullshit administrator jobs. Thank you Betsy Hammond for providing some proof of that:
Compared with other local school districts, Portland Public Schools pays an oversize share of employees $75,000 to $95,000 a year for mostly low-visibility jobs.
I don’t have a problem with teachers getting extra pay for extra work but I have a huge problem with PPS administrators creating jobs for their friends or for staff who were failures in their other PPS positions.
One thing missing from this story is PPS temporary employee data. I’m not talking about temps from temp agencies (which PPS regularly uses) but employees who are hired into Limited Term or Long Term Temporary positions. I know quite a bit about those positions because those hirings were one of my main responsibilities when I worked in PPS HR department.
Temporary employment with PPS is HOW PPS administrators are able to create midlevel positions for their friends. They hire them into 60 day (Limited Term Employment) positions which do not require posting then create the regular positions. Once they’ve already performed the responsibilities in a temporary role, they’re a shoe-in for the regular position.
You should see payroll cutoff days at PPS. People submit timecards for jobs that nobody knew they were hired into. The entire HR department needs a thorough audit!
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I do wish they had made a clearer differentiation between extended responsibility pay and other things you bring up. I used to get $12.54 per month for advising student government. This is a lot less dangerous for the organization than TOSAs and the temp hiring of former administrators. Still this was almost an Oregonian article I agreed with.
ppsvet, Good point.
I am always amazed at the reshifting of titles. TOSAs are now “Instructional Coaches.” Give me a break. For too long, the TOSA position has been used as a step-up to getting one’s administrative license. Colleagues and I agree: the TOSA position (or whatever you want to call it) should be limited to 3 years, with a requirement that the teacher return to the classroom for at least one year before moving on (or up).
What’s frustrating too about the TOSA (now Instructional Coach) position is that they appear as FTE for the buildings, yet they don’t do anything to alleviate the student-load on teachers and classrooms. What ever happened to the idea of teachers being hired to teach students? On paper, our class sizes are somewhat manageable; in actual bodies, students are squished into classrooms.
Nor do TOSA’s or Instructional coaches significantly decrease the paperwork that’s been added to the teacher workday.
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