My wife Jenny was one of the 482 laid off “teachers” who got pink slips over the weekend and are reported on in today’s paper.

While I think there is an obvious need to debate the amount of money paid by workers for health insurance (none at this point for teachers, and we personally don’t use it), how about talking about the inappropriate amount of money being sucked up by the central office “administration”? There are literally thousands of people who work for the MPS administration located about a half block from my house on 52nd & Vliet, and I’ve heard nothing about any cuts taking place with them.

Just look at the top. You have Superintendent Andrekopoulos who makes $260,000+ a year and for what? Some of the worst reading rates in the Country and a graduation rate of around 50%? That hardly seems like the kind of performance that would demand a salary of over a quarter million dollars per year.

Why not start the cuts with him and his staff? Why not trim the fat in MPS administration?

And let me tell you, if the number of Cadillac’s and Lexus’ that roll out of MPS administration at 4:30pm on the dot is any indication of the amount of fat being spared in MPS administration, there’s plenty of fat to be cut. Apparently, cutting first and second year teachers is more important that interrupting the luxury car payments of the folks in the administration building, or heaven forbid, cutting the salary of the people at the top!

For what it’s worth, Jenny has been a school counselor for the past two years and works in a very challenging high school on the north side of town. She’s given two years of her life for those kids and that school and has been promptly rewarded by MPS with a swift kick to the rear.

I went to high school for a few years in Sheboygan Falls, so this hits a bit close to home:

Hours after being questioned and released by police, a 23-year-old man was arrested Monday for allegedly carrying two guns — one of them loaded — near a Sheboygan Falls school, officials said today.

Matt Hubing, of 85 Wisconsin St. in Sheboygan Falls, was booked into jail about 7:30 p.m. Monday and is scheduled to make an initial court appearance today, jail officials said. Sheboygan Falls police are recommending a felony charge of possession of a firearm in a school zone, said Police Chief Steve Riffel.

“It came to light to us that he was in violation of the 1,000 feet of a school with a loaded weapon, and we have very big concerns about that,” Riffel said. “After warning him the previous week and (knowing) he’s keenly aware of the law, that’s why we proceeded with (seeking charges).” – Sheboygan Press

There’s a certain amount of escalation lately among the “I need to carry a loaded handgun on my hip” crowd. This seems to be the latest example of people needing to “prove” that they are the defenders of second amendment rights. And to prove that they’re defenders of the second amendment, they’ll ride through a school zone with a handgun and assault rifle slung around their back!

I own and use guns myself. But there’s absolutely no reason I or anyone should need to take them in or near a school. Or a church for that matter. I also have rights. Like the right to take my kids to school and not worry about some over zealous nut job who thinks it’s his individual responsibility to intervene – with his handgun – in any and all criminal activity that invariably happens around the elementary school.

In short, my right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” outweighs yours to form a militia on the playground of the local elementary school.

I missed the original run of the article but the Journal Sentinel had a piece up earlier in the week about the sad state of guidance counselor positions within the Milwaukee public school system. Believe it or not, there are only 84 guidance counselors in the entire district to serve 82,000+ students!

That’s one guidance counselor for every 1,000 students, which is shameful. When you’re responsible for that many children, you unfortunately can’t serve any of them well. The kicker is six of the 84 counselors are set to be fired in the upcoming school year.

Milwaukee has 84 licensed counselors to serve 82,096 students in the district, according to the most recent DPI information, resulting in a counselor-to-student ratio of almost 1-to-1,000.

That number is about four times the 1-to-250 ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association. That recommendation is seldom met, in Wisconsin or nationally. The state average counselor-to-student ratio is 1-to-454, about the same as the national average.

Wisconsin’s standard requires districts to have a “school board approved plan for the provision of guidance and counseling services” and a program that is “developmentally based and available to every pupil in every grade of the school district.”

MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos said no plan can be brought to the School Board because the district has never had enough counselors to serve all its students.

If there’s ever been an example of the kind of bureaucratic BS that hurts MPS, it’s that last quote from outgoing Superintendent Andrekopoulos. The whole, “Well, gosh! No one filed a TPS report with us that the bus was broken because we knew the bus was broken!” attitude from a guy who pulls in the the same salary as the six counselors combined who are going to be fired and has done absolutely nothing to improve the school system he’s been in charge of for 5+ years is disgusting.

As a number of people can allude to, I’ve really been having a hard time getting behind the MPS administration lately and have soured on the whole thing. As our current Superintendent is showing, you don’t really have to do anything to make $250,000 a year. In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t do anything so you can keep your job and if you’re lucky, you can use it to vault into the next job which hopefully pays a bit more and you can start the whole cycle over again.

And while it’s frustrating for me as someone who loves Milwaukee and wants to see it do it’s best, it’s only frustrating. There are tens of thousands of kids who are having their own future impacted because bureaucrats who implement policies like 1-1000 student/guidance counselor ratios are in charge.

Two other quick notes… 1.0 of the 6.4 guidance counselor positions being next year is my wife Jenny, so yes I have a personal stake in this. Second, if you ever want to get a sense of the kind of uninformed and frankly moronic opinions held by people in and around Milwaukee about the issue of MPS and education in general, look no further than the comments submitted at the bottom of the article.