He was also named "Top" Educator in the State. You get what you are willing to pay for. Keep loading up class sizes, reducing salaries, and backstabbing your elected officials, and educators, and you will get a un-educated, unmotivated, and un-employable children.

All FCBOE Employees took a 4.5% pay cut from all board members to Dr. D down to para-pros all principals included . Now some can better afford the loss more than others. Please look at the budget for next year and explain with all these short falls how the county can pretend to take up the shortfall from the state for national board certified teachers. That stipend was contracted between the state and the teacher not the county so why should the county be asked to pick up the tab for the state??

The original question was regarding BOE members. They did NOT take a pay cut and several had thousands in travel expenses.

In regards the the county office 'elite', I think you are confusing a 'voluntary furlough' that SOME in the county office took last year with the pay cut.

Those in the midst of a three year contract could NOT/cannot legally be forced to take the salary cut (for contractual reasons) and several opted NOT to - look closer my friend.

As for the upcoming pay cut/furlough due to a decrease in state funding for this year (09-10)announced on July 21, 2009: It will be forced on teachers this year due to the reduction by the state in the amount being paid toward teacher salaries in addition to the 4.5% pay cuts.

The teacher retirement system in GA is also requiring a greater contribution and combined the teachers and administrators NOT on three year contracts in Fayette will take about a 7%-8% hit (minimum).

By the way, this is being touted/advertised as allowing school systems to vary the length of the school year as long as they keep instructional (seat) time the same.

The across the Board 4.5% pay cut from the county goes into force this year and impacts ALL employees of the Fayette county school system even the Board members from top to bottom. No one is exempt. Feel free to contact the finance department of FCBOE to help clarify your misinformation. It's called the public information act. Last year some employees (not teachers) were asked to take voluntary furloughs and this is a pay cut no other form of pay reduction was implemented. I did not argue that some did not take their furlough days everyone knows who did and did not. Believe me I personally understand/feel the impact of these cuts.

There comes a time in such recessions or depressions as this one, when either employees take a pay cut or some have to be laid off!

If you will remember a well old venerable airline went totally out of business due to a lack of cooperation with the unionized members to take a significant pay cut. They said in effect: if you must, lay-off some people but don't cut my salary. They went broke and disappeared.

Now it happened that enough to make a majority were people who couldn't be laid off due to "seniority," so they had nothing to lose.

What we fail to see in this type of thing is that layoffs should be by merit and not seniority! There are people involved who although they have less seniority, are better qualified, and needed more, than some of the dunderheads who survive due to seniority!

For the system to work, we must evaluate people, teachers, every so often regularly and "be honest" about it.

Everyone is not "more than satisfactory" or better!
Some aren't even addequate and should be fired after a couple of evaluations even if they have 40 years seniority!

Taxes simply can not be raised on the citizens when they aren't getting any raises, and many have no job.

Classes will be larger---so what! Will be OK if you keep the best teachers and administrators!

Too radical for you?

I agree layoffs should be based on results not seniority , evaluations and job performance no argument here. Don't really understand what your post has to do with my reply it's obvious you do not understand where I am coming from or your a NBC Teacher. I have no problem with paycuts if the moneys not there you can't pay and adjustments have to be made. My problem is the county taking up a contractual obligation between the STATE and NBC teachers. The county has no obligation to pay that stipend. Should we pay the states obligated money and be force to layoff more qualified and successful teachers?? or cut health benefits from teachers??National Board Certification does not mean that that teacher is any better or obtains better results from their students than other teachers? NO, it means only that they met criteria paid a fee and passed the test. Just because someone has a Ph.D doesn't make them smarter or more qualified only that they were willing to jump through the necessary hoops. My reply was to correct misinformation. Why should the county spend money it does not have to cover a State obligation. Also, look at closing Rivers, stop teacher leader positions and leave those AP positions vacant people don't understand there is no money.... National Board Certified teachers need to petition the state not the county.

The last election showed that the voters think everything is pretty rosy with the present group. Unfortunately, when more major problems develop in the school system, the replacements for the present BOE will be expected to solve them overnight, even though all the problems took years to grow into major obstacles to a well-run and highly successful school system. Someone is going to have to clean up the mess and it won't be pretty. Judging by the last election and the lack of candidates overall, some have obviously already decided that they don't want to be the people getting blamed for past failures.

Fayette Co parents and their kids have overcome some real boneheads running the system into the ground over the years, but it won't last forever.