Must be Spring is in the air today, VUB has three pickups, one pump truck, a dump truck and a scoop loader piled up in the street. But can only see six employees instead of the usual two or three per unit. Must have some work to be done and the guys are spread out doing what they do best? Kid running the back hoe was really good with it.
Chuckled to see the new water meter dug up for one spot. It is about the third or fourth time since the big changeover rush at the end of 2015 installing the new solar water meters. They were back several times in November and December redoing work then and supposedly came back to convert my connection to a 3/4" in January 2016? One never saw so many four and five man crews running around the ghetto digging holes.
This debacle going on with the Teachers pay/ benefits and the impending walkout on Thursday and Friday is becoming out of control. Will the kids have to make up the lost days? They should, if they are to get the magic 180 days of instruction. Watch how this two day vacation works out for them and how the strikers, get paid for not working? Will they get docked for two days of Vacation or Some sort of personal days that all seem to get?
Can't do much about the issue as West Virginia being pretty much at the bottom of the list when it comes to quality of teaching won't have anyone to bring in to replace the strikers.
With a supposed shortage of 700 qualified in mostly the STEM courses, a lot of holes to fill. And with the kids fleeing the State on Graduation for better paying jobs in other places, all you have left are long time employees making a whole bunch more than the so called average but still screaming for more and more and more, while paying less and less and less for the same levels of coverage is not a positive sign for any of the kids.
Only other solution maybe to hire in College Seniors and let them get credit for actual teaching experience in lieu of some classes? I am all in for firing the bunch of them. Just about every real contract has explicit statements on striking and a "walk out" under any name is a strike albeit short term or for the duration. I have no sympathy for Government Employees going on strike. Walkouts in extreme public safety issues might be an exception but for sure not wages/ benefits.
They all knew what it was when they hired in as pay scales for them at each and every step is published for them on their websites. Yes, one should get increases for quality of work, not for showing up each day. And it shows in the poor numbers that put West Virginia at the bottoms of list after list, year after year in achievement levels.
We want better teachers, pay the NEW ones more money to force out the ones who are not doing the job. For the good ones on board, merit raises.
Motivate them to do better with Merit raises as they meet exceed high standards and the usual raise some years as the real world may or may not get. Guaranteed raises should no longer be the expected norm. This State is too broke because of very poor fiscal management going back for decades if I am to believe what is put out by the talking heads.
And another issue that is big with the Teachers is supposed to be the seniority system under attack. Here, I read Union intervention to protect itself and not the kids who get stuck with teachers who have managed to coast into 20,25 or more years on the job, but don't do as well as they could. It may be burn out, teaching is a tough business, no doubt about it. But we have those who just are keeping up with what is going on in the real world and affects what they need to learn to continue teaching well. Need to be able to remove those teachers who are not up to snuff, reward the exceeders and their are lots of those and try to motivate the in betweeners upward or out as shows itself.
Noted the 9 October 2014 Minutes where the 12th St., 5 acres were appraised at $425,000 and the 2 lots on 31st were appraised at $265,000. But also said going out for new appraisals. In the end to date we have a "land contract or maybe a real sale to OVU for the best 2+ acres for about $165,000. Means that the lessor 3 acres need sell for $260,000 to meet that old appraisal. 4 years later if someone gets antsy and jumps on the deal, it may happen? But in a flood plain so insurance could be a bit of a problem now.
Some Truth in Advertising is I may? I noted earlier that I thought the City paid $975,000 for the Johns Manville site. It was saying the price was $900,000. Said would review documents to find where it was purchased and after hours of going through B&F and City Council Meetings, I found where it is said the City authorized on 10 July 2014 to be paid $900,000., for the site. So if one were to add in the Appraisal and some initial inspections, it might come to the $974,000., but in any case the issue is the sale price. So will as is my habit admit I erred on that number. I will have my Crow with horseradish sauce. And you may say, "who cares", I do. It is my intent to be as accurate as I can in what I post and for that reason alone insure my own self accuracy.
Still, some are adding in the $40,000., and the $200,000., grant money as already gone, so we are still in the same ball park and some. 'nuff said'.