School superintendent gives up $800k in pay

[Maine-ah]

Source: Yahoo/AP

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Some people give back to their community. Then there's Fresno County School Superintendent Larry Powell, who's really giving back. As in $800,000 — what would have been his compensation for the next three years.

Until his term expires in 2015, Powell will run 325 schools and 35 school districts with 195,000 students, all for less than a starting California teacher earns.

"How much do we need to keep accumulating?" asks Powell, 63. "There's no reason for me to keep stockpiling money."

Powell's generosity is more than just a gesture in a region with some of the nation's highest rates of unemployment. As he prepares for retirement, he wants to ensure that his pet projects survive California budget cuts. And the man who started his career as a high school civics teacher, who has made anti-bullying his mission, hopes his act of generosity will help restore faith in the government he once taught students to respect.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/school-superintendent-gives-800k-pay-150206667.html

[CurtEastPoint]

1. The collective IQ of the Yahoo commenters... less than zero? Is that possible?

Such ranting and nastiness. Good for Supt. Powell. And the teabagger in FL bitching about his low $175K/yr salary.

[Beartracks]

3. LOL Highly possible. n/t

[No Elephants]

4. Inasmuch as Yahoo seems to be predominantly Republican, it probably is possible.

[meow2u3]

12. A few Republican Yahoo users have dozens of sock puppets

The real reason conservos seem to dominate the boards: sock puppets, and dozens of them, if not hundreds or even thousands. Typically, one user has anywhere from 5 to 500 sock puppets, some with personas that amount to concern trolls, so in fact there's a few freepers and teabaggers who make it look as if they outnumber moderates and liberals 10 or even 100 to 1. So, all those morons on Yahoo may be the same person posting under a plethora of aliases, just like the soulless psychopaths they are.

The reason: freepers and teabaggers are likely a tiny minority of people (they're still technically human beings pond scum) actually paid to do nothing but create multiple fake user names, sit on their asses at the computer, and spend hours upon hours posting inflammatory invective, replete with blatant racist, sexist, classist, and religiously bigoted comments, with only two purposes: to intimidate Americans into surrendering their Constitutional rights and to give foreigners the impression that all Americans are as fundamentalist, fanatic, bigoted, stupid, violent, and contemptuous of the poor as they are, causing moderate and liberal Americans to apologize for being born on US soil.

[totodeinhere]

13. I call BS on that. Any one side has no monopoly on creating sock puppets.

I'll bet you that liberal posters can use the same tactics sometimes.

[Melinda]

25. I'd be very interested to see you provide proof that the left works like this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6266805

Your turn.

[quakerboy]

31. Which side pays people to get online and do it?

This argument that both sides are the same is without merit. One side has been caught paying people to flood any available venue with their talking points. the other, to my knowledge, has not even been accused of doing so.

[totodeinhere]

41. To you and Melinda both.

I don't deny that the right does it. I don't deny that the right does it more often. But I stand by my statement that both sides do it. I know this is anecdotal, but there was a liberal poster at another message board that I post at, TVNewser, who was banned because the admins found out that he was running sock puppets. (I'm not sure how they found out about it. Perhaps it was by comparing IP addresses.) And it's just logical to assume that with all of the thousands of people who post on Internet message boards, there aren't at least some liberal posters who run sock puppets just like the right wingers do. I don't have a link but to me it's just common sense to assume that.

And if you are asking for proof, I haven't seen proof that right wing sock puppets are on Yahoo either. I think there probably aren't some, but that article about paid right wing agitators doesn't specifically specify Yahoo.

[quakerboy]

46. Have you seen any evidence

that there are people paid to put out liberal propaganda on the web?

Can any nut create a dozen or a hundred usernames and spam a website with their views? Sure. Anyone with internet access and time and inclination can do that. But there is a massive, huge difference between paid teams of persons doing this and 1 lone zealot doing it. And one side has those paid teams, while the other does not.

[Melinda]

47. I've shown you proof that the Right advertises for and hires online sock-puppets

Unimpeachable, verifiable, good as gold in a courtroom evidence - and all you have is an anecdote?

If you honestly think the left is doing what you claim, then it won't be hard to find said proof online. Start by perusing job sites, do a google search, look at state EDD job listings.

That's how it works... you call (assert) B.S., I provide evidence that substantiates my assertion, now you prove your argument.

Your turn, yet again.

*edited 4 speelign

[No Elephants]

51. I said Yahoo was predominantly Republican. Are you disagreeing with that or supplementing?

[w0nderer]

11. Less than zero is about norm for yahoo it's a negacluon area

in tech support (and customer service) the word

Negacluon
Dumb so intense, so highly concentrated, so intensely focused that it has gained it's own field of interference
that spreads the cluelessness by mere proximity and sucks up all intelligent thought in the vincinity.

Yahoo
Particle inhibitor for the generation of negacluons

[roguevalley]

33. given that retirement is based on your last three years salary, this is

pretty damned honorable of him.

[muriel_volestrangler]

52. The article says his retirement pay will be unchanged

What they're allowing him to to is redirect his salary to the programs he thinks need more funds. Which is fine - I wouldn't want him and his wife to be having to scrape by in retirement (from a salary lower than a starting one, it would have been very low).

This is a Baptist minister I can admire.

[HughBeaumont]

55. Yahoo's posters are the pigshit of the internet.

Nothing but a bunch of gene-pool-wading Uncle Dads and cousin lovers who make Klansmen look like Noam Chomsky.

[No Elephants]

2. Nice. He didn't have to do thst.

[AllyCat]

5. Putting himself in someone else's shoes. What a concept...

...that cons don't understand.

[Yon_Yonson]

6. Atta boy Mr. Powell and thank you

[Overseas]

7. K&R. What a remarkable man.

[siligut]

8. He hit the nail on the head with his "stockpiling money" comment.

Hoarding money is a mental illness.

[iemitsu]

19. i agree that hoarding money is sick

but our form of capitalism requires that each of us have more than we need, just in case.
that is our social safety net.

[siligut]

26. Not referring to the middle class

my post was aimed at the tea-bagger sorts. The people who value themselves by the size of their wallets.

[JohnnyLib2]

9. Incredible.

I can imagine that article being sent to superintendents all over the country, sometimes anonymously.

[1776Forever]

10. "How much do we need to keep accumulating?" So true Mr. Powell - You got it!

May his retirement be wonderful and his lesson be emulated many more times over!

Bravo!!:applause: :woohoo: :applause:

[blueclown]

14. If I had to guess, I would say he is a Registered Democrat.

If he was a registered GOPuke, he would be saying "more, more, more".

[xxqqqzme]

15. What a fine example.

I guess I'm not the only one who thinks $800,000/yr is an outrageous salary. At a time when teachers are being laid off; classes cut; classrooms overcrowded; libraries closed; latch key programs abandoned and education funding (K-14) repeatedly slashed (last 4 years - drastically), $800,000/yr is obscene.

[Jakes Progress]

18. The money if four years salary.

Actually that makes it even more impressive. He is donating three years salary.

I don't know of a supt. making $800K. Perhaps the upper management of some of the corporations that the administration is hiring to run schools.

[subterranean]

20. I thought so too, when I read the headline. Then I read the article

and found out that would have been his total compensation for the next three years. That's still a lot of money (to someone like me), but not really outrageous considering his position.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Honor to Mr. Powell.

Thanks for the thread, Maine-ah.:thumbsup:

[Fawkes]

17. Larry Powell

I went to high school in Fresno with Larry. He was a good guy then but this is beyond good. I'm so impressed.

[Melinda]

27. From one former Fresnan to another.......

:hi:

I was McLane class of 1972 - my sister 1969; you?

I don't remember Larry Powell but it's certainly nice to see a home grown son do good things. Welcome to DU!

[trud]

21. that's a sickening amount of money

Paying managers that amount is part of why we have huge local tax burdens. Don;t tell me it compares favorably with a CEO's pay, the latter is even more disgusting.

[TygrBright]

28. "Sickening amount of money?"

Really? For THREE YEARS' salary? In a position way more complex, responsible, and controversial than most jobs? In a place where the cost of living is as high as it is there?

I can't agree with you.

I think that the people who are responsible for educating our kids should be making all that and more, if they are doing their jobs well.

bemusedly,
Bright

[trud]

34. he normally makes over $300,000 a year

Yes, that's sickening.

[Le Taz Hot]

36. Perhaps you missed this:

"Until his term expires in 2015, Powell will run 325 schools and 35 school districts with 195,000 students, . . ."

THAT is tremendous amount of responsibility. $300,000/a year is NOT unwarranted. Making a guaranteed $85 MILLION a year as CEO of some FAILED company . . . THAT is sickening.

[LanternWaste]

56. I'm guessing many subsistence farmers...

I'm guessing many subsistence farmers in Rwanda and Congo feel precisely the same way in regards to the paycheck that you or I may receive. :shrug:

[quakerboy]

30. That was three years pay

Which seems a lot more reasonable to me. But then I think anyone who actually works should be making a fairly comfortable living.

[SoapBox]

22. Interesting...

"There's no reason for me to keep stockpiling money."

GASP!

WHAAAAT?!

...I'm sure that the KKKoch Brothers would have something different to say...Like, it's better
for them to keep every dirty penny that comes in for them...No working for free for them! *snark*

[booley]

23. But But but.. thats DIFFERENT!

They work in the private sector so those are REAL jobs.

Public sector jobs add nothing to the economy. Somehow the money they make and spend doesn't count.

:sarcasm:

And yes I have had cons actually argue this. I am not setting up a straw conservative.

[lupinella]

24. Yes!

If only more of the 'haves' would be this generous of spirit.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

29. "There's no reason for me to keep stockpiling money."

Impressive.

*If* the system actually worked, more people would be in his position. Study hard, work hard, be in a position to give back. Even those approaching retirement with assets and/or a pension or retirement savings are scared that one mistake or event outside their control can endanger their personal financial security. Good for Mr. Powell.

[Le Taz Hot]

32. K & R

for my home town. Yay frezburg! ;-)

[Xtraneous]

35. Communist!

Giving money to commie unions...

We need more like him. People who realize when enough is enough. Unfortunately the US has become a war nation where even a majority of its citizenry aren't directly affected from the conflicts. The whole philosophy of the US seems to have swerved into war for better or worse where only the strongest deserve to survive driven by its embarrassed millionaires.

[left on green only]

37. This Is Really Even More Of A Humanist Example Than It Sounds Like

I live in the mountains along the southern rim of Yosemite, 50 miles above Fresno. This entire area of California is totally infested with right wing, red neck, neo-fascist, nazis. Most of the people who live here are so selfish and greedy that they become outraged whenever it is mentioned that some of the fast food outlets are now starting to accept food stamps as payment for the food that they serve. Their anger and their hatred is in spite of the fact that they are aware that a large number of the poor who receive the food stamps are also homeless, and therefore have no means of cooking the food that is available to them in the grocery stores.

Powell's sterling example must be causing apoplexy and gout.

[Le Taz Hot]

38. You are referring to Madera and Mariposa Counties.

Obama won Fresno County in 2008. I haven't been active with the Democratic Party since 2004 but iirc, there was a pretty active Democat group in Coarsegold back then. Granted, most of that came out of the Dean for America campaign but I thought the Democrats were getting more of a presence up there.

Btw, hi neighbor! :hi:

[wickerwoman]

39. So he's going to combat unemployment by working for free instead of retiring?

It's a nice gesture but basically he's keeping someone else unemployed or underemployed. He obviously means well, but employers count on this kind of selflessness to ramp up their exploitation of other workers who "just aren't passionate enough" when they aren't in position to work for free as well.

I used to teach ESL and I couldn't find a job in the US because well meaning volunteers (who didn't have the training to do a fraction of what I could do) completely undercut wages.

Teach for America is doing the same thing for teachers across the country.

He should retire and accept an advisory position if he wants to give back. Otherwise, he's just clinging to power and undercutting the rest of his profession.

[Le Taz Hot]

40. Simply amazing,

the acrobatics that took to turn this kind generosity into a negative. :wtf:

[wickerwoman]

42. Get back to me when you've been unemployed for three years

because employers decide that people don't really need qualifications to do what you do and that enough (grossly unqualified) people are willing to do it for free that actually you don't need a salary.

I'm sure that he thinks he's being generous. I suspect that he doesn't think anyone else can do his job as well as he can and that he doesn't really want to retire because he doesn't know what to do with himself. Fair enough. Those are totally understandable feelings. But they don't really constitute a virtue in themselves particularly when the real world ramifications will hurt other people.

It's great that he doesn't feel the need to stockpile money. But the logical extension of that is to just retire and move on. That's what most people who don't need national press-based ego-massage would do.

[Lorien]

45. Truly. nt

[subterranean]

44. He's not working for free.

He's just agreed to work at a greatly reduced salary of $31,000 a year. Presumably enough to cover the basics until he reaches age 65.

[wickerwoman]

48. Fair enough.

But I don't see that there's a significant difference between working for free and working for 10% of what your colleagues make. Both undercut established labor standards.

Amazing to see so many members of the militant "buy American" crowd suddenly stop giving a crap about protecting jobs and standards of living as soon as we start talking about state employees or educators.

That $800,000 is going to tax cuts to the wealthy or to servicing debt, not to hiring more teachers. At least if he had accepted it, he could have started after-school programs and hired people.

Don't want to stockpile wealth? Then donate it. Start a company. Hire people. But don't tell your employer, "sure, I'll work for 10% of what everyone else makes because I've been really lucky and don't need more". What about the other school superindendants still supporting families and paying off loans on the PhDs that they need to qualify for the job? Why reinforce the mentality that education (nursing/firefighting/social work/civil service/airline pilots/your job here) is about passion so it's OK not to pay people a fair salary to do it?

Would you be happy to accept $31,000 a year for a job that required a PhD and 15+ years of experience and involved managing more than a thousand people and liasing with the public? A comparable job on Wall Street would already pay four times what he normally makes. So why is it a "virtue" for someone to put that kind of downward pressure on this labor market?

He's saving people a few bucks on their taxes. Walmart saves everyone a few bucks on the milk and clothes. Buying a Honda saves everyone a few bucks on their car. At this rate of savings, we should be on the road to prosperity in no time! Right?

[girl gone mad]

50. The money will be used toward programs of his choosing..

for example, he can increase the budget for music programs.

Edit to add excerpt:

But because his salary comes out of the district's discretionary budget, for the next three years he'll be able to steer the money he is giving up where he wants: to programs for kindergarten and preschool, the arts and a pet project that steers B and C students into college by teaching them how to take notes and develop strategy skills.

He's not working for free and the money isn't being used for tax cuts.

[No Elephants]

53. Couple of things.

1/ He's working at a reduced salary in order to save some programs. If someone took his job, they'd probably want his higher salary, and the programs would not be saved.

2/ Most state employees are not eligible for Social Security, only whatever retirement their state gives them. Are you sure he could retire at his current age? And are you sure he personally could afford to do that? Or maybe he actually needs the $31,000 a year? (Yes, I know he made a lot of money in the past, but maybe he did not anticipate that he would be giving up everything at this point.)

[JDPriestly]

43. He is setting a wonderful example.

A number of people in the California education system -- most of them administrators -- need to do that.

[BNJMN]

49. I'm trying to find a way to seed this idea around my own underfundend school district. Maybe it'll..

catch on?


P.S.
Not sure what the big debate is about here (on DU).
Clearly, this is a good thing. But...some people
will find a reason to complain no matter what,
I guess.

[No Elephants]

54. Or, you could ask some of the bigger businesses and individuals

in your area to adopt a school or adopt a program.

We had a business adopt a public school in my area. Not only do they give money, but their employees tutor and mentor students. Everyone seems happy about it (though I understand that in society in general, there is a movement against unpaid labor of any kind).

[BNJMN]

57. Excellent, I cannot wait for corporations to hold the purse strings of our education system!

What could possibly go wrong?

LINK:
http://www.livescience.com/5576-robots-replace-teachers.html