according to someone, there is no high unemployment because obama has made trillions of jobs and solved this problem.

The administrators took a pay freeze last year (2011-12). If the teachers took a pay freeze like other school districts did, then that would save much more money. The top scale teachers make more money that the building administrators.

Fighting Highlander, this past winter the School Board Members and Dean of Student voted themselves a pay raise . I am with you that they all should have pay freezes.

Jean, yes they took a one year freeze and then continued back to their normal increase from what I see. They still took a pay freeze that they didn't need to take. Look at Upper St. Clair and other school districts where their teachers stepped to the plate and took a pay freeze. You can't point the fingers just to the top all the time. School teachers at the top of the scale make almost twice as much as some of the administrators in the school district who work 12 months.

The BWSD is one of the lower paying districts when it comes to pay. They did take a freeze, but I am sure if you took the averages of these positions that it would be lower then most other AAAA schools.

Cutting technicians and the technology budget to replace computers will make Baldwin fall behind the other schools and people who want a education for their children that will prepare them for life. They will be forced to move into a district that respects technology and the people that work hard for them.

Sally I so agree there about the technology budget. Computers didn't work last year at the high school. During the second semester their license ran out on what the kids were working on in robotics and the kids didn't get to finish their work. I got emails back and forth with the teacher about this and he said his hands were tied then as there wasn't money to renew the license.

Have you looked at how many staff members were in the Technology department?
They were already severely understaffed with a high school that has to have a thousand computers. They have one person there and one at harrison. There are only two technicians positions before the cut so what is the remaing person supposed to take care of all of our schools? I see more problems that are going to cause so many problems for our kids. Its going to directly affect their classes and they wont leave with anthing because you can have one person take care of all of that these people are crazy and apparently very ignorant. To many others the Dean of students do other things besides coach. Cutting these postions would not help any budget issues they are small fruit. There are other people to focus on that would actually make an impact on the district in a positive way.

haha more silliness. I am fine with them raising taxes as long as it is yours not mine.

Vas it isn't silliness when our school rating keeps on dropping because they take away from our kids education. Our kids are so far behind in classes now when they are trying to get into CCAC. They have to take high school Math, English and Science before they can earn college credits. Our Technical Dept is a joke, most of the computers up the High School are broken. The kids are on web sites that they shouldn't be on because they don't have enough staff to monitor what they are doing. I see the day coming soon when were going to get slammed with our taxes being raised 2 mills at one time. I would rather have it raised gradually then slammed all at one time.

There is a big difference between a Private School and Catholic School. Also Catholic schools hire their own nurse, were as Private schools depend on public schools to supply them.

Private schools, also known as independent schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students tuition, rather than relying on public (state) funds.
While Catholic schools are education ministries of the Roman Catholic Church. Presently, the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system. These schools aim to develop their students through participation in the sacramental life of the Church, study of religion and theology, a full curriculum in secular subjects, and a variety of extracurricular activities.
AND school uniforms are often a requirement for students in Catholic schools.

Did you actually think Schmotzer would tell the truth. He lied when he said that he was saving the tax payers 43,000. In fact some of the perks of the job that he said he was saving money on weren't even offered to him like healthcare because he wasn't serving a whole year. We need new school board members and a whole new Administration that will put our students education first.

Kenneth, this should define the position for you: http://patch.com/A-rmS5.

I wish we had a like button on here.

I will inquire as to what the district's job definition is.

Dean of Students equal 2 coaches for Baldwin School District at a fat paycheck. How much does a coach make vs how much a Dean of Students is going to be paid.

Pennsylvania competed with Ohio and West Virginia for the planned ethane-cracking plant and all three states included tax breaks in their proposals. In March, Shell announced that it had picked a site near Monaca, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, and signed a land-option agreement so it can further evaluate the site.
The "cracker" facility would convert ethane from natural gas produced in the Marcellus Shale region into more profitable chemicals such as ethylene, which is used in making products that include plastics, tires and footwear. Shell has said it could spend billions of dollars on the project, which is expected to draw other companies to the area, although actual construction is still years away.

Paula - Why weren't you critical of all the grants given to businesses by Gov. Rendell? He gave hundreds of millions of our dollars to a foreign corporation to set up shop at the Philadelphia Navy Yard (Kvaerner) and big tax credits to allow his buddies at Comcast to build an office tower in Philly. And there's more besides this. Where was the outrage then?

bd I so agree with you there on what Gov Rendell did to us in Pennsylvania when he was Governor. But since he was a Democrat, people want to overlook it as they think that Democrats are for the working class. They are all GREEDY, no matter if your a Democrat or REPUBLICAN. They are all for tax cuts and never mind the hard working families.

According to the board minutes, the Dean of Students at the middle school replaced one of the vice principal positions. By the board approving the Dean of Students position at the middle school, it saved the district over $60,000 the first two years.

We, the taxpayers, should make sure that this position IS ELIMINATED. We DO NOT need this position .... let's all get make sure the board knows this. I am tired of paying taxes to take care of political favors of our school board members. We all know who they are .. I don't even have to name them.

Schmidt I totally agree with you. But do you actually think the school board will even let us speak at a meeting? How much does a coach get paid in the school district vs how much money he is going to get for being Dean of Coaching. Now we will have two Dean of Coaching in the school district.

Robert ..... I read Schnidt's comments and, even with you eliminating the names, we ALL know who Schmidt would be referring to .........

And we all know that they trade the favors .... how else could one school board member resign because she worked for a former 22nd district rep who is now the Country Controller ... her husband basically takes her place on the school board and holds her spot for her ..... our school board creates a position of dean of students and amazingly the brother of the county controller gets the job ..... the father of the dean of students and county controller endorses our former school board member for the 22nd district position that our county controller left ..... the school board member who is holding the job for his wife while she is doing whatever, well he decides to resign .... so, hmmm, who gets that position back? None other than the school board member who left in the first place. JUST ABOUT EVERYONE WHO LIVES IN THIS DISTRICT KNOWS EXACTLY THE NAMES THAT SCHMIDT MUST HAVE SAID IN HIS COMMENTS. No worries, I won't name them here.

JustMe .... If I still had kids in this district I would absolutely do that. However, my kids are out finally and I could not be happier that I am not having to deal with the some of the incomptent people who are employed by us, the taxpayers ... espeically the administrators and teachers who should not be in this field of education. I am not saying all of the teachers ... but there are a great deal who are useless but have tenure so they are kept. I am pleased to see Ms. Deasy will be gone. When my oldest was in primary school I had to beg the district to evaluate her for special education assistance. They refused. I had her privately evaluated and paid a handsome price for that. I came back at the district with the paperwork and only then with the threat of taking it to a lawyer/media was my daughter placed for learning assistance. The district had a summer program that no one knew about for kids who lost so much during the summer months. No one tells you this. Someone leaked it to me and begged me NOT to divulge where I learned it. I thank that teacher to this day for his help. My daughter attended these summer classes for a few years only after I requested and proved to them that she needed this. You would think our so called educators would realize this as this is their field of expertise so they claim. There is so much that parents are not let known that is available to students .. fight for your children and their education. STRIKE!! THEY DO!

According to the minutes, one of them isn't coaching football any longer.

This is ridiculous! I guess when you don't agree with what your boss says you just don't go to work? What lesson are you teaching your child by doing this?

Maybe technology funding for public education will be government standard in the near future and will not have to be pulled from district funds. The district did move to online registrations. Who knows what our future holds?
School board is not a paid service. Administrators should receive proper pay for their services. In my opinion any human being with a education and half a heart knows at the end of the day if they have done their BEST to serve the people under there care! Let them do their jobs! Because at the end of the day they have to be accountable for their own actions. If are going to sleep at night and not doing what is right and just for our children don't let their unjust actions IF ANY ANGER YOU! Because in the end you let it take PRECIOUS TIME from you and your families. We need to use our energies to keep our FAMILIES STRONG and give them OUR BEST and not worry about people who MAY not be doing so! Keeping your children out of school only hurts them not the district! There is a old saying from one of my favorite books IF IT PERTAINS TO A SITUATION - Don't share your precious pearls with the swine! Also be as shrew as a snake and gentle as a dove! Be on guard at all times if possible that way you don't have to STRIKE! You can just change your direction and the coarse of your future in a healthy strong direction.

I like what you are saying Billee! Too much focus on the bad and not enough on the good. All school districts are facing tough times and compared to other disricts it seems like ours is doing better then most.

Not send your children to school? Justme needs to take a chill pill.

Thanks Robert, they don't receive a pay but if I am correct they do turn in receipts if they are on School Business.

Correct, Jean. They can be reimbursed for such matters.

Common Sense the fact is that they are taking away from our children education not improving on classes, adding more into technology and what the students need. Our children who apply at CCAC and upon taking the entrance test are finding out that they are way behind the other students and they have to take 1 or 2 semesters of English, Math, Algebra or Science which should of been taught in High School. Students aren't getting the classes that they need and by dropping more teachers and cutting classes our children will fall farther behind.

The Dean of Students position is here to stay since I don't see them cutting the football team at the school. I honestly would of rather had a hike in my school taxes then for them to cut positions and the Technology Budget.

Wayne, I don't think it is twice as much that was probably stretching it by Fighting Highlander.

The top of the scale teachers make over 90k where some of the 12 month administrators don't make close to 90k even though they work roughly 50 or so more days then teachers.

I believe you can find all of the salaries of teachers and school employees on a website. It would be interesting to compare salaries with the different large schools in the surrounding areas.

CC, you said 2.5% pay raises was normal for most professions, so I can't see why their is so much madness over the admin 3% raises who work 12 months. The teachers get about the same raise and work 10 months. They also cut an admin position at the last board meeting from what I understand.

There also could be a reason some students are going to CCAC...

ML, I don't have anything against CCAC and think that community college is the right option for people. However, those who have trouble getting accepted into major colleges right out of high school who also attend CCAC.. That is why I made the comment that maybe some of these people are going to CCAC.

CC, Baldwin doesn't hire cream of the crop teachers??? How do you even know this is true? The truth of the matter is that there are several hundred applicants for one teaching position at every school district in Allegheny County. You interview the candidates and then sometimes they teach a lesson and a lot of times you don't get the whole picture from a few interviews. The process is difficult and is done the same way other professions do their hiring.

Baldwin Mom, I am glad that your children did well. Some students need more time to develop and CCAC is perfect for them or students who are undecided or financially can't afford to go away right away. There is nothing wrong with going to CCAC.

Baldwin gave your children possibly 13 years of education and I'm sure that something they learned helped them make the Deans list.

I don't have any children in the school system yet, but I am a Baldwin grad and so is the rest of my family and my sons will be as well. I am proud to be a Baldwin grad and it's certain people like you and the rest of the people that point the finger at others and complain too much.

Common Sense and ML know it all about the school and are the experts on everything. How dare you tell someone to move. Our school district is a joke, starting with the administration down to the Cream of the Crop teachers you think are in the school district. They hire the bottom of the barrel because teachers don't want to come to Baldwin.

Baldwin Mom, they have to take high school classes at Pitt, Penn State, Clarion, etc also, because Baldwin doesn't prepare our students for college, they are just greedy people that want big fat pay raises for doing nothing and that is what they do nothing. Neither one of these people have kids in Baldwin but they are experts. Since 1998 Baldwin drops every year in Ratings and I give it another 5 years and they will be at the end of the list. Thank goodness that their are great Cyber Schools and Charter Schools around as many parents are pulling their children out of the district. Maybe ML and Common Sense should of been down a the Charter School Open House down in Homestead. There was more parents from Baldwin then any other school district there and none of the parents had anything nice to say about Baldwin and the school district.

Very ignorant but your answer doesn't surprise me at all. So glad you and ml can solve all the worlds problems. Maybe the two of you should move on your own personal island so the real would won't hit you in the face head on. For 2 people that doesn't have children in school, your both an expert on all the classes, teachers and everything else that goes on up at the school.

Barbara my point is that these same parents do not go and fill the board room for meetings about their concerns. They're quick to put their comments on the Patch, but won't attend public meetings to get the word out to the public right in front of the school board members. Yes it is so much easier and less effort to put out of our busy schedules to post something on the Patch than go to a meeting, but if it is that important to a parent they somehow find a way to attend a meeting to get the boards attention.