This is a message from Folwell Neighborhood Association Chair, Al Saless. Al is a Head Engineer for the Minneapolis Public Schools and works at Lucy Craft Laney Elementary School at 34th and Penn Avenue North.
HI Neighbors:
Times are tough, that and a dozen other clichés can be used to describe how bad the economy really is today. The Minneapolis School Board is reacting to the tough economy by making more budget cuts, a second round beyond what was done in 2009 and some of them will affect how school buildings are maintained.
Schools and the buildings that house them are assets to the community. When people come to a neighborhood to buy a house they look at other things the area provides. For residents of Folwell and Cleveland neighborhoods Lucy Craft Laney school attracts families and it’s a facility you, as a resident need to help protect.
The already existing, and the proposed cuts will have a negative effect on this school building; Lucy Laney is only 10 years but this is the age when a lot of mechanical things start to go bad.
The button that opens the handclapped door in the main entrance has been held on by duck tape since September because almost all the electricians have been laid off.
There are parts of interior walls that have been patched but have been gone unpainted all year because the painters are gone.
School buildings need to be maintained: to attract parents with a first impression and because it is the place where children spend more than half their waking hours every day. The place where they are taught!
As the former President of the Union, I know union members what to help, but cutting hours is not the way it should be done. We would rather take unpaid days of rather than be nibbled to death by ducks and as the Head Engineer; I could schedule my employees to accomplish more.
If you see this as an important issue and are willing to say so to School Board members, please do. Personally, I can handle the hit in my wallet for a year, but can Folwell and other neighborhoods that benefit from Lucy Craft Laney and other public schools make it without a well kept and attractive place for our children to learn?
Thank You
Al Saless
Here are some numbers that the Union Business Agent put together for you to consider:
- Plant Operations is 4% of MPS operating budget
http://humanresources.mpls.k12.mn.us/uploads/total_salaries_employee_group_2010.pdf
- A seven hour work day is a 12.5% cut in pay for each member
- Cutting hours not only affect pay, but also affects pension, social security, uniform allowance, and other benefits (i.e. overtime)
- Plant Operations submittal totals a $2,855,000 savings to the district that is 15% of the $19,000,000 shortfall, when we are only 4% of the operating budget
- They are asking us to cut 3.75 X our portion ($19,000,000 X 4% = $760,000)
- According to the Annual Financial Report of MPS, administration costs have gone from $6.6mil in 2008 to $12.1mil in 2009 an 81% increase (pg.8 under expenses)
- The district stated on their website that ways to resolve the budget defecit was to impose a 5-7% reduction to administrative divisions http://mpls.k12.mn.us/2010-11_financial_facts.html
- While MPS only uses 4% of their operating budget for operations (Plant OPS), St. Paul uses 7.1% of their budget for the same department, and the average of most public and private companies use just over 5% of their budget on general maintenance, upkeep, and cleanliness (pg.136 of link below)
http://www.businessoffice.spps.org/uploads/binder1_wcover_wpages_completed_102209.pdf
- In 1970 the MPS District had 100+ buildings with 500+ Engineers and were managed by a Manager of Plant Operations and an Assistant Manager. In 1990 the District had 80+ buildings with 400 (or so) Engineers and were managed by a Manager of Plant Operations and a support staff person (Clerical Worker). In 2010 the District HAS 60+ buildings with 311 Engineers and are managed by an Executive Director of School Services, a Deputy Director, an Operations Administrator, 4 Area Supervisors, and 1 support staff person (Program Assistant).
Minneapolis School Board
Name Title Email
Tom Madden Chair Tom.Madden@mpls.k12.mn.us
Carla Bates Treasurer Carla.Bates@mpls.k12.mn.us
Pam Costain Director Pam.Costain@mpls.k12.mn.us
Jill Davis Director Jill.Davis@mpls.k12.mn.us
Lydia Lee Director Lydia.Lee@mpls.k12.mn.us
Chris Stewart Clerk Chris.Stewart@mpls.k12.mn.us
T. Williams Director T.Williams@mpls.k12.mn.us
General District Information: 612.668.0000
One Comment
Here is a copy of a letter I wrote to the Board:
I live across from the Lucy Craft Laney Elementary school on 34th and Penn. I can be found picking up trash from my house and down Penn Avenue some afternoons. I have recently read an article that is posted on the Folwell.org website, about the environmental conditions at this particular school.
http://site.folwell.org/2010/minneapolis-schools-face-more-cuts/
i am sending this email to you to express my concern regarding the financial hit that Minneapolis public schools are taking due largely to the past two legislative sessions and overall economic conditions within our State. As a result, the condition of our community schools are not only negatively affecting the spirit, morale, health and safety of those who are in attendance now, but equally as important, these conditons are detering potential investors, home owners, families and exceptional staff from considering investing in North Minneapolis.
It saddens me to think that these kids, their parents, the teachers and those visiting this school have a daily reminder that they are not being adequately or properly invested in. As someone who has recently lost their job in Health and Human Services, I am fully aware that we face very difficult economic times. However, I will remind you that I can see the glow of the new Target Field at night from my block. Where are the priorities of the State of Minnesota? This is not a letter to criticize or condemn you, as I have been in your shoes facing our legislators and stakeholders demanding from them that they tell us how we are to continue to take on more with less resources. Instead, I want to ask you to consider utilizing the North Minneapolis residents to help repair these schools. I want to encourage you to reach out to local businesses and ask for donations of goods and materials. When someone has a life-changing event, be it a marriage/union, a birth, purchase of a home, etc, they register with a business and people in turn buy them things to celebrate this event. I think it is time for North Minneapolis to ask the greater community to help us celebrate the possibility and momentum that stirs from the edge of dowtown minnepaolis all the way out to Golden Valley. Let’s get Lucy Craft Laney registered at the local Hardware store, just up the street from the school. These donations will come, they will come from many of its residents who are already living in or very close to poverty, but they will continue to give, because until we believe in ourselves, we can’t get others to believe in us. We have to make that innitial investment through our own personal resources and time.
I also encourage you to get connected with progressive, well-organized groups like I am North Minneapolis, the Neighborhood Associations, the Get to NOMI Tour and the CGA of Minneapolis. There are so many committed, connected and passionate individuals here in North Minneapolis, please put our willingness and desire to help your schools to work. You can expect to hear from these individuasl, becasue I am planting those early seeds. I will be the first one to make a donation, pick up a piant brush, etc. I will also contniue to pick up the trash, with the hopes that even a littering nuissance will begin to improve, as we send a larger message to this community that we invest in North Minneapolis, in its residents and businesses, it’s teachers and students- everyone who has the ability to create a succesful future for North Minneapolis.