In a recent comment on this site, Joe Mamma asked about the stipend that Terry Rice is being paid to teach other teachers in our district Spanish. He made the comment that it was 3x his regular pay.Â
What do you know about the Stipends pay? I was shocked when I learned about this. Look in on it at your end and let me know about what you find out, will ya. If it is true that it is 3x his regular pay then, I think that, there is something very wrong here. Because, I heard that in Oct. there were still classrooms at PMHS without desks. I can’t swear to it but, I believe I also heard this at a school board meeting.
I don’t understand WHY Terry Rice thinks he is entitled to 3x his regular pay to teach teachers how to speak Spanish. In my opinion, he is asking for a little much.
I’m not sure what board meeting it was at, but I don’t remember any of the details he mentions. However, from what I’ve seen from her actions and statements in the past, I wouldn’t doubt it if Susan Adams presented skewed or partial information to allude to what Joe Mamma stated above.Â
I requested an explanation from Terry Rice on the stipend he receives for teaching the Spanish classes to other teachers in the district. I thought it was very informative and clearly portrays the situation with the stipend. His response is below:
This stipend was brought to me by a member who teaches the after hours sessions to the public and to our teachers. The normal stipend was $20 per hour..for a teacher who can go to a university and make 5 times that much, it was an important move for me as negotiator to bring the issue to Max Oldham. Max agreed without hesitation. I simply told him: “Max, teachers do not care how much you put on top of their current stipends in these cases…just place something as a start until we get to negotiations.” He said that he would offer the summer school rate..and I said that would be fine. For years I was asked to teach Spanish to our faculties and I did so gratis. I began this year and took the whopping $20 per session/once per week..in order to help out teachers. As soon as I found out that Mrs. Walsh balked on the idea I told Max to remove my stipend and I would finish the course gratis, but never teach it again.Â
What Mrs. Walsh actually did was to deny to the 60 teachers and secretaries of Perry a chance to learn some Spanish to help their burgeoning population of Hispanics. Now, there is no instruction. If our teachers had to take my course at the university it would cost them $117 per credit hour (3) plus books…the text costs $130. It was a great service to our teachers..just ask the secretary of SMS…she was my longest lasting student.
I’m not sure where the statemetn of 3x his regular pay came from. He was actually taking less than what had been offered, and when Nancy Walsh even had a problem with that, he finished the class for all of his students without taking any pay.
Yep! That’s exactly the kind of person I don’t want in my schools educating the teachers that educate my kids. I’m sure the first thought out of some people’s heads is going to be why he doesn’t continue to do it for free. Before you go there, let me ask you how much time you’re willing to spend per day or per week doing something without getting paid for it.
Jason,
Thank you for your information. I have also ask for more clarification on this matter. What I was told was: That MR. Rice did not want Stipends pay, he wanted contractual supplement. The board ask how much it would be? Max Oldman said, he did not know. Don’t have total figures. The board wanted to table it until they got facts and figures on this. Dr. Williams said no and insisted on a vote. It was voted down. Susan Adams ask Dr. Williams to put it on the following agenda with figures and he never did put on the agenda.
I don’t think the board should be faulted because they wanted figures before passing an open ended contract. This meeting took place on 9/25/06. The misunderstanding on the stipends pay, was mine. It was explained to me that the 3x stipends he ask for would be the same as he regular pay. NOT 3x his regular pay. I apologize for the misunderstanding on this. I’m asking for both sides here to TRY to get to the TRUTH.
Did you read Mr. Rice’s letter he sent to Nancy Walsh on 9/26/06?
http://www.perryschools.info/uploads/Board_Meeting.pdf In his letter he writes “My representative relayed to me” “My PEA Representative to the School Board has informed me” This tells me that he was not at the School Board Meeting in question. I was, the board never questioned the need for the classes, they only questioned the cost. They even said that they would look at it again when they had all the information on the matter. In reading Mr. Rice’s letter, His tone suggests to me, that perhaps he was not totally informed of what was all said. At the very least, there was no communication, where perhaps there should have been. Again Jason, Thank you for your input and your fact finding. I’ve given you mine on this matter.
Again I apologize, I misunderstood what the stipend pay was. If I don’t ask questions I will never get to the core of things.
Maybe the stipends is not the issue here and it is more of a communication thing. Why was Mr. Rice so upset when the board only wanted a figure (an amount) before they voted on it? Makes me wonder if he was told by his “PEA Representative” a whole story. Or maybe his representative misunderstood what was being said. This should be on the Sept.25th board video tape perhaps we need to view it.
The reason I question this myself, It was after this at the following meeting where Mr. Rice and the group of parents and teachers started attending the meetings. Mr. Rice was so angry. I don’t understand why all the anger. Where did it come from? Where did the fear that the Edison’s schools would not be renewed come from? Up to this point, the Edison’s schools had not been discussed.
I am not trying to stir up trouble as some believe, I am getting answers from one side and Jason is getting answers from the other side.
Jason and I are trying to communicate. Trying to make sense of this mess. I don’t have all the facts, nor does Jason. Neither of us has claimed to. But I believe that we are both trying to.
I’m not sure about this, but I seem to remember hearing that they were going to pay retroactively also. That might be where the extra amount was coming from. Again, this is not a verified fact. It is just what I think I remember.