Knox Schools didn't advertise $42K, part-time job before hiring Anderson

Anderson

This should not be a surprise: The school system handed over a $42,000-a-year, part-time job to a buddy. I mean, well, heck, we pay employees $30K in folding paper to sit at home for years and do nothing.

$42K???? What's the average full-time teacher salary? $45K??

Eh, whatever.

Here ya go.

Knox County Schools did not advertise the position nor did officials interview anyone in 2013 before handing a $42,000-a-year part-time job over to Sam Anderson – a longtime community activist who resigned from the position this week in light of his connections to a federal tax fraud scheme.

School officials said Thursday it is not common to hire without advertising open jobs, but it's also not necessary to post a position if the administration "feels that a candidate possesses the skills and experience to perform the duties associated with the job description," KCS spokeswoman Melissa Ogden told WBIR 10News.

"Mr. Anderson possessed a set of skills, experiences and relationships which made him uniquely qualified for the position," Ogden said.

She said his hiring was not a political reward for his vote years ago that led to the hiring of Superintendent Jim McIntyre.

"That is not true," she said.

In April 2008, Anderson voted not only to approve McIntyre's contract, but he championed a four-year, $222,800 annual deal, rather than a three-year proposal that some other board members suggested at the time. The vote to hire McIntyre was close – 5-4 – and Anderson was considered crucial to its passage.

Anderson, who served more than 20 years on the school board before opting not to seek re-election in 2010, was hired in March 2013 to replace Montina Jones. She was a full-time adviser of high needs schools. Jones made $103,810 in base salary and "supplements."

Anderson worked 18.5 hours per week on average, Ogden said, and earned a base salary of $31,240, but made a total of almost $42,060 with supplements. Supplements can include a number of items, like travel pay or extra pay for coaching athletics.

He did not receive benefits for the job.

Anderson stepped down from the position Tuesday because of his role as an "unindicted co-conspirator" to state Rep. Joe Armstrong, who was indicted last week in an alleged tobacco tax fraud scheme.

Anderson did not return a call seeking comment.

Ogden said the position will not be filled.

For the rest, RIGHT HERE.

A look at teacher salary increases

Since, there’s so much misinformation (from both sides) regarding the proposed teacher raises, I figure I’d do my public service and provide folks with the accurate breakdown.

A little background: The school system wants to give teachers (and some others) a 2.5 percent raise. The school people, though, want the county to pay for a majority of it (which isn’t going to happen).

So, the school system is ready to put up $1.67 million to cover a .7 percent raise.

The school system is then asking the county to pay for a 1.8 percent increase. That will cost $4.55 million.

Total cost: $6.2 million.

There’s been some question about who will get the raises. Will it all go to “real classroom” teachers?

No, it won’t.

According to the good Melissa Ogden, of the combined $6.2 million in raises:

• Roughly 86 percent ($5.37 million) goes to teachers “and other school level personnel" (EXCLUDES principals, assistant principals, nurses, psychologists, social workers, central office personnel, assisted tech support, etc.).
• “All other certified employees” will make up the other 14 percent of the cost ($885,250).

Now, in addition to the proposed 2.5 percent, the school system also is covering step raises, which can amount to a $400-$600 bump. That will cost $3.5 million.

No snow days left for Knox schools

School is out tomorrow for Knox County students, which means there are no more snow days left in the year. (They get eight to start.)

So, if the weather screws us again, then school officials will take away an in-service day (there's only one of those left) from teachers and make everyone go to class.

Further, school communications person Melissa Ogden said, if another storm keeps kids out of class for a couple of days, then officials will have to talk about extending the school year.

As to why they canceled school today, she said the "roads are still wet and there is a lot of slush in the shaded areas."

Officials, she added, were worried that freezing temperatures overnight could pose problems for drivers and students in the morning.

McIntyre says 'Happy Holidays' to county teachers in an odd video

In a seriously bizarre video, an uncomfortable looking Knox County Superintendent Jim McIntyre wishes teachers a happy holiday.

Really, it’s odd. I suppose he means well, but did he really have to remind everyone how his $222,800 a year contract was recently extended? Talk about rubbing salt into the wound. And next time you read a script, tack it up a little higher on the ol’ laptop so it looks like you’re actually talking to the teachers. 

Not, you know, reading one of Melissa Ogden’s scripts. Heh. 

You can find the video, right smack here.

UPDATE: Well, apparently, Lord McIntyre and his disciples on the school board "are showing appreciation to teachers and staff for their hard work at all our schools," according to an Ogden email.

She added that no public coin was used.

"The money is left over from a contribution to the Partners in Education program for the annual parent conference, so it is not being funded with taxpayer dollars or using money out of the general purpose budget," she wrote.

The flowers, which will be dead by this weekend, cost $936, and the cookies totaled $1,552.

Absences and costs of Carter school

So, just how big of a deal was yesterday's official unveiling of the new Tim Burchett Elementary School for the Carter Community?

Well, if you go by school system attendance, not very.

Only School Board member Mike McMillan, who represents East Knox County, schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre, school PR person Melissa Ogden and principal Shay Siler (along with some teachers and students) were there. (I also might have spotted Doug Dillingham, who is over school construction or something.)

It also wasn't even mentioned during last night's county Board of Education meeting, according to our education reporter. Oh well.

Maybe the rest of the board will show up at the ribbon cutting in August.

In the meantime, a couple folks have asked how the county paid for the new facility. You know, despite the fact that we've reported it a gazillion times.

Anyhoo, according to Casual Chris Caldwell, the county's top bean counter, the total expenditure for the school is $13,869,737.84 And here's how they funded it:

• $892,550.68: JP Morgan Settlement
• $2,010,000.00: Solway
• $943,818.22: City of Knoxville payoff of Animal Center
• $2,500,000.00: Knox County Schools Capital Plan contribution
• $3,419,250.00: E-911 Payment for building
• $4,104,118.94: Hillcrest Nursing Facilities

Also, according to the casual one, the actual sale price of Hillcrest Nursing Facilities was $5,275,000. The remaining $1,170,881.06 will go to pay for the FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures, & Equipment) for Carter Elementary School. The county anticipates the total FF&E for Carter to be $2 million.

UPDATE: I received a call from a school board member who said members didn't receive invitations to the event. They suggested that it was probably an oversight.

School transparency grade improves

Well, darn. It wasn't 100 percent correct. But, hey, I'll admit when I get it wrong. (Which is like never. Heh.) Anyhoo, I'd normally just update the prior post, but there's been some confusion apparently.

Sooooo, the previous posts notes that the school system got a "C-" grade for transparency but the kind folks in the communications department argued otherwise.

Turns out, loathe as I am to admit it, school spin doctress Melissa Ogden is correct. The system actually got a "B-" grade in the latest evaluation, which I believe was in December. The other score was for May.

According to Kristin Decoy over at Sunshine Review, the organization that scored local and state governments, the reports were duplicated on different parts of the website. So, everything is now updated. Click right smack here and all that.

Odds and ends on some county news

Just a few odds and ends as the week kicks in. The commission meets tomorrow, beginning with its monthly luncheon. Not sure who’s on the hook for that one. Then, it's the voting meeting. Don’t expect this to go more than an hour or two.

During the luncheon, county bean counter and finance guru Casual Chris Caldwell will present the casual coin report. Also on the agenda is a discussion to talk about creating a task force that would debate the pros and cons of expanding the commission’s overall size. 

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. One argument against an increase is that the voters only in the past few years agreed to shrink it from 19 to 11 members, which actually didn’t kick in until September 2010. Some feel that it’s way too soon to decide whether the smaller number is better. They figure that the community should give the board a chance at its current size.

I don’t necessarily disagree (nor am I an advocate for a large, unwieldy group), but the earliest the board could increase is somewhere around 2016. (The law says you can't interrupt a commissioner's term.) So, let them talk.

Besides, it’s another committee. It’s not like they’ll actually meet more than once anyway. Heh.

OK, someone pointed out to me the other day that Trustee John Duncan III didn’t use his title in his recent engagement notice. That’s not a big deal. But, it was noted that his dad is a U.S. Congressman. Typically, engagements don’t include what the parents do for a living. Anyhoo, figured I’d point it out.

Also, congrats to John on his upcoming wedding.

One last thing, Melissa Copelan, has gone back to using her maiden name. So, if you see “Melissa Ogden” pop up in news stories as the Knox County school system spokeswoman it does not mean that the county has hired ANOTHER flak. 

In the meantime, here’s the commission agenda for Monday.

I’m out.

Burchett completes first year as mayor

As of today, Tim Burchett has officially put up with my crap - in his role as county mayor - for one year.

I'll have a story this Sunday that looks back on his first year in office. I'm sure his supporters will say it's too negative; and his critics will say it's too soft. Whatever.

Also, on Sunday, I'll update the blog with interview comments I didn't get to use.

In the meantime, here's a picture (above) that school spokeswoman Melissa Copelan sent me. I was interviewing Superintendent Jim McIntyre for the story and he mentioned that Burchett has been touring the school with him. He said they got a nice picture of the mayor hanging with some students at Powell Elementary School.

Burchett is the one in the middle by the way.