LISD – The Original Lampasshole

Lampasshole Solution To LISD “Teacher Shortage”

Today’s Dispatch tells us that LISD is “seeking alternative ways to hire more teachers”. Apparently the guy in charge of this effort will be “doctor” Chane Rascoe.

[Rascoe is the guy who makes well over $200,000 in salary and benefits every single year and educates exactly zero students.]

I’m guessing the eventual answer will be “we need more money”, as it usually is. This may shock you, but I’m OK with that.

However, that money doesn’t need to come out of the taxpayer’s ass. The taxpayer is already soaked hard at the local, state and federal level to keep a lot of people fat and well-paid. Resources are limited and we are all tapped out here in the private sector, buddy.

I propose to start cutting salaries of the Nerf positions and eliminating a lot of bullshit paper-pushers outright. Those savings can then be used to hire more REAL teachers. You know, the ones who stand up there and TEACH and deal with asshole kids all day, rather than push papers around in the back office.

The increase in administrators and “other” employees has FAR outstripped growth in student enrollment…

***WAY more staff and administrators per pupil***

So, let’s see where there is fat to cut, shall we?

Chane Rascoe: Slash his salary by 20%. It is outrageous that this guy costs taxpayers about $18,000 per MONTH and presumably gets summers off. I just saved you about $40,000. If he doesn’t like it, show him the door. I hear Wal-Mart is hiring truck drivers.

Eliminate the assistant superintendent position. I have no idea who it is since Bott left. I’m guessing nobody reading this has any idea either….so he can’t be THAT important. Whoever he is, he makes over $111,000 and educates nobody. He can go drive trucks too. I just saved you another $111,000 to hire real teachers with.

In fact, eliminate just about any job title with “assistant” in it. That goes for all the assistant principals.

Eliminate more Nerf jobs altogether:

Occupational therapist? Sounds like bullshit. Bye bye. Just saved you another $76,000 to hire real teachers with.

Educational diagnostician? Sounds even more bullshitty – possibly the biggest joke job in the world. Eliminate it. Saved you another $76,000 right there.

What are we up to now…about $300,000? That was easy. Let’s see what else…

School counselor? Gimme a break. MAYBE you need one or two of them at the high school level to help you decide what to do with your life. There is no need for that at any other school. Your parents should be your counselor. We never had any of that shit in my grade schools. There are NINE school counselors listed on the first 3 pages of the LISD salary site. That is insane. Say goodbye to seven of them at about $65,000 each – just saved you another $455,000.

I have now saved about three quarters of a million dollars ANNUALLY. But we aren’t done yet!

Psychologist? See “counselor” above. LISD salary site lists FOUR psychologists in the first three pages of salaries – at about $57,000 each, I just saved you another $228,000.

They WILL have to spend $19.99 to replace all those psychologists though. Meet your new psychologist:

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If you think this is all outlandish and we can’t POSSIBLY get rid of all these important people, I give you this chart yet again:

I’ve ranted before about how my grade school was run with very few people and a class size of 30 kids. I would also argue that kids were FAR better educated back in the 1950s and 1970s than they are now. We spend a LOT more money for shittier results. That is a fact you cannot deny.

Part of the problem is an absolute explosion in “administration and other staff”. You see the same thing at hospitals. Time to slash and burn, baby. There are TONS of jobs going unfilled out here in the real world. Time to wean some of these people off the government titmilk for good.

Bureaucrats Gonna Bureaucrat

The following was sent out today by our $170,000 man, “Doctor” Chane Rascoe. I had HOPED he might earn his huge salary and make the right decision on this, but alas, government bureaucrats are gonna bureaucrat. That’s just what they do:

Parents,

In the interest of continuing to have school, a traditional graduation ceremony, and end this school year successfully in just over two months without delays and closures, we will continue with the mask order at this time.

We must give all our staff members the opportunity to be vaccinated. From there, we will be consulting with other local officials and the local health authority over the coming days as the Governor’s order goes into effect. The decision to maintain our current health safety protocols will be re-evaluated on at least a weekly basis. As more information is obtained, we will consider lifting the requirement and getting back to normal which we will all love to do very soon.

SO many things wrong in this decision! Where to start??

“We will continue with the mask order” – who is “we“? I’d like to know exactly who is responsible. If it is YOU, ‘doctor’ Chane, then at least say “I” and take responsibility. I just want to know – so a year or two from now, when a bunch of kids have irreversible respiratory problems, they know who to sue the shit out of for forcing them to wear a filthy mask seven hours a day when ALL the science says it’s a completely useless gesture, and may very well be harmful.

Maybe “we” is the TEA. Is that who makes the rules? If so, why are we paying “Doctor” Rascoe $170,000 per year plus benefits? May as well cut out the middleman and save over $200k a year.

Is “we” the parents? I don’t think so. You sent out a questionnaire last week asking parents if they would like the see the masks go away. It was OVERWHELMINGLY in favor, from what I could see of the public comments. What were the results of that survey, Chane? I’m betting it was 80% in favor of getting rid of the masks.

What “mask order” are you talking about? There is no mask order any more – or didn’t you get the message, Chane? Does the good “doctor” think he has unlimited powers? What if tomorrow he ordered everyone to wear a fake moustache because he felt like it. Would the parents just go along unquestioningly? I know Bruce Haywood would, but I mean the OTHER parents. The ones with brains. Where is the good “doctor” deriving his authority from…and what are the limits?

“We must give all our staff members the opportunity to be vaccinated“. No you don’t. That is ludicrous. Teachers who are female and under 50 (I’m guessing a HUGE majority of them) do not need to bother to be vaccinated. They are more likely to die of flu….or a car accident. Their risk is infinitesimal. Many of them (**cough**Cathy Kuehne**cough**) have ALREADY had Covid and are therefore immune. They have, in essence, ALREADY been vaccinated.

[I would LOVE to see how many staff have ALREADY been “out with Covid” – I have no doubt it is a huge number, if only because the incentive is there to bullshit the system and get a free vacation]

The number of staff actually in need of a vaccination in the ENTIRE school system probably numbers around 40 or 50. That should take you all of a couple days to vaccinate. Ergo, “vaccinating the staff” is a bullshit excuse.

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COVID-19 much more fatal for men, especially taking age into account — **Females are FAR less likely to die of Covid**. The VAST majority of teachers are female. Do the math, Chane.

“We will be consulting with other local officials and the local health authority“. Really?? Is that the same local health authority who, last year, said that wearing a cloth bandana was helpful in stopping the spread? Truth pill: WRONG – it’s not. Pardon me for not eternally bowing down before the local “authority”.

Furthermore:

Kids in school are NOT a driver of Covid spread. Kids ARE NOT SPREADERS of this virus. Teachers are FAR more likely to be infected at home. The science is overwhelming.

Asymptomatic transmission is NOT a thing. It just doesn’t happen. If you have a class full of kids who appear perfectly healthy, chances are that they ARE perfectly healthy. On the very small chance one kid is “asymptomatic”, don’t get your panties in a bunch. You are not at risk from him either.

So, with a dozen reasons to get rid of the masks and ZERO reasons to keep them, why is a guy who is paid $170,000 per year to make good decisions for the school system so intent on making a VERY BAD decision?

Simple: he’s a bureaucrat. A very well-paid bureaucrat. Why do ANYTHING that even has an infinitesimal chance of upsetting HIS apple cart? Better to make 3,000 kids suffer needlessly and keep his cushy $170,000 paycheck (PLUS benefits for 9 months of work) than to have ONE kid die of something (anything – it doesn’t matter because it WILL be blamed on Covid even if the kid is 600 pounds and diabetic)? It’s WAY better (for HIM) to play it safe and keep his Nerf job and benefits.

I mean, here is a guy who, if it weren’t for this Nerf job, would probably be making $50,000 a year (with NO bennies) managing the local Verizon store. He has to realize, on some level, that he has won the lottery and has zero desire to fuck that up. Even if it means future problems for all these kids by forcing them to wear masks.

The FDA does the same thing. It’s why life-saving drugs are forced through a DECADE of bullshit testing rather than letting terminal patients volunteer to be guinea pigs and try an experimental drug. The FDA bureaucrat would rather avoid ONE public death from a drug it approved even if it means 10,000 die due to prohibition of the same drug. It is the SEEN bad effect versus the UNSEEN horrendous effect. The overpaid bureaucrat will choose to protect his own ass 100% of the time.

That is what we are seeing here. Just another sad example of bureaucrats putting themselves before the kids.

LISD Makes Correct Choice…For Now

Great decision guys. But there is just one thing that worries me: that little word “DELAY“. Makes me think you tipped your hand and you are planning on doing this anyways at the smallest excuse, but not right now because parents are so enraged at you.

Some other observations:

“After carefully reviewing case counts in our schools and Lampasas County…”

Huh? What is there to ‘review’? According to our esteemed County Health Authority, there are a whopping 14 cases in our county of 22,000 people (99.94% of us are NOT active).

To listen to the mayor tell it, our Health Authority barely knows what’s going on in her own county – so how does the LISD have information that is any more detailed than the “expert”? It appears to me that the only information is “there are 14 cases”. Period.

I have to think if any kid tested positive for Covid, you would all go into a ridiculous panic and overreact greatly. So I have to guess that hasn’t happened yet. So why all the “careful reviewing” nonsense?

If Dr Hay is the one suggesting this “mask for little kids” garbage, I would suggest she read up on current Covid data and mask efficacy. Maybe take a look at Sweden. Or maybe she is too busy doing “contact tracing” for the County at $25/hour to do anything else.

What I DO know is that she is a big fan of masks, according to her statements in the July 3rd Radiogram.

Ah yes…remember the “hospitals are being overwhelmed” line of crap?

She “feels” they will prevent “at least some” cases? That doesn’t inspire much confidence. Hard evidence trumps feelings in my book, and there is nothing worse than the Haywoodian logic that “well, masks can’t hurt”. Masks most certainly CAN hurt and have many downsides. See a list of them HERE.

I have alarming news for you – billions of people have been “making someone sick” since human history started. It’s why we have immune systems.

Furthermore, if Dr Hay is SO sure that cloth masks are a panacea and will prevent deadly viruses from being brought home to grandma, then why has she been silent the last 13 years of her medical career while the influenza virus ran rampant? Why didn’t she shout out on the radio and newspapers last November/December demanding masks in schools when the “flu” was running rampant in our schools? A “flu” that I think was VERY LIKELY ACTUALLY COVID-19 hitting the kids already!

See “My Evidence Wuhan Flu Already Hit Lampasas“

But hey…I’m no “health authority”, I guess. Just a guy with common sense.

Once again, to all the bureaucrats and health authorities out there who use the ‘logic’ that “masks can’t hurt, so we’ll play it safe” – PLEASE read this thread on the MANY ways masks do harm.

P.S. – are any of these ‘experts’ maybe noticing a massive increase of strep throat this season? Can’t wait to see the Mayor and Dr Hay report “Strep throat active and recovered” cases….seeing as how thousands of kids are now breathing through a warm, damp bacteria breeding ground all day long. Disgusting.

My Evidence That Wuhan Already Hit Lampasas

We already know that this virus is no big deal to kids. The numbers are indisputable:

**For dummies like Bruce: Wuhan Flu is the LIGHT BLUE!**

So when I see hysterical parents afraid to send their nine-year-old to school in a few weeks, I’d like to slap them upside the head a few times. Your kid is more likely to choke on his lunch than be killed by this virus. THAT IS A FACT.

If you insist on being irrationally scared of nothing, then fine – keep junior home for the year. But NO special accommodations for him! None of this bullshit “remote learning” or any of that nonsense. You can keep him home, babysit him and let him turn into a moron. Which, let’s face it, had a good chance of happening anyway with you as a parent.

Furthermore: THIS THING PROBABLY ALREADY RAN THROUGH THE SCHOOLS LAST NOVEMBER!!! *** DETECTIVE WORK ALERT***:

FACT #1: The Wuhan Flu was running loose WAY before those dirty yellow Chinese dogs admitted it on December 31. Like, MONTHS before. So, it was likely spreading globally in late summer 2019. But did it get OVER HERE to Lampasas? I’ll bet you a signed dollar that it did. Why am I so sure?

FACT #2: I noticed an anomaly in OUR OWN LAMPASAS CITY GOVERNMENT MINUTES!!! I read ALL the minutes from City council AND the LEDC religiously from cover to cover. I also have a very good memory.

Here is what I found in the LEDC minutes for November 2019, January 2020 and February 2020 (there is never a December meeting – no minutes):

11/20/19 minutes – page 3: “enrollment is good but ATTENDANCE IS TERRIBLE – FLU AND STREP THROAT GOING AROUND“

1/15/20 minutes – page 3: “ATTENDANCE IS DOWN – FLU VIRUS GOING AROUND“

2/19/20 minutes – page 4: “FLU IS STILL IMPACTING ATTENDANCE“

The “flu” (likely Wuhan flu that wasn’t recognized yet) was SO BAD that they mentioned it in the LEDC minutes!! Nobody freaked out then, did they? No. It was only after the liberal morons got ahold of this that everyone became petrified.

Now, I know what you’d say to me if you were smart: “that’s probably mentioned in the minutes EVERY YEAR, dummy!”. Naturally, I considered that…and went back to check the exact same months in the LEDC minutes for 2017 and 2018. Guess what?

November 2018, January 2019 and February 2019 LEDC minutes: ZERO MENTION OF THE FLU.

November 2017, January 2018, February 2018 LEDC minutes: One mention of the flu in the 1/17/18 minutes. Page 4 says “attendance has been down due to flu season”. ONE MENTION OF THE FLU.

So – for the first SIX months I examined (Nov 2017 through Feb 2019), there was only ONE mention of the flu affecting attendance in Jan 2018. But for the three months from Nov 2019 through Feb 2020, there are THREE mentions and the word “TERRIBLE” is used.

It is my belief that the LEDC reporting on the school system unwittingly exposes that this virus was ALREADY running rampant late last year. THEREFORE, our children (and the teachers!!) were very likely already exposed.

So, Since the Schools Were Only Open About Six Months This Year, We’ll All Be Seeing a Refund on Property Taxes, Right?

Before all the dummies tell me they are working just as hard at home….save it. They aren’t.

Not only that, public schools have an ENORMOUS number of paper-pusher-parasite types. They fall under “administrators” and they have grown FAR faster than the student body over the decades. As I have discussed before HERE and HERE.

Stuff like….”data processing”, which the Lampasas ISD spent over a MILLION DOLLARS on last year. Seems to me, with no students in school, there is a lot less ‘data’ to ‘process’. This is just one example.

If the LISD manages to spend just as much money this year as they do any other year, I would say that is a massive failure of management and proof this entire system is a scam run for the parasites and not for the kids.

Don’t forget – teachers were given a 7% increase in salaries for next year and the paper-pusher administrators were handed a 5% raise. That is a hell of a lot of money for a system that is making rumblings about not being able to open in the fall for face-to-face teaching. If they DON’T open normally in the fall, those raises should ALL be cancelled and the people in charge should seriously be looking to thin the herd of parasites at the administrative level.

Let’s face it: the under-18 crowd is at VERY low risk of dying of the Wuhan virus – so there is zero excuse to keep kids home from school. Teachers on the other hand….well, let’s just say obesity is a huge factor in Wuhan virus fatality rates and that is a very curable problem. Some of ya’ll have four months to hit that treadmill!

More Disturbing Lampasas School District Spending Numbers

Back in August of 2011, the LISD had 3,415 kids in the system. Today that number is actually LOWER at around 3,300. A DECREASE of roughly 3% in the number of students served. I’ll be generous and say the student body size is pretty much FLAT over the last eight years.

During that SAME period (between the 2011/2012 budget and the 2019/2020 budget) the following has happened to revenues and expenditures (source HERE):

Expenditures are UP 17.8% ($31.730 million to $37.387 million)

Revenues are WAY up 27.6% ($30.674 million to a whopping $39.152 million) – Think of ‘revenue‘ as ‘money taken from other people to pay for my kid’s education‘

Under ‘expenditures’ we have seen the following increases when you break down the categories:

Instruction: UP 24% ($13 million to $16.2 million)

Curr & Inst Staff Develop: UP from $122,000 to $433,000 – an increase of NEARLY FOUR FOLD! That is a 17% compound annual growth rate.

Instructional Leadership: UP from $225,000 to $653,000 – an increase of NEARLY THREE FOLD! That is a 14% compound annual growth rate.

General Administration: UP from $1.131 million to $1.440 million – an increase of 27%.

Data Processing Services: UP from $500,000 to over $1.1 million – an increase of 100% in 8 years! That is a 10% compound annual growth rate.

I know what I see here: a lot of bullshit categories exploding in cost at a ridiculous rate. Instructional leadership? Curriculum Development? Those costs increase 17% a year? Nonsense. Those are nests being feathered.

DATA PROCESSING?? Data processing costs go up 10% a year for a student body that stays the same size? Weird how technology makes things CHEAPER everywhere but in government and the school system. Who’s in charge over there…Monica and Kristy? If parents actually had to shell out this money on the first day of the school year, and little Johnny said “hey pops, I need $330 for school – that’s what it’ll cost this year to process all my data”, I think the parent would be down there screaming about being ripped off.

I’m sure the $200,000 man, Superintendent Chane Rascoe, is all over this. Surely someone who makes that kind of money is a small town is super, duper smart and can control costs and personnel.

Right?

Taxpayers Soaked Hard Once Again – For The Kids

From yesterday’s Radiogram:

“This evening, our school board approved a compensation plan for next year that includes a 7% general pay increase of the midpoint for teachers, clerical/aides and auxiliary. Teacher salaries will reflect a minimum starting amount of $47,000. A general pay increase of 5% of the midpoint for administrators was approved as well. In other news, the purchase of 280 Chromebooks was approved. The Chromebooks will be used by grades K-4″.

Wow. A MASSIVE increase. Must be nice. Remember of course, that these people work 9 months and not 12…so these numbers must be multiplied by 1.33 to get a 12-month equivalent. So that MINIMUM STARTING amount turns into $62,651 equivalent. Then you add on the benefits like ‘free’ medical and retirement contributions (which run 40% of a typical salary for the City of Lampasas workers, as an example) and you are very quickly up into the $65,000 to $70,000 range as a cost to the taxpayer for 9 months of work.

I guess I’m not surprised, seeing as how these same people voted to give school LISD Superintendent Chane Rascoe a recent raise to a massive $158,751.84 PER YEAR (or a $211,615 annual equivalent) PLUS all his benefits.

Of course, you can never question school salaries, or you’re a giant asswipe. I’ll cite some great studies HERE and HERE so you can see why the constant throwing of money at schools steams my beans.

I really don’t know why Mandy Walsh and the LEDC are spending millions of dollars on a “Business Park” to attract high-paying jobs. Pretty much every single government job here for the City, County or school is VERY high-paying compared to the poor schlubs in the private sector who have to pay for all this (see below). Mandy should just give everyone cushy government jobs like Assistant Deputy Guidance Counselor or something…we can ALL get well-paid jobs in government!

Some data from Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2010. I have no doubt the gap has since widened in favor of the powerful teachers unions who are ALWAYS clamoring for more money and benefits:

Don’t even get me started on the MASSIVE bloat of administrators and other parasitic paper-pushers that have infested the public school system and cost the taxpayers an absolute fortune while contributing zero value. Here are some charts to really drive the point home: