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Wednesday, February 20, 2008
OUSD's Godley just doesn’t get it
Metro Views
Giving Voice to the Greater Orange Communities
Viewpoints from the Greater Orange Communities
Orange Net News /O/N/N/ Editorial:
OUSD Superintendent Dr. Thomas Godley just doesn’t get it:
No you’re not less of an employee…
You are more of an employer
In the Tuesday February 19th Orange County Register story, Buy out could aid Orange Superintendent, Orange Unified Superintendent Dr. Thomas Godley makes another one of his famous “me too” statements. The article quotes Godley’s
“I am an employee of the district. Am I any less of an employee?"
Dr. Godley just doesn’t get it. His is not less of an employee, but more of an employer. As the CEO of the district, his retirement announcement followed by a retirement buyout- seems a lot like insider trading. In addition, the fact that the buyout is being extended to persons with only five years of service with OUSD (Godley will have 5 years and four months at his June retirement) appears very self-serving. The information that the proposed OUSD Supplemental Retirement Plan would be extended to himself by way of a five-year minimum with the district is not in the Agenda Item. That part of the plan was kept secret but reported by Orange Net News and is now confirmed by Godley himself.
Godley’s desire for us to believe his total lack of self-interest is incredulous. He also states in the same article:
“We won't look at it individually by employee, We'll look at it as a group and see if it would be an overall savings.”
As the district’s leader, and taking his newspaper comments into account, it is clear to us that Dr. Godley did look at an individual employee- himself! As the district leader, Godley decided who would be eligible for the Retirement Plan. The buck stops with Godley as he chases buck after buck of the OUSD taxpayers.
In the article his Assistant Superintendent of Business Services states that under the proposal 300 employees are eligible. What makes them eligible is not reveled. How many of those employees are “Five year” employees and how many five year employees can really afford to retire after working just five years? Ninety eight employees are needed to make the plan work. It is apparent to us that 99% of those employees will be employees with many, many, many years of dedicated service to the Orange Unified community and we expect just ONE employee with five years of OUSD experience to take $15,000 extra educational tax dollars a year.
In the Register article Godley is also quoted as saying:
"I'm not asking for anything special," he added. "And if the district hires somebody below my salary, I could be a savings."
Raise after raise, Godley pushed the bar of the OUSD Superintendent’s salary ever higher as the OUSD Board majority just last August voted to approve raises in order to keep Godley. As the OUSD Board extended Godley’s three year contract with a raise, they added extra bonuses (not performance based) like a 2% yearly automatic longevity raise. Then in September and December, Godley got “me too” raises after OUSD finished negotiations with the two employee unions. To now state that it would be a savings to hire the next Superintendent at a lower salary is a pompous and insulting statement to the Trustees who entrusted the financial well being of the Orange Unified School District to Godley and acquiesced to his continuous salary demands.
The Orange Unified School Trustees should reject the five-year minimum requirement for the Supplemental Retirement Plan. If the plan is approved with the five year requirement, Orange Net News will for the years ahead will keep an ongoing monthly record of the $1250 a month benefit paid out to Godley under the plan.
Let the OUSD Board know how you feel email them at
board@orangeusd.k12.ca.us
Community comments from OC Register/ OC Blog/ Orange Net News
Katiel wrote: Shame on Doctor Godley. Wasn't it bad enough to give himself such a huge raise the beginning of the school year? Let us hope that the school board will do the right thing, because we can rest assure that Godley won't
GoDucks wrote: The superintendent is being favored over lesser paid employees by using only 'final salary' to calculate the incentive. Using years of service as part of the formula or simply capping the incentive to something reasonable for the majority of the targeted employees makes more sense. Paying $15K per yesr extra to a relatively short tenured employee who is already planning to leave is embarrasing. And his comments are disingenuous. If the plan wasn't approved the district is just as likely
ocdac7 wrote: Let's see what our 'populist' board member Rocco think of this.
cook said: Apparently Rocco is the only one of the board trustee’s who can see the grand theft going on with baseless wages increases and pension spikes, and I thought that SAUSD was screwed up.
redperegrine said: It is ironic that the Board can be sooooo embarrassed by Rocco - and will swallow anything else.
Eric Wrote: Please take back Godley's money. Pay no handshake under 10 years' service and only to teachers. There is no money for highly paid officials.
For the Orange County Register Story on Godley CLICK ON:
OC Register
For the Orange County/ Red County Blog Story on Godley CLICK ON:
OC BLOG
For the Orange Net News story CLICK ON: ONN
Viewpoints from
Orange Net News____________
Metro VIEWS
is an open forum to express viewpoints on local Greater Orange issues.
Views expressed in Metro VIEWS are not necessarily the views of the NETWORKS that ECAST or post them.
Giving Voice to the Greater Orange Communities
Viewpoints from the Greater Orange Communities
Orange Net News /O/N/N/ Editorial:
OUSD Superintendent Dr. Thomas Godley just doesn’t get it:
No you’re not less of an employee…
You are more of an employer
In the Tuesday February 19th Orange County Register story, Buy out could aid Orange Superintendent, Orange Unified Superintendent Dr. Thomas Godley makes another one of his famous “me too” statements. The article quotes Godley’s
“I am an employee of the district. Am I any less of an employee?"
Dr. Godley just doesn’t get it. His is not less of an employee, but more of an employer. As the CEO of the district, his retirement announcement followed by a retirement buyout- seems a lot like insider trading. In addition, the fact that the buyout is being extended to persons with only five years of service with OUSD (Godley will have 5 years and four months at his June retirement) appears very self-serving. The information that the proposed OUSD Supplemental Retirement Plan would be extended to himself by way of a five-year minimum with the district is not in the Agenda Item. That part of the plan was kept secret but reported by Orange Net News and is now confirmed by Godley himself.
Godley’s desire for us to believe his total lack of self-interest is incredulous. He also states in the same article:
“We won't look at it individually by employee, We'll look at it as a group and see if it would be an overall savings.”
As the district’s leader, and taking his newspaper comments into account, it is clear to us that Dr. Godley did look at an individual employee- himself! As the district leader, Godley decided who would be eligible for the Retirement Plan. The buck stops with Godley as he chases buck after buck of the OUSD taxpayers.
In the article his Assistant Superintendent of Business Services states that under the proposal 300 employees are eligible. What makes them eligible is not reveled. How many of those employees are “Five year” employees and how many five year employees can really afford to retire after working just five years? Ninety eight employees are needed to make the plan work. It is apparent to us that 99% of those employees will be employees with many, many, many years of dedicated service to the Orange Unified community and we expect just ONE employee with five years of OUSD experience to take $15,000 extra educational tax dollars a year.
In the Register article Godley is also quoted as saying:
"I'm not asking for anything special," he added. "And if the district hires somebody below my salary, I could be a savings."
Raise after raise, Godley pushed the bar of the OUSD Superintendent’s salary ever higher as the OUSD Board majority just last August voted to approve raises in order to keep Godley. As the OUSD Board extended Godley’s three year contract with a raise, they added extra bonuses (not performance based) like a 2% yearly automatic longevity raise. Then in September and December, Godley got “me too” raises after OUSD finished negotiations with the two employee unions. To now state that it would be a savings to hire the next Superintendent at a lower salary is a pompous and insulting statement to the Trustees who entrusted the financial well being of the Orange Unified School District to Godley and acquiesced to his continuous salary demands.
The Orange Unified School Trustees should reject the five-year minimum requirement for the Supplemental Retirement Plan. If the plan is approved with the five year requirement, Orange Net News will for the years ahead will keep an ongoing monthly record of the $1250 a month benefit paid out to Godley under the plan.
Let the OUSD Board know how you feel email them at
board@orangeusd.k12.ca.us
Community comments from OC Register/ OC Blog/ Orange Net News
Katiel wrote: Shame on Doctor Godley. Wasn't it bad enough to give himself such a huge raise the beginning of the school year? Let us hope that the school board will do the right thing, because we can rest assure that Godley won't
GoDucks wrote: The superintendent is being favored over lesser paid employees by using only 'final salary' to calculate the incentive. Using years of service as part of the formula or simply capping the incentive to something reasonable for the majority of the targeted employees makes more sense. Paying $15K per yesr extra to a relatively short tenured employee who is already planning to leave is embarrasing. And his comments are disingenuous. If the plan wasn't approved the district is just as likely
ocdac7 wrote: Let's see what our 'populist' board member Rocco think of this.
cook said: Apparently Rocco is the only one of the board trustee’s who can see the grand theft going on with baseless wages increases and pension spikes, and I thought that SAUSD was screwed up.
redperegrine said: It is ironic that the Board can be sooooo embarrassed by Rocco - and will swallow anything else.
Eric Wrote: Please take back Godley's money. Pay no handshake under 10 years' service and only to teachers. There is no money for highly paid officials.
For the Orange County Register Story on Godley CLICK ON:
OC Register
For the Orange County/ Red County Blog Story on Godley CLICK ON:
OC BLOG
For the Orange Net News story CLICK ON: ONN
Viewpoints from
Orange Net News____________
Metro VIEWS
is an open forum to express viewpoints on local Greater Orange issues.
Views expressed in Metro VIEWS are not necessarily the views of the NETWORKS that ECAST or post them.
