howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
kent county council have just appointed someone on a temporary 5 month contract as director of school standards and planning.
apparently kent is running behind the rest of the country in primary school improvements.
the lady will be paid £.3300. 00 per week for her trouble, sadly no sick or holiday pay though.
must be a looney right council.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
£66,000 for five months work
, KCC obviously have no intention of tightening their belts after all.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Unbelievable how can it warrant that sort of salary!! Perhaps the money would be better used on making primary school improvements!!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
she is employed to raise standards in primary schools paul, in my opinion not a job for a temp.
5 months running one of the largest counties in england will just mean that she will try and stamp her mark then the permanent employees will come along with his/her ideas which will be different to the temp.
better to wait until someone good comes along.
jan
they can pay out for this but from the end of the year rural bus services will be decimated.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
I might have been better to sack the person who is in overall control of the primary schools. Oh! silly me that would mean giving that person a handsome pay-off so cheaper to get someone in to tell the big-wig what to do.
Typical waste of OUR money.
Ah so they cut rural services to pay for this woman, madness.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Jan
Spot on ?
What they think anyone can achieve in a mere 5 months baffles me.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
It always amazes me that scrutiny committees on county and district councils are made up of councillors. In my opinion they should be made up of non-political people from the community. In cases like this there are no real checks and balances to curb silly spending decisions. It is leaving the fox in charge of the henhouse.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I completely disagree Peter.
There are two scrutiny committees - Policy and Performance and Community and Regeneration; I sit on the Community and Regeneration committe, I've never attended the other scrutiny committee meetings, but they are more Governance and are chaired by the opposition.
Many of the practices we scrutinise are not Council practices, but things like the South East Coast Ambulance Service and many other outside services.
Roger
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
So where is the independent scrutiny, Roger?
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
exactly it needs professional lay persons to study the paperwork provided by the officers.
far too easy to pull the wool over the eyes of well meaning elected representatives.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
Those well meaning representatives are very seldom experts in the subject they are scrutinising, so it could be easy to pull the wool over their eyes or at least part of the way.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
You make us (Councillors) seem like well-meaning idiots with no brains - O.K. that may be your view.
We scrutinise whatever is on the agenda for that particular meeting, in a non-political, intelligent way, asking questions when and where we feel they need to be asked.
What makes you think the general public are so much more independant minded than we are ?
There is a Standards Board made up of independant non-political people, who make sure we don't stray and keep us in line and if we do stray, then they investigate - independant from politics and independant from the Council.
There is very little, if any, money wasted at DDC, although I agree that different people and parties have different priorities and that's why the opposition always chair these scrutiny meetings.
We scrutinise for the good of the people we represent.
Roger.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
Roger, that was not my intention at all, sorry that you read my comment that way.
Unless there is a councillor who is an expert in the subject you are addressing, you are unlikely to be able to scrutinise enough if an expert is out to mislead you.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Are there any professional educators with experience in primary education on the scrutiny cttee?...No.. Well how about a qualified (degree level) Human Resources manager ..no what about a professional positive vetting investigator bearing in mind primary education deals with children...no,,dear oh dear.
As much as I like Roger its this sort of 'unprofessional' approach that *isses people off.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Also how can we trust certain council officials (not in Dover I hasten to add) as the CEO of Suffolk County Council ,Andrea Hill who earns a whopping £200k pa has paid out 13 compromise agreements, which give departing staff extra cash not to speak out or take action over losing their job, these were drawn up between January 13 and April 5 - before Mrs Hill went on leave.
The total is a staggering £405,665.90 - enough to fund meals on wheels services across Suffolk for a year
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Roger, that isn't my view, I think you know me well enough to know that. But I don't think it's fair to put lay councillors in a position where they may be held responsible for failing to detect deficiencies in areas where they are not professionally qualified.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
If there is an olympic medal next year for waisting money and time with this tempary job then someone at kcc better learn the national anthem , because they are certain for a medal .