Kingofthenet said:Schools getting ANYTHING from me, GOOD LUCK:
The superintendent of Keansburg schools, one of the so-called "Abbott" districts that receives millions of dollars in special state aid, is to receive a severance package worth almost $750,000 when she steps down next month, documents posted on the school district's website show.

The payments to Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski, 60, come on top of the standard retirement pay of about $120,000 a year she has earned over a 38-year career in the northern Monmouth County district.

The severance deal includes $184,586 for 235.5 unused sick days and 20 vacation days, and another $556,290 bonus that is equal to her monthly salary multiplied by the number of years she has worked in Keansburg.

"This is the poster child of everything that is bad about Abbott funding," said Assemblyman Joseph Malone (R-Burlington) a critic of the state Supreme Court rulings in the Abbott v. Burke lawsuit, which require the state to send more than $4.3 billion in aid to the state's 31 poorest districts each year. "No one deserves that kind of buyout. It's obscene. It's sickening."

It may also be short-lived.

State Education Commissioner Lucille Davy plans to review the severance deal to see if it is valid, said spokeswoman Kathryn Forsyth.

"There is concern," Forsyth said. "We are obtaining a copy of the setlement in question to review it to see what, if anything, can be done."

Trzeszkowski did not return a call seeking comment today.

So, if I am reading this right, the superintendent has 235 unused sick days (more than a school year's worth of days)...she must not have had a vacation in years...I can't seem to bank more than a week or so before I start itching to take time. Sounds to me like she is really dedicated, and the fact that she has served the school system for nearly 40 years...maybe she deserves a little bonus for doing her job and not slacking off...just my thoughts. I will step down off the soap box now.

michal1980 said:Hot deals that are worth less than $10 and are absolutely free belong in the Free Stuff category.

Excellent job of copy pasta from the FAQ, I've been there too and also know what the rules for posting in the Hot Stuff forum are. Only 2 items out of many mentioned are free; further more, the value of this deal is certainly worth more than $10. Consider that many of the items which are free or cost a few cents are normally priced higher than their current doorbuster price. Obviously I'm feeding a troll here, but stop going into everything thread possible and being such a negative nancy.

zeddgara said:RBA said:Try your work's supply closet. Empty it out and drop it off at school. Everybody wins, you don't have to spend money and the school gets free supplies. And in most cases the supplies at work are much better than those cheap ones in the school supplies aisles.

Of course there might be a problem if you are asked to take a lie detector test.

Obviously your a product of a public school system.

LOL - oh the irony!!! I think you meant to say "Obviously you're a product of a public school system"

Which begs the question - what is zeddgara a product of? A private school system which didn't do much better but instilled a dose of unwarranted arrogance?

munkyxtc said:Ok, Ok, I know it's not necessarily the normal type of post we see in hot deals; but even though you don't directly benefit by the savings can't we give back once and awhile?

Did I ever tell you the joke....the one about the thread that went OT?

Good job OP. Have been taking advantage of the weekly freebies at Staples. Got a bunch of paper folders and about 100 notebooks of wide ruled paper a few weeks back w/ the intention of giving them to a school or to some students. Only problem around here is that there are SO MANY "poor" schools that I'm not sure where to start.

FWIW, there are several decent looking ~$10 backpacks out there that are great to house your care packages. My OD and Staples rewards came in, so I've decided to forgo any of my usual computer type goodies in lieu of some care packages. I am sure they will be appreciated.

(So sorry to go OT again...but I have to)

And to Kingofthenet...how dare you PRESUME to say that any parent who can not afford to buy their kids $10 worth of school supplies should have their kids taken away for neglect! There are SO MANY things inherently WRONG with that and SO MANY presumptions that you make w/ that statement that I don't even know where to begin!

As 1 of 2 children in a single parent household running off of a single state salary check (great medical, lousy wages) and my mother only being paid ONCE A MONTH, she learned how to make her money stretch to the max. My mom scrimped and saved and was a very savvy shopper. Even w/ all the coupons and bulk shopping deals that she could get, there were times when, YES, $10 was a lot of money at the end of the month. Yes there were times that we ate beans and hot dogs or ramen for the last few days of the month...of course, being a kid back then we loved it, but looking back I knew it was because we were at the end of our food and the end of our budget. All my school clothes were hand-me-downs and new supplies were a luxury that was sometimes hard to come by.

I don't know how you grew up, but not everyone here had the easiest and most carefree childhood, hence why SOME of us are on here. We learned early that you have to learn how to stretch your dollar. So please don't PRESUME that everyone grew up with the same privileges that you did.

Here are some highlights from next week's (8/24 - 8/30) Office Depot ad.

Free mini stapler

Sun-Wed sale items

Vinyl pencil storage pouches $.20
Student compass $.50
2 pocket poly folders $.99
4 pack glue sticks $.99
6 pack highlighters $.99

thanks munkyxtc

I got

10 packs of pencils
2 packs of pens
5 scisors
5 rulers
10 notebooks

all for under $3. What a great idea

please don't forget most walmarts match these prices as i had them match several as i have 4 children in school and takes alot of supplies. also they have crayola 24 pack crayons for 25 cents , markers 78 cents, glue sticks 20 cents 2 pack and other good deals.. ymmv of course. my wife is a 2nd grade teacher, thanks for helping our kids op!!

magic168 said:musix4me said:qube said:Try electing people who budget money for schools. Also, schools are terribly inefficient. They can cut a lot of fat from those places and run like a real business and probably have a surplus.

I would like to know when you last stepped foot on a campus. I'm a veteran teacher and I assure you that schools are running about as lean as you can. Rooms aren't vacuumed every night; we fund raise for many things that you would never agree to fund raise for in a business world. Wake up because you're speaking from the hip and don't know what you are talking about!

I'm afraid you're talking more about the end result of the problem than refusting the original post. There is no doubt schools are "running lean" -- but that is because they are poorly run and lack proper budgeting. There was an article a few years back in the NY Times comparing the operating costs of a school per child in a public school versus a private elementary school -- $7,000+ for the public school versus $2,000+ for the private school. That is the inefficiency being talked about.

I believe that there exists a public school with an expenditure of $7,000/student (NYC is actually quite higher, but everything's more expensive in NYC). I also believe that there probably exists a private school with a per pupil expenditure of $2000 (probably a Catholic School in Nebraska). I would be shocked (and interested in reading the article you refer to) if this were the average expenditures of the two types of institutions. The majority of every school budget goes towards salaries and although salaries are generally lower in private schools, this isn't significant enough to make up for the much smaller classes and in turn greater number of teachers (again, on average--there are always exceptions).

But I digress. All we're talking about here is spending $2 at Staples to help out your local schools.

One last bump this week as the deals are over as of close of business today...Thanks everyone.