APS says no more "double-dipping"

[SoCalDem]

Atlanta News 12:06 a.m. Saturday, October 22, 2011

http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/retirees-cant-continue-careers-1207520.html?cxtype=rss_news

Retirees can't continue careers in APS



By Jaime Sarrio

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Retired educators rehired by Atlanta Public Schools to work well-paid central office jobs will be fired by the district in a cost-cutting move intended to weed out wasteful positions.

Superintendent Erroll Davis ordered the firing of about 70 retirees, some who earn handsome hourly wages out-of-step with the district's salary scale. Contracts for the retirees will be terminated Oct. 31 and could amount to $1.7 million in annual savings, the equivalent of one furlough day. Almost half of the targeted positions fall under the office of former Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Kathy Augustine, a key figure in the state's test-cheating scandal, and some worked as assistants to major players in the investigation. Critics say some positions are evidence of the district's culture of cronyism.

“Returning will not be a reward for having worked here,” Davis said.

According to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through an open records request, educators who retired as principals returned to the district in ill-defined central office jobs such as "administrator" earning $33 an hour. With the exception of classroom teachers, most retired district employees can only come back part-time and at the rate the position would normally pay.

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