I am absolutely pathetic with numbers. I don't even like the show Numbers. I might if I actually watched it. But I'm just not inspired. Give me a show about ultimate fighting. Or about cops chasing down men in wife beaters. Now I'm all over that.
Some how, someone at our school system's main office thought it would be a good idea for each school to do their own Needs Assessments. Basically that is a fancy word for the process in trying to figure out what the hell you are going to need for the next school term. In other words, work on your own budget. But not for what you need now. What you predict you will need. Fine time for my Magic 8 ball to be lost.
We all have to sit together and listen to random lectures meant to motivate and inspire. It sounds much like the adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons.
How am I supposed to figure out what we need 6 months or more from now?! Now I try to get input from my teachers. Usually they ask for curriculum that won't get approved. I don't know why. All I know was there was a reason. I could tell because the finance guy's mouth was moving. We'll put it on the list anyway. At least they'll have to say no and I won't have to remember the reason (something about the funding formula) it wouldn't get approved.
Besides, I clearly remember telling my algebra teacher that I would never use the information she was imparting to us. I don't want to be wrong.
Sure, this is probably a *better* way to figure out the budget and needs ... actually getting information from the individual schools. They make me miss the old days where they told us what we were getting and how much money we had to spend. That way I could complain and whine and bitch about not being heard. And about the stupid choices they made in the budget.
Now I have to tell my teachers that it was ME. I'm a number-tard! I didn't think of asking for [insert object here]. It was me, me, me! Argh!
Gotta go! I probably need to start reworking the budget to include some protective gear for me. Now, how can I term that so that it looks like instructional needs?
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15 comments:
I don't envy you when it comes to this aspect of your job. Everyone is broke all over. You MAY want to make sure you budget in enough toilet paper so you don't end up like the school in Detroit begging for that. OH and textbooks.. textbooks are good.
Protective gear?.. you can write that off as "sports equipment"
Good Luck!
I always think of something to say until I see your challenge, "Go ahead and tell me what I should have said. Really." And then I forget what I was gonna write.
Anyway hello from Puri :)
i am sorry, but i can't help you... the math gene skipped our house entirely.
hmmm, I'm sensing a math-aversion chromosome among the bloggers....we are unified on that front. Sigh.
But I have the answer for you.
Delegate.
There is somebody in your school, I guarantee it, who absolutely LOVES numbers. They're dying to put together a spreadsheet. Give 'em the job. Find a way to give them a free period for a few weeks...extend their lunch-hour for 30 minutes...something.
Oh it's so easy to solve your problems from my uninformed, naive perspective...GOOD LUCK!
Just come up with an amount that is more than what you really think you'll need....like 5 or 10% and then maybe you'll actually get what you want! haha
Good Luck!
Can you get your mits on the budgets from the last few years? That would be HUGELY helpful to you. Not only will it show a listing of what was budgeted for in past years (what you might want to plan for), but it should also show you what areas were over/short so you can adjust them. It will take a little time going through them, but would be leagues better than starting from scratch.
I think you should aim for a big Wall St bail out. Act convincingly confident. It'll work. Tell them children are our future. Shovel it on bigtime. Get the students involved with picketing the finance office at your Board of Ed. Children chanting is scary.
I hate numbers too. That is why Inever help the kids with their math homework.
I think my second grader has already out smarted me in the math area. Well she probably did that last year but who's counting..(pun intended) : )
Budgets make my head hurt! Good luck!
I wouldn't be surprised if there were a fifth grader that could knock that shit out for you. One of my third graders assisted me with my computer problems. Sometimes I wonder if I'm there strictly for crowd control! :)
Good luck, and I totally agree. I hate to be wrong, too.
dizzblnd - You are a genius! Note to self: Protective gear under PE Equipment funding.
Braja - Hello to you in Puri!
Deb - Math genes do run in my family. Somehow I was skipped. Not fair.
Kulio - I wish I could delegate this. They make all the principals meet at the central office to work on this together. Maybe I could send someone who looks like me...
Wayfaring - I wish I could be a fly on the wall when the executive board approves and denies each item. I always ask for a LOT of technology.
Cat - Oh, I have the budget from the last 8 years. It is the predictions of what will break, what language will we not have for the next ESOL child (for God's sake - our last ESOL child came from Iceland), etc that I suck at.
Comedy Goddess - Bailing out Wall Street... and chanting children. I'm scared!
Pseudo - I let my kids help me with math homework. It works better that way.
Sarah - Fortunately, my kids are far better in math than I am. I plan on living on their inheritance in the future...
Kristina - Word!
Because - You are right! Sometimes the kids have it going on.
Heather - Thanks for understanding!
Loved the Charlie Brown image! Though I'm afraid that's what my kids hear when I talk now.
Hate budgets and numbers (and the show Numbers). My husband and I have a monthly budget meeting and it sucks!
I can't do numbers either...
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