Update: Superintendent Robert Runcie Caves, Agrees To Pay Most Teachers On Time
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Update:
This is the latest from Superintendent Robert Runcie issued two days after Browardbeat.com posted the article below.
He caved.
Apparently his staff did have the time to get the pay raises out on time when pressed:
The original post:
Hurricane Matthew missed South Florida and everybody is back working.
Everybody except some of the drones working for Broward School Superintendent Robert Runcie.
Robert Runcie
The school system is using Matthew as an excuse to hold up teachers’ raises for at least another two weeks.
“The district is claiming Hurricane Matthew for their delay of the payment of teacher retro raises. I assure, the union is not keeping quiet about this blatant disrespect and foolish tactic they are trying to pull to not pay the raise retro in the time frame they promised. BTU has talked with labor lawyers and also reached out to Runcie to make it clear that Broward was spared the harm of the storm and there is no excuse to delay the retro raises to be paid…” the Broward Teachers Union wrote in a statement.
Runcie’s staff had since June to figure out the proper amount each teacher would receive from the raises, according to the BTU.
So here is Runcie’s latest example of competence:
- The School Board approved a 2.5 percent retroactive raise on June 27 for the school year.
- On October 7 — More than three months later! — a storm barely brushed Broward and Runcie’s staff is using it as an excuse for delaying the raises!
Really. Really.
Haven’t teachers been waiting long enough?
Why wasn’t the non-school based staff of the school system back working overtime on Friday? Every other butcher, baker and candle stick maker returned to work.
Things are different at the school system.
You pay and they play.
Be assured Runcie has already come up with some cockamamie excuse. Some spin.
The truth is this:
Basic Business 101 requires work places to get payroll checks out on time.
And the School Board wonders why the abilities of Runcie and his staff is constantly questioned.
October 8th, 2016 at 6:26 pm
Since mr. Runcie came on board we have a new topic,
Crooks 101 – no money for teacher raises & more money for me & my staff.
What a sad state of affairs. It won’t change until he is on his way back to Chicago with a large buy-out which I predict will happen far sooner than 2019.
When that happens I hope the board members responsible for hiring him will be riding on his coattails!
October 8th, 2016 at 6:59 pm
Really… this is such nonsense as usual
October 8th, 2016 at 8:14 pm
I just retired as a teacher…I am to assume I will also get paid!!!
October 8th, 2016 at 8:26 pm
The dog ate my homework…….
October 8th, 2016 at 8:34 pm
Runcie just had his annual evaluation. He came out effective again. I bet his pay check was paid on time. The School Board should be demanding he get this done. Runice and his minnions are so INCOMPETENT!!!
October 9th, 2016 at 1:20 am
The School Board Superintendent gets away with being an idiot in my neighborhood because Dr Rosalind Osgood is wildly popular amongst the two voting blocks older gay White.men n Church going African Americans because she brings government programs to both groups. Commissioner Dean Trantalis who rants at City Commission meetings never says a word about School Board disasters and appears with Dr Rosalind Osgood everywhere.
The School Board plays politics through funding n jobs n the critics blog : money talks n blogging walks.
SAD BUT THAT IS THE REALITY IN SOUTH MIDDLE RIVER IN COMMISSIONER TRANTALIS DISTRICT OF FT LAUDERDALE
October 9th, 2016 at 1:15 pm
He is SO effective that he can’t pay the staff….oh HIS FRIENDS GET RAISES though and I am sure they do NOT get held up at all. As for the giant pay out…..he has been insubordinate to the board since JUNE 2012! Why would he get ANY severance package? That does not happen when you VIOLATE your contract! First contract was ILLEGAL under Florida law. Sadly, the most of the people of Broward could not even show up to VOTE! If JUST the employees had all voted, things would be different
I mean, the hearing for teachers salaries had 400 teachers when the BTU membership is over 10,000 Guess they did not care enough to show up. At this point, ALL OF THIS is on the voters of Broward’s shoulders!
October 9th, 2016 at 2:40 pm
There’s only one way for teachers to get paid. Turn the tables and do a mass ‘sick out” until there is resolution. A few days without pay is better than a 30 year career of the union fighting unsuccessfully for what’s due. The union’s pleas to the board fall on deaf ears. Stop trying to reason with the unreasonable.
BE BRAVE. STAY HOME on January 9, 2017; and, for as many days as it takes. Put some pressure on the scabs that resist.
Teachers would be astonished and amazed by the support that they would receive from parents in this effort. For once the finger would be pointed at the problem.
October 9th, 2016 at 3:41 pm
This is ridiculous!! First, if y’all were to receive this pay on 10/7 it was already in the system on 10/3 because payroll reports are ran at the beginning of the week! If y’all are suppose to get this pay on 10/14 they have time on Monday, 10/10, to enter it! They already know what the amounts are and it won’t take them that long to input it into the payroll system!! Runcie’s playing game with y’all!! Normal SBBC operations!!
October 9th, 2016 at 6:20 pm
Mind you they have this excuse on Wednesday afternoon, which means they had already thought up this lie. Teachers want to know how 2 days equal an additional two weeks! Are you telling me there isn’t a retired teacher or three that can run against some of these loyalist? We need to start today to find strong replacements for Osgood (don’t care if it’s 4 years away) and Abbey Freedman this has to stop.
October 9th, 2016 at 6:41 pm
If school missed 2 DAYS, why should it take 2 WEEKS for superintendent’s office to make up those 2 days missed?
Hope he and others remember the teachers having to wait beyond payroll dates to be paid! Bet they won’t.
October 9th, 2016 at 8:04 pm
SNAFU !!!!!!!!!!!!
October 9th, 2016 at 9:38 pm
Maybe while we are processing this long overdue raise, we can fix the salary schedule since veteran teachers keep getting screwed over and over again. those of us that have 26 years in the system are short by $15,000. Are we the only ones that notice this? Absolutely ridiculous!!!
October 9th, 2016 at 9:40 pm
You know what?? Due to hurricane Matthew we cannot grade our papers on time, so report cards will be delayed as well.
October 9th, 2016 at 10:13 pm
Disgraceful.. ? we deserve respect ! Enough is enough!!! Time to let media in the classes.. and let the public see for themselves what the new testing looks like (time involved) and how all the testing hurts instruction.. and how diverse our children are..and how we accommodate and modify our instructions on a daily basis simply because we our educators … not because a teacher rubric tells me to… pathetic.. and shame on you Broward County!
October 10th, 2016 at 9:10 am
Well how come no one is asking the union why they held up the vote the entire summer 2 months? Everyone is complaining about 2 weeks if this would have been voted on back when the ruling came down we could have had our $$$$ before we came back to school. Runcie is not my favorite person but he shouldn’t take the blame for everything. How come there was no story about this I wonder? The fact is that the district was closed for 2 days get over it already. We could be like other companies and did not pay their employees who were sent home.
October 10th, 2016 at 3:21 pm
After 14 years, they are making it so hard to continue to teach that for the first time I am looking for other positions. The students are the victims as it will take a new teacher some time to learn the ropes.
October 11th, 2016 at 8:07 am
Who is the person in charge? Are they being held accountable?
October 11th, 2016 at 8:10 am
I want to say that it is not the district’s fault that hurricane Mathew came at the time when the programming changes were being made to process the pay raises for the teachers. This time was more of a challenge because the pay raise came after year end.
The TSP group that programs the payroll has gone beyond the call of duty in the past to make sure that all bargaining units got their well deserve pay raise in time. This time it was no different except that Mathew came at the time the programming changes were being made to make the pay raises happen. In addition the payroll has to be transmitted to the employees financial institutions in time so that they pay can be deposited.
These individuals are my co-workers and they always do their best to make sure that the raises happen on time.
It is very easy to critize, but make sure you get your facts right first.
This message was posted by the previous Vice President of TSP.
October 13th, 2016 at 9:56 pm
This is ripe for a lawsuit from the teachers in that they can not strike yet their contracts are not being honored. Enough is enough with the BS of management screwing the teachers. They continue to manipulate the rank and file. The Union has not stood up for their members either. This is a joke.
October 17th, 2016 at 1:44 am
@Jane Bell….OSGOOD’s opponent WAS strong…SHE LIED to get the sun sentinel endorsement….FREEDMAN has to go too! and Since Levinson was campaigning for Osgood too, she also needs replacing. Lynch-Walsh would have been PERFECT for that seat. Osgood ILLEGALLY campaigned on the bus lots (many drivers reported this), they used PRESSURE on the drivers and increased base pay to $14 an hour to anyone earning under that, but that means that a BRAND new driver and one working for the district for 10-15 years are ALL making the same money! There were a lot of GAMES! Lynch-Walsh understands Broward Schools and their MANY issues, as she has been a volunteer for years…and for MANY of those years Osgood said she did not understand because she was NEW to the board. Lynch-Walsh SHOULD have won the seat, but Osgood LIES and manipulates EVERYTHING to serve her purpose and the people who did vote for her are NOT HAPPY
October 20th, 2016 at 12:31 am
A friend that work in the SB Building told a group of us Tonight that the teachers got their money because Osgoode was upstairs yelling at Runcie and his staff about the the teachers not getting their money. My friend said Osgoode later sent three emails back to back giving Runcie 3 hours to figure out how to pay those teachers. She said Osgoode is not nice to Runcie at all. Do not be fooled
October 21st, 2016 at 3:58 pm
Soooo. it turns out the payroll was complete and the teachers were paid…and the comments stop. GREAT WORK PAYROLL DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES!!! To all employees that work hard in the District, please do not take the things in the blogs, papers, and articles personal, they are JUST entertainment. Every successful person needs a hater 🙂
October 22nd, 2016 at 10:11 pm
@22 – Sounds to me like your friend had a few too many and left reality. Osgood is Runcie’s solider. Never has she lead him but is only lead by him.
Thank you Buddy for staying on top of things. Without your pressure teachers would still be waiting for their full pay checks.