| abstract
| - How money is spent needs to be a concern in terms of the program's needs and outcomes. Five fewer PPS teachers would yield 20 additional hired college/high school swimmers. Then, 200 additional kids could be better motivated and supervised in our camps. Efficiency matters more than PPS contracts in our fun, running, high-splash efforts. Employee expnses account for up to 80% of the costs of Swim & Water Polo Camps. So, the jobs are critical. Activity partners at PPS Summer Dreamers Academy are assigned one PPS teacher for every 20 students. The PPS teacher gets paid contract rates. This is expensive. Perhaps the Summer Dreamers budget could expand to handle an increase in the number of students by and additional 60% if the PPS teachers were excluded from activity times. Sure, PPS teachers at PPS rates should be hired and placed within the classrooms teaching academic materials. In certain areas, PPS teachers are a tremendous value, but in some instances, not so much. PPS teachers would be eligible for the activity jobs. And, PPS teachers should be paid, if hired, at the PPS teacher rate. The same applies to the proposed All-City Sports Camps. Example: In the past five years of doing PPS Summer Dreamers activities, it is my humble opinion that in some situations it would be better for the overall camp and the limited funding dollars to hire four young adults (of high school and college age) for running, swimming and playing water polo rather than one idle and passive PPS teacher. Without a doubt, some great PPS teachers have joined our ranks every year. They would and should continue. But the hard rule for 20:1 for PPS teachers is a serious burden when scale of the camp climbs above 200 to 400 students. To motivate and manage 20 PPS teachers at the pools, yet along find that many interested in running and swimming in the heat of the summer afternoon becomes a crazy deal-stopper due to over-reaching contract interpretation. Rather than a 1:20 ratio, a 1:60 would be plenty. That's 1 PPS teacher to 60 campers. Meanwhile, the overall coach to camper ratio is closer to 1:6. By cutting 3 PPS teachers we gain a dozen youthful helpers. Those are significant adjustments for the long-term sustainability of summer-time activities. Better to hire high school students and recent PPS graduates to help teach other younger students. We should deploy the opportunities for Summer Dreamers as a work-enrichment opportunity for meaningful jobs to the youth rather than be required to hire PPS teachers who are not engaged and are there only to punch more expensive time clocks. Many of the PPS teachers are great. Some are not.
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