[nagdu] Staff cuts at guide dog schools

Lyn Gwizdak linda.gwizdak at cox.net
Wed Apr 17 21:46:55 UTC 2013


Yeah Buddy, I know what you are talking about and do agree with the actions 
taken by the school.  As a former President of a non-profit, I understand 
that things have to happen to keep the place going in the long run.  In my 
non-profit, we had to let go almost ALL the paid staff and drivers and we 
had to fill in the spots with volunteers.  This happened 12 years ago and we 
were facing certain bancruptcy and very soon.  As a result, we are still in 
business 12 years later although not as good because we had to scale back on 
activities - especially ones where we needed to have drivers so more people 
could take advantage of the programs.  But we remain intact and have just 
had to roll with the punches.

Personally, I think I had an instructor come out to help me with a problem 
about 3 times since I've had TSE dogs.  They were all but one during a time 
an instructor was already out here interviewing prospective students or 
working with graduates here in CA. I found that most problems can be 
resolved by either a phone call or by email.  I'm sure that, if there was a 
real serious situation, TSE would still send out a trainer to help the 
person.

Yeah, that old 1965 dorm building.  I think it was in 1992 or 1993 that the 
upstairs was put on to double the amount of student rooms so we could have 
our own rooms and no roommates. that is a good thing.  But, like an old car, 
there comes a time when it costs TONS more to nurse things along than to 
tear down and rebuild under current codes.  We had to do this with our blind 
center that was about to fall down due to termite infestations and outdated 
things and codes.

I think places use specific capital funding to do these kinds of projects 
rather than using the money that goes into direct service to us the 
graduates and the dogs, etc.  After all is said and done, we will have a 
better TSE for many years to come.

Lyn and Landon
"Asking who's the man and who's the woman in an LGBT relationship is like 
asking which chopstick is the fork" - Unknown
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Buddy Brannan" <buddy at brannan.name>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 7:48 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Staff cuts at guide dog schools


> Hi,
>
> Of course, cuts are everywhere, and cutbacks aren't unusual in any 
> industry. Bearing in mind that the schools are all privately funded by 
> donations, belt tightening is inevitable.
>
> I can't speak to GDB's situation, but here's what I can tell you about the 
> Seeing Eye.
>
> No, renovating the facilities isn't exactly tied to staff cuts. In a 
> nutshell, here's what we were told:
>
> For the past several years, expenses have been increasing, while donations 
> have not. Thus, more and more of the endowment that has partial funded the 
> school has had to be used. Projecting these trends forward, it was 
> determined that at this rate, the endowment would be exhausted in a matter 
> of a few years, which would put the school in a financial precarious 
> position. They therefore had to find places to cut, and, unfortunately, 
> staffing cuts had to be made. No one likes staff cuts. No one likes it 
> that knowledgeable men and women have lost their jobs. But they had to 
> reorganize so that services could continue. This might be some 
> controversial for an opinion, but I kind of think that cutting field reps 
> and moving all follow-up services in-house might not be necessarily a bad 
> thing. I wonder if perhaps we might have gotten too reliant on them and 
> have started shouting for help before we really needed to? In other words, 
> before using some of the tools and techniques we were taught, and trying 
> to work through problems on our own first? I'm not saying this very well, 
> and I'm sure that I'll get some indignant protests over this. Anyway, 
> Seeing Eye is back to early '90's staffing levels now.
>
> A separate issue was that, one way or another, the facilities needed to be 
> upgraded to meet current building code. While they met 1960's residential 
> building codes, there were things that weren't up to current code, systems 
> that were being maintained, and so on. So they needed to update 
> facilities, bring everything up to code, replace systems that were being 
> nursed along and fixed as they broke, and so on. It was determined that it 
> would be less expensive to, therefore, do some renovations and add 
> features while upgrades were being made than it would be to go in and add 
> those things later. This makes a lot of sense, really. And additional 
> fundraising campaigns will be undertaken to offset some of those costs. 
> Moreover, while we're talking about a multi-million dollar upgrade (that 
> is, bringing all systems up to building code, replacing failing systems, 
> and doing all the other upgrades, like adding an escalator and what not), 
> it's a one-time improvement cost, with only ongoing maintenance to deal 
> with afterwards, probably maintenance similar to what would have to be 
> done regardless. Eighteen staff salaries would be ongoing and probably 
> come out of a different pot anyways (this would be speculation).
>
> Clear as mud?
> --
> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
> Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY
>
>
>
> On Apr 17, 2013, at 10:09 AM, Deanna Lewis <DLewis at clovernook.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi list,
>> I have heard of some very big changes in a couple of guide dog schools 
>> recently, and am a bit worried by it.
>> I know that two very well respected Guide Dog schools have had large 
>> staffing cuts recently. Both schools let go of trainers/field reps with 
>> years of experience. Also, both schools are also renovating their 
>> dormitories. I am wondering if there is a connection? And also I am 
>> worried that this may become a trend with the training programs? I hope 
>> not.
>> Do you know of any other schools who have done this recently?
>> What do y'all think?
>> I hope not to start a big debate, but I am just worried that many of the 
>> schools are headed towards being less client driven.
>>
>> Deanna and Pascal
>>
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>
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