Cretans, Cronies and Credentials: Hired Education and the Public Trough
Thanks to the Ghost of Norman Meyers for bringing the Post-Dispatch article c0ncerning, the Grand Master of the Ort-ian Order, Mark Downstown Brown and his latest shenanigans to muck-up the St. Charles Police Department.
(You may find the full story in Norman's contribution to the Foresaken Four post.)
According to the story, Downstown Brown hired a police chief with no experience or credentials outside of winning election for St. Charles County Deputy Sherriff. Let that be a lesson to those advocating Overland return to electing the Chief of Police.
As Mayor Ann Purzner will attest, lacking or faking credentials does not rule-out running for elected office. Somehow Downstown Brown was able to disregard the job qualifications for the St. Charles Police Chief position when hiring Mr. Swope. The job requires, REQUIRES, the candidate to have a Masters Degree. Well not really. Credentials are not necessary when living in Downstown Brown's hip pocket.
I must give some credit to Mr. Swopes and Downstown Brown here. At least they didn't do something so god aweful stupid as providing fraudulent credentials. Only an absolute cretan would promote themselves through fraudulently pretending to have gone to college or creating fake diplomas. So I must commend Mr. Swope for having the fortitude to stand on his own credentials. Swopes doesn't even have a Bachelor's degree. But, I am sure St. Charles West High has a great criminology department.
Having hired the new chief, Downstown Brown now wants to send him to college. Not continuing education or certification. Not even sending him for FBI training as Chief Herron has completed. I am not sure but would that make Swope the first person in Downstown Browns family to attend college? Downstown Brown and Mr. Swope are a couple of real Horatio Algers.
Better yet, the program is not tuition reimbursal as is the convention, it is a direct outlay into his regular $100k+ salary. Yepper! Cha-Ching. $11,000.00 annual subsidy drops right to the bottom-line. No one ever said being a Downstown Crony wasn't lucrative.
But the "send my buddy to college" program does have some tough criteria that must be maintained. Mr. Swopes must maintain a B average. A F'n B average! WtF! I knew part-time students (meaning full-time students only attending classes part of the time) to pull a B average.
What is noticably missing to me is any criteria addressing the number of hours the candidate must be enrolled in to get the full subsidy. As in saying the reimbursal would cover education costs up-to $11,000.00 per year. That type of requirement would put the program in a broader context professional administration which is the wrong type of thinking on my part. I must remember it is not the education that matters, it is the payoff. There is no mention of the number hours required to earn the subsidy. Does the candidate get the full $11,000 if enrolled in 3 hours? Intuition and history tells me yes.
Assuming the best case scenario, if Swopes attended an accredited university in the past he could transfer at most 60 hours leaving another 60 hours to earn degree. A full-time student graduating on-time enrolls in 5 courses per semester, 3 hours per course resulting in 15 hours per semester. Best case scenario would have Swopes graduating in two years provided he takes a full load of courses. For every hour of course work you should assume 2 hours for homework thereby reaching a 45 hour work week for a full-time student.
Which begs the question, who is going to be serving as chief of police if the actual chief is going to be in school for 45 hours a week? Won't the other officers be a bit pissed if their chief spent more time hanging with the coeds than at the Department? Therefore, I would bet Swopes isn't even planning to take a full load.
In terms of cost, the money seems about right for a full time student. Let us use UMSL tuition as an example. UMSL tuition and activity feel come to about $283.00/hour for in-state student. Annual tuition for full-time would come to roughly $8,500.00 leaving $2,500.00 for books. But does the candidate have to be enrolled full-time to get the subsidy? Of course not.
He will be getting the subsidy with taking 3 hours maybe 6 at most. At six hours a semester and assuming he can transfer 60 of the 120 needed, he will be going to college for about 10 years to get a bachelor's degree. $11,000.00/year multiplied by 10 years equals the most expensive bachelor's degree of all time! If he has not completed any courses, you can double the above figures.
Now on to the 60 additional hours he would need to earn Master's.....................
Also, don't forget that every other officer in the Department will only get a tuition reimbursal of $500.00 per year which doesn't even cover tuition for one class at UMSL. "off to class again Chief, boy that must be nice. Goodluck a-hole"
Why does it matter to us folks here in Overland? Is Mayor Con planning to finally attend the college she always wanted to on the public's dime. Is Downstown Brown trying to groom another hack replacement for Chief Herron?
(You may find the full story in Norman's contribution to the Foresaken Four post.)
According to the story, Downstown Brown hired a police chief with no experience or credentials outside of winning election for St. Charles County Deputy Sherriff. Let that be a lesson to those advocating Overland return to electing the Chief of Police.
As Mayor Ann Purzner will attest, lacking or faking credentials does not rule-out running for elected office. Somehow Downstown Brown was able to disregard the job qualifications for the St. Charles Police Chief position when hiring Mr. Swope. The job requires, REQUIRES, the candidate to have a Masters Degree. Well not really. Credentials are not necessary when living in Downstown Brown's hip pocket.
I must give some credit to Mr. Swopes and Downstown Brown here. At least they didn't do something so god aweful stupid as providing fraudulent credentials. Only an absolute cretan would promote themselves through fraudulently pretending to have gone to college or creating fake diplomas. So I must commend Mr. Swope for having the fortitude to stand on his own credentials. Swopes doesn't even have a Bachelor's degree. But, I am sure St. Charles West High has a great criminology department.
Having hired the new chief, Downstown Brown now wants to send him to college. Not continuing education or certification. Not even sending him for FBI training as Chief Herron has completed. I am not sure but would that make Swope the first person in Downstown Browns family to attend college? Downstown Brown and Mr. Swope are a couple of real Horatio Algers.
Better yet, the program is not tuition reimbursal as is the convention, it is a direct outlay into his regular $100k+ salary. Yepper! Cha-Ching. $11,000.00 annual subsidy drops right to the bottom-line. No one ever said being a Downstown Crony wasn't lucrative.
But the "send my buddy to college" program does have some tough criteria that must be maintained. Mr. Swopes must maintain a B average. A F'n B average! WtF! I knew part-time students (meaning full-time students only attending classes part of the time) to pull a B average.
What is noticably missing to me is any criteria addressing the number of hours the candidate must be enrolled in to get the full subsidy. As in saying the reimbursal would cover education costs up-to $11,000.00 per year. That type of requirement would put the program in a broader context professional administration which is the wrong type of thinking on my part. I must remember it is not the education that matters, it is the payoff. There is no mention of the number hours required to earn the subsidy. Does the candidate get the full $11,000 if enrolled in 3 hours? Intuition and history tells me yes.
Assuming the best case scenario, if Swopes attended an accredited university in the past he could transfer at most 60 hours leaving another 60 hours to earn degree. A full-time student graduating on-time enrolls in 5 courses per semester, 3 hours per course resulting in 15 hours per semester. Best case scenario would have Swopes graduating in two years provided he takes a full load of courses. For every hour of course work you should assume 2 hours for homework thereby reaching a 45 hour work week for a full-time student.
Which begs the question, who is going to be serving as chief of police if the actual chief is going to be in school for 45 hours a week? Won't the other officers be a bit pissed if their chief spent more time hanging with the coeds than at the Department? Therefore, I would bet Swopes isn't even planning to take a full load.
In terms of cost, the money seems about right for a full time student. Let us use UMSL tuition as an example. UMSL tuition and activity feel come to about $283.00/hour for in-state student. Annual tuition for full-time would come to roughly $8,500.00 leaving $2,500.00 for books. But does the candidate have to be enrolled full-time to get the subsidy? Of course not.
He will be getting the subsidy with taking 3 hours maybe 6 at most. At six hours a semester and assuming he can transfer 60 of the 120 needed, he will be going to college for about 10 years to get a bachelor's degree. $11,000.00/year multiplied by 10 years equals the most expensive bachelor's degree of all time! If he has not completed any courses, you can double the above figures.
Now on to the 60 additional hours he would need to earn Master's.....................
Also, don't forget that every other officer in the Department will only get a tuition reimbursal of $500.00 per year which doesn't even cover tuition for one class at UMSL. "off to class again Chief, boy that must be nice. Goodluck a-hole"
Why does it matter to us folks here in Overland? Is Mayor Con planning to finally attend the college she always wanted to on the public's dime. Is Downstown Brown trying to groom another hack replacement for Chief Herron?
posted by PTT at 8:32 AM
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