Posted on 01/22/2005 7:19:22 PM PST by Born Conservative
The union representative is angry about publication of salary, reimbursements and sick days amid contract talks.
WRIGHT TWP. - Every Crestwood teacher's salary, tuition reimbursements and related pay hikes, plus accrued sick days will soon debut on the school district's Web site.
School board member Gene Mancini Jr. said it's a way to inform the public as contract negotiations continue, but union representative John Holland called the move "offensive and irresponsible."
"It's the public's right to know," said Mancini, who serves on the contract negotiation team. He said the board held a public session in November and next week's planned release of salary and benefit information is a continuation of that.
Holland said school board President Bill Jones and the "other clowns" on the board need to stop playing political games.
"They can put whatever spin they want on it," said Holland, an attorney with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. He said the board is doing a great disservice by trying to generate public sentiment against teachers.
"It tends to make people disrespectful of the teachers," Holland said. He said the teachers' salaries are reasonable given the number of years they have worked at Crestwood.
"The numbers are staggering," said Mancini of teachers' salaries and health benefit amounts. The 2004-2005 spreadsheet the school district compiled lists 27 teachers being paid the top annual salary of $71,408. The district pays more than $14,000 annually for some teachers' health benefits.
Lesser paid teachers received $25,854 a year and some health benefits cost the school district $5,200 annually.
The information lists one teacher's salary increase of $20,000 for additional academic credits and another teacher as having accrued $11,970 worth of sick days at $35 per day.
Holland, the PSEA attorney, acknowledged that some information the district plans to release is public, but if it is releasing information on accrued sick days, people can easily determine what teachers have been sick based on the 10 allotted sick days per year.
Holland cited the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability or HIPAA act that safeguards medical information. "They can proceed at their own risk."
He noted that the district and the Crestwood Education Association are entering the fact-finding stage of negotiations. The state Labor Relations Board on Tuesday assigned fact-finder Alex Kaschock, who has 40 days to issue non-binding recommendations.
"Let the process work," Holland said Friday. He said this is not the time for the district to post teacher information on its Web site.
School district Solicitor Jack Dean said members of the public have requested the information and now they will be able to determine the financial impact of the proposed contracts.
The district Web site already contains a side-by-side comparison of the union and district collective bargaining proposals, the millage impact and the district's last offer on Nov. 9, before the strike.
The school district's 160 teachers, librarians and some other employees are working under the terms of their old contract, which expired in August 2002.
Excellant point. Let's support great teachers yet keep vigilant about the idiocy of the teacher unions.
"Oh no, lets not hold teachers accountable."
I know what you mean. However, accountability should run in tandem with authority. Teachers, for example, do not have the authority to do what is necessary to force discipline. Further, the Boards of Education fold at the first sign that a parent is going to sue because the parent's precious thug of a child is going to be disciplined.
Until the teachers have both the repsonsibility and authority, it will be difficult, realistically, to hold them accountable.
In addition, the schools are requiring her to pay several thousand dollars for additional classes that do nothing to improve the quality of teaching. The money, however, does enrich the local state universities.
Good teachers are held back by lousy administrators and stupid union leaders. Granted, there are some rotten teachers who don't deserve any of the pay they get, but one must be careful about lumping them all public school teachers into the same group.
SOOO FRIGGGIN' WHAT????!!!! I work in the computer industry. NO ONE pays for our time to keep current on the latest languages, programs, etc. That amounts to THOUSANDS of dollars a year.
If I need manuals, supplies, etc., I PAY FOR THEM MYSELF!!!
...I am SOOO TIRED of you WHINERS!!!!
Their union absolutely INSISTS that we lump them together.
If the teachers can't control their oun union, don't blames us poor saps who are forced, almost at gunpoint, to send them money.
you said it
This is true at the college level too, only much worse. The excuse is that the sports teams bring in lots of money to the school. But since a good chunk of that is spent on the sports program, that doesn't wash.
Git yer kids out of publik skools.
Teddy Kennedy wrote the "No Child Left Behind" bill, honey.
...well...I guess you'd be in the same boat as the rest of us. I had breast cancer at 26....I have managed to stay employed.
Exactly, ever government employee, except for teachers, salaries are public knowledge. Look at the GS schedules or huorly rates tables.
If public money is used, it would have to be fully disclosed. I don't see how they get around it. As for Band Teachers, mine was second in salary, with the Superintendent only, above him.
Can/do teachers deduct their expenses? Many jobs require some expenditure by the employee. Uniforms, tools, etc. Do you think that kid that was paid $8/hr to help build your new house was furnished a hammer by his employer? Probably not.
If $9,000/child/year doesn't teach 'em, they're going in the wrong direction. In Indiana, Mitch Daniels put a freeze on building to re-examine the bloated cost/sq. ft.(thank you unions).
Of course, the University coaches were at the top, then all the docs at U of I hospital. Many of my neighbors work for the nearby state DOT headquarters, and at Iowa State University. Kinda interesting to know what the neighbors are bringing home......
In Illinois, where public school teacher salaries are exceptionally high, there was a study showing that nearly 85% of every increase in school spending goes straight to existing teacher and administrator salaries. Their pension plans are amazingly generous also. All for a job with very little accountability. There has also been a study that showed education majors have the lowest entering SAT scores of any other majors at most colleges. We are paying a lot and getting very little in return.
Well, become a teacher then.
In Georgia they have a fast-track program for people who already have at least a bachelors degree but haven't taken any education courses.
One reason I don't much respect public school teachers.
Seriously? When I worked in industry, the company supplied all that.
At our school, we have to sign in. One year the board decided to make us sign out as well.
That lasted maybe 3 days, until someone pointed out to them that by law, if they made us sign in and out, they had to pay us for any overtime worked.
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