[geeks] Goodbye, I guess

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:37:36 +0000
wa2egp at att.net wrote:

> Average salary can be misleading.  My district it is high because 80% of
> the teachers are on the top step.  The pay scale also affects it too.  Each
> district is different.

Average salary can be misleading all around.  

> I remember the strike in Middletown a few years ago.  It was health costs.
> They had increased $200k.  The union said they would absorb $180K of it.
> The board said no and there was a strike.  Teachers were put in jail. All
> over $20K in a district whose cheapest house was $350K

That is pretty bad, but not unexpected.  We've had budget fights locally
where the meetings cost more than what was being debated, and heaven forbid
they decide to do a "study" on it.

> You don't get paid when you are on strike.  At best, those days are called 
> "sick" days.  I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable amount of health care.
> Unfortunately, many districts want the teachers to pay ALL of their health
> care and I'll bet in some of them, people in central office have the system
> pay most of theirs.  Teachers are easy targets.

Sounds to me like teachers are finally starting to find themselves where
most people I know have been for nearly 30 years.

The people cutting my father's benefits all have fully paid insurance plans.
My father was a cop for 31 years, and despite the high job risk, made less
than most teachers and had to pay most of his health care to boot.

Not that I don't feel for anyone losing medical benefits, but I don't see
teachers as easy targets, rather I see them as some of the only targets left
to steal from.

Most people lost such benefits a long time ago.



-- 
shannon           | Castles are sacked in war, Chieftains are scattered far, 
                  | Truth is a fixed star, Eileen aroon! 
                  |         -- Gerald Griffin