October 2006
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to express my disappointment in the Nazareth Board Members, most notably Mr. Keller. As you are aware, at the last meeting of the school board a number of parents and teachers attended to express their concerns about the current contract offer from the board. The teachers would just like their salaries to be in line with the neighboring districts. The dollar value needed to meet this need would be less than $1.00 per household in the district. After many impassioned pleas from both teachers and parents, Mr. Keller stated that the offer stood. He did not even want to take the time to consider the requests placed before him.
Many of the people who have moved to Nazareth Nazareth Nazareth
Helen Edwards
1 comment:
What do the teacher's want?
The statement that they want to be paid the same as surrounding districts keeps being repeated. Where is the request for a school day that is as long as those of surrounding districts as we have just about the shortest in the area. The school day information is easily available on any of the other districts web sites.
On an hourly basis, there is almost no difference in what our teachers make compared to other districts. If we increase our school day, then I will start to buy that argument.
I have reviewed the benefits package, and it is better than most people have and includes coverage that a lot of companies are taking away (dental, vision). As for out of pocket expenses going up, that is just life. It happens to the rest of us, why not teachers as well?
The teachers talk about their proposal being rejected by the board. What is it? What are the specifics? Why won't they tell the public what their demands are?
As for the school board, I agree, they don't always seem to be serving the public, but themselves. However, as they are elected officials, there is some process that exists that can be used to remove them from their position. If there is that strong of a dislike for them, start the process and get them out of there.
Blind support of teachers is not the right answer, nor is blind support for the school board/district administration.
There are basic facts that we have learned, many of them right here on this site.
When you pull them all together, apply some basic analytics, our teachers salaries are not much different than surrounding districts if you break it down to an hourly rate comparison (apples to apples), their benefits are some of the best I have ever seen.
So, I will keep asking, especially to the teachers that read and have posted to this site.
What do you want?
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