Mamaroneck School District says No to Teacher Concessions
Dear Dr. Fried and Mamk School Board members:
Bravo for not accepting the MTA’s empty gesture of concession.
Union members have to wake up and realize this is a different century, and 5% raises, free health care and full pensions are squeezing the taxpayers dry.
Regards,
Catherine Wachs
from the Mamaroneck School District, April 15:
MAMARONECK, NY, April 15 — After thoughtful consideration, Mamaroneck Schools today said it did not accept the Mamaroneck Teachers Association (MTA) proposal to take a salary freeze for the first three months of the 2010-2011 school year in exchange for a full two-year contract extension that would result in annual teacher raises averaging more than 5 % through 2013 under essentially identical contract terms teachers have today. District projections show that these teacher concessions, if accepted, would cause the tax rate to increase more than eight percent for each of the two contract extension years.
What a bold move from the Teachers Union! I hope our new superintendent can come up with a model similiar to Washington DC’s which encourages and compensates teachers NOT to be a part of the union. I believe Florida’s recent decision to completly do away with Teachers Unions is the way this country must go and wish that NY could be on the early end of that trend. We as taxpayers have to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Unfortunately, the union does not seem to be able to protect its’ employees and the community and schools that those employees work in. Maybe we should introduce town unions that serve to protect individual towns and their residents.
[quote]If we don’t all hang together, then surely, we shall all hang separately.
– Benjamin Franklin[/quote]
[b]NO! – The Vote.[/b] – The community will respond to the school budget.
Now a NO VOTE is an even more necessary action by the community – to support education and our community.
The playing field must be leveled (pun intended) as the Union clearly has [u]not[/u] put either education or the students or the community of neighbors first, and has not even put any of those near the front of the line.
‘Members First’ and ‘Members Only’ has come to the end of the (picket) line.
May 18th, the community carries a ‘sign’ – [b]’Vote No'[/b].
Couldn’t agree more. I have written to the board with my congratulations. This is a budget worthy of passage. The board has been very responsible and all the meetings and input paid off.
That said, the salad days of unions must be stopped. The teachers’ contracts are strangling the taxpayers.
While I cannot blame a person for maximizing their income, it’s time to put a stop to automatic raises, free benefits and full pensions. The taxpayers must insist that union members pay (at least a portion) for benefits like the rest of us. My health care bill alone is $1500/month. And I am fortunate to even get insurance as a small business owner.
Does this make me a tea partyer?
Why should we expect Dr fried to get us out of this mess when clearly he is part of the problem?
I realize it is perfectly legal for him to retire with full benefits (possibly over $200,000 a year) but is it ethical and sustainable for the tax payers to pay these benefits while Dr Fried goes to NJ to perform the same job and thus double dip? It seams to be an act of bad faith and a symbol of the many problems facing our public schools.
I assume that the above article is a misprint–it says that the Mamaroneck Teachers’ Union expects annual 5% salary increases! That cannot be correct–what School Board of even minimal competence would have agreed to such outlandish increases?
Moreover, that would be for people who work less than 40 weeks and year, many of whom make over $100,000.
If our teachers really think that 5% annual increases are in the cards it is time for them to be educated, by us, the people who employ them.
Hopefully our new Superintendent, and, especially, our School Board will have the guts to take a firm stand when the next contract is negotiated–no more raises, repeat, NO more raises, until Mamaroneck salaries are no higher than Westchester’s median, teachers contribute to health care just like the rest of us do, etc.
Think the teachers will all quit? They’d lose tenure if they did, so they won’t. Even if some did Mamaroneck, because of the quality of not only our schools but also our students and their parents, would have no trouble attracting new, top-quality teachers.
Teachers are very important, to our children and our world, but enough is enough.
For all of you that would like to see teacher’s salaries reduced remember why you moved to Larchmont/ Mamaroneck to begin with. I am a parent of a student at Central and the work that they do is very important. The free market does not stop at the school house door. If we want qualified professionals working in our districts then we must remember that we must compensate them. Did any of you bother to read the response by the Union to the Superintendant’s letter? The union actually consented more than that was required. I understand that times are hard but we must not turn on the teachers. They have a hard enough job as it is. If you don’t like to pay taxes for schools move to Yonkers or Portchester and put your kids in those schools. Attracting the best teachers means higher compensation. And if you think that being a teacher is so easy try doing it yourself!
Mamaroneck UNION FREE School District.
[quote][i]Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.[/i] – Tai Shang Kan Ying P’Ien[/quote]
[i]’Ridiculous'[/i], ridiculous!
Those who have moved to a community to use its schools and then to leave are part of a Ponzi scheme which communities cannot afford. Hopefully, you’ve moved to our community to help your neighbors build a stronger community. All are entitled to education. More money does not necessarily provide better education nor does it entitle one to better education.
[url]http://blog.ted.com/2009/07/dan_pink_at_ted.php[/url]
I moved here for the schools when only having one child. Now I have three. All love Mamaroenck Schools and their teachers. My wife and I knew of the expense to live in Mamaroneck, Scarsdale, Rye… We chose Mamaroneck, and we hope to remain here.
I believe the median income for Mamaroneck is in the neighborhood of $81,000. Larchmont’s is estimated to be between $121,000 and $140,000. Dare a teacher fall into that pay scale?
These teachers earn their pay; I know I could not deal with the pressure of teaching at all…let alone children of some of the contributors of this blog. How can we judge them when the BOE cut off negotiations with the MTA? Negotiations that began with a $650,000.00 give back. Rumor has it that the MTA would have given more for less of a contract extension. Now we will never know because the BOE and the superintendent crucified the MTA in the press. Way to go Central Administration! Thanks for letting the community know that you are the parent of a completely dysfunctional family. Get back to the table, apologize to the MTA and the community and start negotiating again. You are already destroying the teachers’ reputations; are you going to destroy the schools’ next?
Anything’s possible, ‘are we going crazy’. You moved here for the schools. You believe the median income is $81,000 Mamaroneck and $121,000-$140,000 in Larchmont. You chose Mamaroneck. The annual cost of three children in the District Schools is approximate $75,000.
So how much are your school taxes? If your school taxes are less than $75,000/year, where do expect the rest of the money to come from at current costs? Where do you expect the money to come from for what you propose to change? Shall we just send you a bill? Have we gone crazy enough to expect the money to fall from the sky? Or perhaps we just don’t teach basic arithemetic. Isn’t this what got us into the current economic mess?
AP, I am so confused by your response. What change have I suggested, other than urging the BOE and MTA to get back to the table to lower our tax increase? Why are public employees the scapegoats for our problems today?
To answer your question, what got us into the current economic mess in the first place?
Here is a short list…
1. Hedge Funds
2. Gambling with people’s retirement
3. Risky stock market investments
4. No regulation of derivatives
5. The collapse of the housing market
…
Sorry ‘AWAGC’, you are confused. Big words don’t solve simple equations. While you can put all the blame on your short list, what enabled your short list was people. People as individuals, people in companies, and people in government – spending more money than they had or could reasonably expect to pay in the future, and without regard for the risk.
You propose to repeat, with some formula that does not reduce staff compensation or headcount but theoretically that would reduce tax revenue. Tthe biggest component of the schoold budget is related to compensation (and of course future compensation related obligations). Ah, the wonders of that new math that has never been proven to work. But we can always blame someone else for the problem and leave them to solve it 🙂
Good luck!