POBTeachers, this is what your employers are saying...

Last I checked, much of your taxes go toward paying for teacher's salaries; this is what you all had to say about your employees......

September 24, 2009 10:05 AM

Anonymous said...

What was explained at the BOE meeting was that the teachers ARE getting raises by being there another year - it's built in - called steps.

Each step has an increase. The contract would raises would raise the amounts set for those steps.

It was pointed out in the presentation that for some steps, over two years, the rate of salary increase was 8%.

That is without anything additional being added to the table.

September 24, 2009 10:14 AM

Anonymous said...

The union is unbelievable! They are holding the children hostage. Every community member should let the School Board know that they have our support!!

September 24, 2009 5:33 PM

Anonymous said...

The union needs to teach and cut it out NOW. Maybe when they have cut out the bullying and one sided-ness in the district, I will have a little sympathy.

September 24, 2009 9:31 PM

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should start by not posting things anonymously!

September 24, 2009 9:54 PM

Anonymous said...

Right, and have the teachers single out our children. Do you for one minute believe that that doesn't happen. Please their Union leader makes an announcement at the board meeting that teachers will be writing letters of rec. for college but when the kids ask the teachers they tell the kids when we have a contract! The Principal wants the parents to give him the name of teachers who say that, yeah sure so they can go back and mess with the kid who ratted them out. Tell the Board to stay the course, hell tell the board that the teachers deserve less!!!

September 25, 2009 12:07 AM

What do POB parents and taxpayers have to say....

Anonymous said...

The board needs to hold the dam back. It's good to find out that they have our best interests in mind. I only wish they had responded like my wife's boss did: "..sorry, no raises this year, the economy is really effecting our bottom line."

September 24, 2009 10:05 AM

Anonymous said...

What was explained at the BOE meeting was that the teachers ARE getting raises by being there another year - it's built in - called steps.

Each step has an increase. The contract would raises would raise the amounts set for those steps.

It was pointed out in the presentation that for some steps, over two years, the rate of salary increase was 8%.

That is without anything additional being added to the table.

September 24, 2009 10:14 AM

Anonymous said...

The union is unbelievable! They are holding the children hostage. Every community member should let the School Board know that they have our support!!

September 24, 2009 5:33 PM

Anonymous said...

The union needs to teach and cut it out NOW. Maybe when they have cut out the bullying and one sided-ness in the district, I will have a little sympathy.

September 24, 2009 9:31 PM

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should start by not posting things anonymously!

September 24, 2009 9:54 PM

Anonymous said...

Right, and have the teachers single out our children. Do you for one minute believe that that doesn't happen. Please their Union leader makes an announcement at the board meeting that teachers will be writing letters of rec. for college but when the kids ask the teachers they tell the kids when we have a contract! The Principal wants the parents to give him the name of teachers who say that, yeah sure so they can go back and mess with the kid who ratted them out. Tell the Board to stay the course, hell tell the board that the teachers deserve less!!!

September 25, 2009 12:07 AM

You weren't there? -The Board meeting. The Facts...

Dear Fellow Plainview residents.

My name is John Girschick. Last Monday I attended the Board of education meeting at the high school. The purpose of this email is simply to inform parents of the recent events of our school district and not to cause a panic. The main topic of the meeting was about the teachers’ contract that has not been settled yet. The school’s attorney presented the board with a power point presentation of the schools finances with regard to the current labor costs that the school currently maintains. Mr Guercio stated that the school received a letter from the New York State department of Education regarding the teachers retirement system and the significant increases that our district will be required to pay in the coming years due to the losses on the pension plan in the stock market. As Mr. Guercio stated “ In addition to the pension increases we will be losing $1.6 million in stimulus money next year”. He continued to say” that with our current employee payroll, the increased cost of the pension plan , and the loss of the stimulus money next year that we could be looking at a $5 million deficit in our budget in 2 years”. This figure is without any consideration for any raises for the teachers. Mr. Guercio continued with the estimate that if we were to agree with the teachers union on what they would like in the next contract then that deficit would rise to $8 million dollars. Like the teachers I am also a member of union and agree that people deserve a fair days pay for fair days work. At the meeting the teachers union president Morty Rosenfeld spoke and told the school board that they should be embarrassed for not coming to contract with the teachers. Board members have nothing to be embarrassed about! I have always been fully supportive of our teachers. Unfortunately our school taxes continue to rise considerably year after year. As I have stated before, my only intent with this letter is to inform residents of the current situation that we are in with regard to our school district and not to cause any panic. I am hoping that this letter will encourage residents to become more informed with regard to the current status of our school district. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

John Girschick

Applause for POB Board, Embarrassed for the Union

This came in today, it has been making the rounds.... Yeah Plainview, Yeah Patrice and David!! I applaud you.

Dear Mrs. Weinstein and the POBCSD Board of Education,

Having spent a sleepless night last night after attending the Board of Education meeting, I felt I needed to express my thanks to you and to the rest of the school board for standing up to the PCT union and not giving into their current contract demands.

In today's economy, I just cannot understand how anyone who gets guaranteed pension returns can also demand pay increases from the residents of Plainview and Old Bethpage who are struggling just to make ends meet. I don't know anyone who has not had to make a sacrifice in salary, benefits and even working hours in order to keep their jobs if, in fact, they still have a job to keep. Most of us would like to still have a pension fund, let alone being guaranteed rates of return on it.

My husband and I both work in the healthcare field where pay raises have not been given for more than 3 years. In addition, one of the strongest unions in the nation, Healthcare Workers Local 1199, recently renegotiated their 3% raise down to 0% in an effort to help keep healthcare facilities operating - and keep their jobs.

With everyone pitching in and making sacrifices, I just can't fathom how our teacher's union can't realize that although we have supported them in the past, continue to support them now and do appreciate everything that they do for our children, we just don't have the money at present to give to them. Not when we need to feed and cloth our children and keep a roof over their heads. This has nothing to do with the union "not losing any ground" in relation to the other school districts and what other teachers are earning in those school district - it has to do with the fact that we just cannot afford to give them a raise.

Am I embarrased (as Morty Rosenfled suggested we feel) by the Board's attempt to make the the union feel guilty for asking for a raise in addition to the mandated pension rate increases that they will automatically get? Absolutely not; I applaud you.

In retrospect, I am sorry that I did not get up last night to say thanks to all of you during the meeting, but I am saying it now.

Thank you. And keep up the great work.


Respectfully,
Patrice and David
Plainview, NY 11803

POB Teachers lose touch with reality.

You have all seen the diagrams of the increase in unemployment. We all know the talking heads tell us it isn't going to get better soon. We all know one of more people that have been laid off. We have all seen the stats on the direction of the economy. It ain't in an upward swing, that is for sure. Plainview blocks are littered with, " for sale" signs that don't seem to be being taken down. Last I asked anyone that had the nerve to ask for a raise in this economy and actually got one, took anything that was offered; they certainly weren't in the position to bargain, no matter how hard they worked at their job, or how many educationally related job conferences they went to. In this economy that type of activity is going on JUST to keep their jobs, forget about additional monies. Few of my friends got bonuses this last year, none of them got raises, and everyone who has a job, any job, is grateful to have one and is watching their backs everyday.

Except of course the teachers of Plainview.

They work about 180 days a year, have essentially guaranteed employment for their working life, are contractually guaranteed (have built in raises yearly regardless of whether a contract is signed or not) raises, and are not only dismissive of the (additional) raises that the board has countered with , they are annoyed and arguing and making their case for why they are so terrific and why they should get higher raises. The people that I know who go to work, get there before 9 am, work til five or six, and then often work weekends, or after dinner if they have to. Whatever it takes to get the job done. There are no raises for that; that is what keeping a job is like. If they don't like the money they make here, this is a free economy, go get a job in Jericho, or Great Neck.

The only offer that I would make them is that when parents no longer have to shell out thousands of dollars for Kumon and tutoring, (on top of their already ridiculous taxes), then the teachers should be considered for a raise.
I understand they are bragging about the last set of "higher" scores that were achieved in Plainview because of their hard work. That would be the standard that they should have been achieving all along, isn't it? (perhaps the tax payers are due a refund for the shoddy past performance).

From my point of view, Plainview teachers and their union are out of touch with the Economy, the Residents of Plainview, and Reality.