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Teacher Raises Demonstrate Appreciation, Character

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

This letter is in regard to the Wednesday, June 25, article titled, "Teacher raises spark discussion among board."

Several things about this article really need to be addressed. Once again, when it comes time to discuss budget issues, it is the teachers - the ones forced to do all of the grunt work - who are the ones forced to just sit back, let the school board decide their financial fate and simply accept whatever proposal they feel the teachers of this county deserve.

Teachers are told by Board member Pat Fagan to "look at the reality" of the situation, that they must "work with us."

Wait a minute. Expect the teachers to work with the same school board who caved in the superintendent who asked for a 14 percent raise (initially) and gave him an extension on his contract to include an increase in the amount he receives for gas? Expect the employees to work with them when many teachers and administrators have been reassigned to positions which they never asked for or were hired for by that very same superintendent? Work with the same board that voted to keep a superintendent whose reorganization plans resulted in a pay cut of more than $3,500 for one teacher? That same teacher for the last two years took on an extra class to make ends meet. Now, his school is being forced to move from seven periods a day to eight. The result: No more extra classes, which amounts to a $3,500 cut for the coming year. But that teacher is expected to, as Pat Fagan says, "work with us."

Let's just hope that insurance premiums do not go up next year. The step increase that board wants employees to accept would not even come close to covering those increases or the cost of living, such as food and gas.

It is easy for board members to say they want to wait until Tallahassee releases the amounts per pupil spending in October. Their salaries are already done, and they don't face the prospect of being forced to switch jobs. Meanwhile, school employees are expected to work for three months at last year's wages with no guarantee that any raise will be retroactive. "Work with us," they say.

Where is the incentive to do so? Actions speak louder than words.

It is time for school board members to show their true character. They say employees are the backbone of the school district. Now it is time to put the money where their mouths are by giving them the raises they have worked so hard for over the last several years. And not just a token raise, not just a step increase, but one that will actually make a difference.

True, times are tough but, as one board member pointed out, you can help that situation by giving the employees of the largest employer in the area more money to spend. This, in turn, helps the economy. As one teacher I know tells his students, in times of recession, money needs to be spent to lift the economy out of those times.

In reality, this is more than trying to help with the tough times. This is about showing employees that you really do appreciate the hard work and dedication they demonstrate on a daily basis. This is about character.

Shane Sullivan

Spring Hill

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