Poll Detail
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Do you think local teachers unions should make more concessions to help keep school taxes down?
Yes
66%
No
34%
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Member Comments
View Comments: | 1-23 | Post a comment
| OldJoe | |
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05-04-08 11:20 AM
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thank goodness
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| livehereworkhere | |
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05-03-08 8:14 PM
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I rest my case.
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| OldJoe | |
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05-03-08 3:16 PM
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I am content with what the Lord provides to me. I feel pity for those who constantly want more. Men work, for the Lord calls us to do so, and if I work hard I may be provided more. But it could be less. Our family values mean that we choose to teach wherever and whenever we can. I’m sure if you attended public schools you will realize that a very small amount of time was actual –ding light bulb just came on- learning. Instead it was shuffling here and there turning in homework, and raising your hand to prove you are there. Babysitting. Test-teaching. Study?hall. Home?room. Gym? Sure monopolies/unions are great, good job protection, better pay. Look at the oil company monopolies/unions: good money, good jobs. But there’s a slight payment that tends to always go up. Don’t believe? Look at the numbers above the pumps at Stewarts. A slight parallel with school taxes and teacher’s pay. The gas doesn’t get better, neither do the teachers. Why pay more? Oooh cause there are more welfare kids
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| livehereworkhere | |
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05-03-08 9:39 AM
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Oldjoe I applaud you for home schooling your children and the fact that you have a DNR but the truth of the matter is not everyone in this district can home school and me personally I have not signed a DNR on myself yet. My work schedule also apparently does not look like yours. And have you driven down Main Street lately some of the folks that live here do not even know how to work a comb (which probably should have been taught at home) and your solution is to let these people teach their children. Now to address the GREED comment. Who (with exception to you) does not want higher pay for the work they do. You have to fight for higher pay just to keep up with inflation. The unions are not just a school district entity. The unions have helped a good number of people get better pay and Job protection. Oh and wanting to save money and cut teaching jobs and programs does sound a little greedy. But then again who cares about the masses.
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| OldJoe | |
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05-02-08 11:20 PM
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Well,,, ALL the people who teach our kids in this district did NOT go to college, for example, those who home school. Also substitutes, assistants, janitors (yes a child can learn from a janitor.) I doubt you can prove that all teachers accrued debt when obtaining their education. As for someone saving my life, that’s the Lord’s choice, not any persons and he will use my death for his own good plans. I agree, give the best to the child’s education and that’s why we home school. Since I don’t get pay for my work, I say I should have to barely pay taxes for something I barely use. Tho that’s not the point of this poll. My opinion still stands, teachers unions are monopolies and drive costs thru the roof. I have nothing against many teachers except the universal –GREED- don’t tell me they don’t want more all the time, and will go out of their way to say how they are under funded and over worked. Even to the point of moaning how they use their personal monies for supplies.
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| livehereworkhere | |
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05-02-08 5:07 PM
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OldJoe, it sounds to me like you have a personal vendetta against the folks who educate our kids. These folks work for there pay checks just like me and you but they do it with their brains and not with their backs. Do you have any kids in the district because if you did you would see that their classmates are not all as fortunate. The teachers in our district all went to college and with that accrued debt. Yes that was their choice. But maybe it was so that they could make a difference in our community. It’s these same people who got me through some rough spots when I was a kid. If they were working for a paycheck and time off they would have been better off getting an MBA which on average starts about $30,000 more then they make starting and the debt accrued would have been the same. You never know OldJoe one day it maybe one of these kids saving your life so in my opinion give them the best teachers money can buy.
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| OldJoe | |
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05-02-08 4:45 AM
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Teachers do not HAVE to spend their own money on school supplies. Teachers could choose to ration their money so they have money thru the summer and –get paid-. Teachers may or may not get –laid off- in the summer but I bet they have healthcare thru that time, so are they really not working? The teachers are at fault here for creating/joining unions which monopolize the school systems. As for “the people” being customers, when you force me to pay for something with a threat of jail, I’m not a customer, I’m being raped. Don’t like the service? Don’t pay. Oh and don’t drop the soap!
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| livehereworkhere | |
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05-01-08 10:03 PM
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Alex maybe you can enlighten us all to your comment with regard to the super or is this just a slam against Italians please comment.
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| Alexander | |
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05-01-08 7:04 PM
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Absoloutly not,However our adminastrators should make concessions.We also need justice to be served on false Rob delili.A saudi with a stolon american identity.
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| OldLeatherhead | |
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05-01-08 12:59 PM
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Zeus77, Everyone has choices. You yourself chose to post an ignorant, uninformed opinion. I respect that. I am choosing to respond with wit and sarcasm. That is my choice as well. Don’t fault someone for choosing to become a teacher. As you are aware, (or maybe you’re not) the teacher’s agreed to pay an additional 4% on their health insurance. That is extra money taken out of their paycheck. In essence, they took a pay cut. Their boss (the superintendent) asked them to take a cut in pay to help resolve budget issues in order to save money for the taxpayers of G’ville. Do you understand that? What would you do if you went to work and your boss asked you to take a cut in pay so he could lower the cost, to the customers, for the goods his company was producing? Would you be as giving? The teacher’s deserve a round of applause for their actions, not criticism from you or a newspaper with a poll question such as this. Once again, the Leader Herald has shown it’s true col
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| livehereworkhere | |
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05-01-08 10:47 AM
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Here is a poll question I'd like to see. "Should the Leader Heralds Editor make a concession everytime my paper boy misses my house?"
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| usedtolivethere | |
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05-01-08 9:45 AM
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zeus...first of all, teachers do not get time off with pay...they are 10 month employees and get "laid off" for the summer. Unlike construction workers, they can't draw unemployment. Second, many of them work many extra hours beyond what their contract calls for. As for knowing what the benefits were, you are right, but the benefits have changed and not to the teachers' advantage. More of their salaries are chewed up by increased benefit contributions over what they were when they made this "decision". And finally, do you have any idea what a Bachelors plus a Master degree costs? These people do not do what they do for the "time off". You sound like someone who is very jealous of teachers while not having a clue as to what being a teacher entails.
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| zeus77 | |
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05-01-08 8:23 AM
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Rocky, You forget that the teachers made the decision to be teachers. They knew when they decided to be teachers what the job was and what the pay and benefits would be. But in my opinion they just wanted to work only about half the year and get a full years pay for it, then the teachers have more time off with pay than any other occupation, why?
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| justforfun | |
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04-30-08 3:00 PM
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Many good points....Floridian is right on the money--no pun intended. The Gov't has set a very poor system which 'sticks it' to the local folks while all the mandates (change) comes from the Gov't (not administrators). Hats off to teachers and admins for ponying up additional contract guarenteed premium amounts. Thanks for making the sting a bit less painful. SCREAMING SHOULD BE AIMED AT ALBANY AND DC.....Period.
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| Adirondackal | |
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04-26-08 5:03 PM
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The issue that needs to be addressed is not the existing wage structure but rather the obvious conflict of interest when family members of school district employees are voting members of school boards and the funding of school districts by property taxes. My personal belief is not that teachers here are overpaid but rather that other union represented employees in the school districts and other entities are underpaid.
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| usedtolivethere | |
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04-26-08 9:34 AM
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Looking at the poll results, it appears that those who think the teachers should give back more are not posting comments. The backbone of any educational system is the teachers. We should give them more instead of less thereby encouraging those that are there to stay and those that are not here, but qualified, to enter the field and earn a decent wage.
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| Annarondac | |
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04-25-08 6:42 PM
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Floridian, you are so right. In college, my books were way over priced. Why? No competition.
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| rsoxfan33 | |
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04-25-08 2:46 PM
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maybe it's time for high priced adminstration to give back some of their bloated paychecks..teachers earned their contract and it shouldn't be re-hashed..
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| SNOWGRINCH | |
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04-25-08 2:36 PM
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The teachers union increased its health premium from 16 percent, to 20 percent. I think the teachers should be commended for this action, not insulted by asking them to give even more. The teachers did their part… now its up to the administration to find other ways to creatively cut the budget while maintaining services.
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| bigtrucker | |
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04-25-08 1:40 PM
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What should be cut is some of the TOO MANY sports programs. The cost of coaches, unforms, other equipment, transportation etc. would more than make up the 1/2 million needed to be cut from the budget. The students need to spend more time in the classroom and less playing with a ball. It isn't the teacher's fault the kid isn't learning. Maybe the lack of a sports program would give students more time and energy to learn what is needed to make it in a job. No, I am not a teacher. But since I have lived in this community, I have noticed parents like to blame the teachers rather than take responsibility themselves. Also, the adminstration seems to be changing what is taught all the time rather than staying with what works. Continuity is the key to success. Apparently, the adminstration was too busy doing sports to learn that.
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| areyouthinking | |
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04-25-08 1:23 PM
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The majority of teachers live here and pay the same taxes. This question makes it seem like the budget is the teachers'resposibility. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Yes, districts must cut back, but serious consideration needs to be given to the sports departments. Do school districts really need a head football coach and 8 paid assistants? Do the teams really need new uniforms every year? Not every student benefits from playing sports, but ALL students do have the opportunity to get an education.
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| rocky1 | |
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04-25-08 1:10 PM
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Floridian, Be still my heart. You are so right on. I am tired of kids being taught the test, but can't read or do a simple math problem. Teachers already makes to many concessions and they buy supplies out of their tawdry paychecks, so why should they do more? As an example, look at the pilot's union and the pilots giving back to the airlines, but when profits reach billion dollar, the pilots are fogotten and the CEO's gets the benefits. Will the teachers ever be reminded of what they gave up? Yes, when they are expected to make even more concessions.
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| Floridian | |
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04-25-08 12:28 PM
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If you want the school districts to cut back, they need to be taken back from the political system. Thomas Dewey founded American education and must be rolling over in his grave. Can anyone explain how politicians make better educational decisions than educators? Our system of "free education" has been taken over by all of the companies that prosper by selling educational materials. If that isn't a conflict of interest, nothing is. Put the power back in the hands of the educators, and you will see the cost of education take a huge nose-dive. Educators will once again teach the student, who comes at a minimal cost, instead of having to teach the test, which comes with an astronimical price tag. Let those that teach, teach, and let those that pass laws, pass laws, but never let the 2 meet again.
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