Response to Recent Letter to the Editor

I read a recent letter to the editor in our local paper, The Observer Dispatch. The writer seems to agree with recess being necessary. Unfortunately, the writer seems to be putting too much faith in the district to do what is best. She felt that Joann Ottman (who incidentally is making almost $96,000.00 a year to make a decision with no respect for the parental opinion) will really try to work something out. The writer also felt that it's good for Westmoreland to be in compliance with NYS mandates. I think we all agree, that yes, being in compliance is important. The problem lies within how the district CHOOSES to meet mandates. Westmoreland CHOSE the wrong solution. Did you know that the district decided to go along with this "plan" without consulting the affected parents or affected teaching staff? The did not consult with parents nor even give them an inkling that this was an issue. The writer also felt that since Westmoreland was in compliance, it would lessen the chances of the state looking at Westmoreland and there be possible "fiscal consequences". The writer, if researched, would have found out that Westmoreland was found to have poor asset management by the NYS Comptroller in 2006 and this information is discussed in an earlier post....So this district is no stanger to being under the microscope for "fiscal reasons".
As far as fiscal reasons, district officials state that the average starting salary for teachers in the Westmoreland district is $5000.00 LESS than other local schools. Our administrator salaries however (based on information gathered from the NYSED site: New York State School Administrator Salary Disclosure. Based on 2007-2008 school year, our salaries for our administration is comparable to wealthier districts. That doesn't seem to make much sense, right? Visit the website to see current salaries:

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/mgtserv/adm_salary_secondpage.shtml