Caring About Kids Means Keeping Teachers in the Classroom

In response to in the story :

As sensational as the headline makes this story sound, the unfortunate reality is that school officials only have so much money available to budget. It's not petty or vindictive, and certainly not a threat: it is a financial reality. Less money available = more cuts. Legislation currently being considered at the state level will only makes it tougher to handle our salary and maintenance increases.

Act 1 was intended to give voters the power to decide if their school needed to grow faster than inflation. The state is currently considering legislation that would remove exceptions put in place to keep a district from having to cut teachers and programs when circumstances outside of the boards control reduced our revenues. Never considered was the possibility that the state or feds would reduce their funding! So, when funding cuts occur like they did this year, the board would have no choice but to cut programs and teachers.

So much for local control of your child's education, huh?...

FACT 1:  I would have chosen to KEEP teachers. We could have kept smaller class sizes and more electives. The union wanted less teachers and class offerings for a 3.25% pay increase. Childish and immature, you say? Who, myself or the union?

FACT 2:  SV has GREAT teachers! I talked with one who was almost in tears because of how the cuts would negatively impact his kids. It is disappointing to know that great teachers like that are represented by union leadership that would rather throw their newest and brightest members out the door than take a pay freeze like the administrative staff. For what, a couple hundred bucks each? That sounds more to me like a “fat cat” Wall Street broker…

My message to the SVEA is simple: if you don’t want to be labeled as selfish and greedy villains, don’t put yourself in that position! I call on you to reconsider your decision to take a pay freeze. Let your membership as a whole vote! I want to help you keep your members where they belong: OUT of the unemployment lines and IN our classrooms!

Eric Gordon is a Seneca Valley School Director representing Cranberry Twp – Region 5.  He has chosen to reach out to his constituents through this blog, in an effort to keep the community informed of school-related issues. The opinions expressed in this blog are his own, and are NOT the official positions of the Seneca Valley School Board. Official communications from the district can be found at www.svsd.net.