Life In The Slow Lane

Yes, it’s time for…

School days, school days,
Dear old golden rule days.

While the kids are back in the classroom, some of those teachers might be working without contracts. A local school district went four years without a contract with its teacher’s union. Thankfully that’s been resolved.

Now you can find out if your New York school has any contract issues - or even who’s making what:

Teacher Union Contracts Available on Internet
Transparency website also features school superintendent agreements

As schools open across New York State this week, much of what happens in the classroom will be affected by contracts between school districts and unions representing their teachers. Teacher contracts typically determine compensation and work conditions, including base salaries, step raises and extra pay for longevity or extra duties such as coaching; health insurance and other benefits; and evaluation and disciplinary procedures. Some contracts also touch on other issues important to parents and students, including the length of the school day; class sizes; and student discipline.

For the first time, parents, taxpayers and the news media now have easy access to teacher contracts for nearly all of New York’s 698 school districts and 35 BOCES districts—thanks to the Empire Center’s new transparency website, www.SeeThroughNY.net. Teacher contracts and employment contracts for almost every school superintendent in the state can be downloaded from the site.

The contracts show how salaries for teachers vary dramatically across the state. For example, the base salary for teachers in the Herricks Union Free School District (Nassau County) ranges from $53,000 to $121,165. In Long Lake Central School District, teacher base salaries range from $38,141 to $69,486. The base salaries do not include any extra pay for longevity, supervisory duties, coaching sports or advising the debate team or student newspaper.

Teacher contracts also can impose restrictions that ultimately affect the schedules of parents and families. For example, some contracts (such as that of the Amherst Central School District in western New York) stipulate that high school students can be dismissed early so teachers can attend faculty meetings once a month. Other contracts effectively require that teacher-parent conferences be held during the day—which means working parents must take time off from their own jobs to discuss their childrens’ progress in school.

The Empire Center launched www.SeeThroughNY.net July 31. In addition to teacher and superintendent contracts, it offers searchable databases of the following public information:

• the entire payroll of more than 263,000 state government employees, cross-referenced by name, title, branch of government and agency;

• operating expenditures by both houses of the New York State Legislature; and

• the Legislature’s pork-barrel “member items” spending for 2008-09.

Based in Albany, the Empire Center is a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

It was a beautiful, festive Sunday afternoon for our church picnic in a little courtyard area next to the St. Mary’s Social Hall.

Apparently some folks didn’t appreciate the serenity and the beauty of the nearby gazebo with a statue of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus.

They took it upon themselves sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning to deface the statue, along with other damage around the church and the neighborhood.

You can read about their despicable acts here.

Yes, it’s really despicable.

The words they painted on a nearby nativity building. Despicable.

The silver and red spray paint they used on the statue of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus, and the other damage they did to the statue. Despicable.

Father Mike said it best when he expressed his belief that it was like the acts of a fifth-grader.

Except these young hoodlums were 18 and 17 years old, well into the age of “should have known better.”

But every society has its punks and Massena is no exception.

A few Hail Marys and Our Fathers aren’t good enough for these guys.

Perhaps a little bit of community service would be in order. Since they’re so handy with the spray paint, we have plenty of buildings that could use some touch-up work.

How about it, judge, or we are going to let them walk away with a slap on the wrist and an order “not to do it again” like we seem to see over and over again with our judicial system?

Oh yes, I’m sure they’ll be good little boys.

At least until they’re out of the courtroom.

Remember Eliot? Former “Sheriff of Wall Street.” Former New York State governor. Former John.

Well, it seems Eliot not only did the nasty with a prostitute, he also did a nasty with his fund-raising money, according to the New York Daily News.

Spitzer spent campaign cash for hotels

His campaign committee, Spitzer2010, refunded $1.48 million in contributions and spent $1.4 million. He raised $263,877 between January and mid-March, when he resigned after being identified as a hooker ring’s Client 9.

Hehe, I like that. Fund-raising expenses at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.

Well, it wasn’t just funds that were raised - if ya catch my drift.

Norwood-Norfolk voters spoke once again last night, telling the school board and district through their votes that they’d had enough of tax increases.

The first budget presented in May went down by 10 votes. Last night’s revised budget went down by 84 votes. It would have meant a 10 percent increase in spending and a 4.9 percent increase in the tax levy for district residents.

Somehow, I wonder if I - or rather, my newspaper - helped contribute to the defeat.

Last week we ran a story about the preparation for the budget revote, and the original story submitted by yours truly didn’t quite make it into the paper the way it had been written.

Here’s the original lead:

NORFOLK - With new contracts pending between the Norwood-Norfolk Central School District and two of its unions, the school board president said they’ve had to project the associated costs in their proposed spending plan.

Here’s what was published:

NORFOLK - As they prepare to send a revised spending plan for the 2008-09 school year to voters for the second time on Tuesday, the Norwood-Norfolk Central School District’s board of education is also quietly negotiating with the district’s superintendent on a $3,700 raise.

See any difference between the two?

Do you think voters were perhaps a little upset that, at least according to the paper, the superintendent was “quietly negotiating” a pay raise?

Even though that wasn’t the case.

Yup, that might have had something to do with it.

Or it may have been that taxpayers just can’t take it on the chin anymore, especially when the cost of driving back and forth to work has escalated with the $4.33 a gallon cost of gas. Told ya it would go up even when the price of crude oil went down.

Or maybe they can’t take it on the chin anymore because, along with the hefty - and almost daily - increase in gas prices, their grocery bill has also skyrocketed.

Because of the cost of gas.

And their utility bill has skyrocketed.

Because of the cost of gas.

And even the diapers they put on their baby’s bottom have jumped up in price.

Because of the cost of gas.

We need relief, and we have no say over town, village, county, state or federal taxes. We do, however, have a say over school taxes, and it appears voters are saying, “We’re not gonna take it anymore.”

Gov. David Paterson agrees. He wants to put the brakes on the whole process by proposing a 4 percent tax cap on school districts.

ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. David Paterson, buoyed by a poll that shows three in four New Yorkers support his property tax cap proposal that’s getting no debate in Albany, tried to turn up the pressure on the Legislature Tuesday in the session’s waning days.

“Or are they just going to ignore that and play the typical Albany game … and do nothing and go home,” Suozzi added.

They probably will.

The all-powerful, all-mighty teacher’s union says it’s a bad plan because, let’s face it, 70 percent of a school’s budget goes toward salaries and benefits. Which, I guess, counts for education because it keeps teachers in the classroom.

Here’s the rest of the story.

The Assembly’s Democratic majority and the Senate’s Republican majority haven’t even introduced Paterson’s bill. Instead, the majorities have opposing tax-relief measures. That likely will keep Paterson’s tax cap from a floor debate.

“The governor is obviously attempting his very best to make his argument for his legislation and as advocates in a democratic system we’re doing our very best to raise our argument with lawmakers and citizens,” said NYSUT union President Richard C. Iannuzzi. “Obviously, there are times when we will respectfully disagree with the governor and this is one of them.”

Maybe this is one of those times when our elected state officials need to look out for the taxpayer instead of the unions that line their pockets at election time.

Bet they don’t have a problem paying their school taxes.

Did you hear that Tim Russert died?

How could you miss it? It was tossed at television viewers hour after hour after hour after hour.

I was beginning to think that perhaps Mr. Russert was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ himself - or least the pope - with the gushing tributes that were paid hour after hour after hour after hour after hour.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m sure Tim Russert was a very nice guy. I’m not a big fan of Sunday morning television, so I can’t comment on just how nice he was.

I’m sure he was a good, loving family man. I’m sure he was a good journalist. I’m sure he was a good friend.

But he wasn’t a head of state or a prince or a pope or a person who had eradicated AIDS from the world.

He was simply a very nice journalist who had medical issues that likely contributed to his passing.

His untimely death should not have gone unnoticed by the media, but don’t you think hours of tributes were just a wee bit over the top?

Where were the tributes to 22-year-old Army Sgt. Shane P. Duffy from Taunton, Mass., 23-year-old Army Sgt. Cody R. Legg from Escondido, Calif., 20-year-old Army Spec. Jonathan D. A. Emard from Mesquite, Texas, 19-year-old Pfc. Joshua E. Waltenbaugh from Ford City, Pa., 26-year-old Spec. Quincy J. Green from El Paso, Texas, or 22-year-old Spec. Justin R. Mixon from Bogalusa, La.?

They’re June’s casualties (so far) among the 4,083 members of the military who’ve died during Operation Iraqi Freedom - and we treat them exactly like that. Just a number.

I guess they just weren’t as famous as Tim Russert.

Did you hear that Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil production by 200,000 barrels a day next month, according to Saudi officials, who are quoted as saying, “The king believes that the current oil prices are abnormally high, and he is ready to restore prices to their appropriate levels.”

Well, isn’t that sweet of him.

Today’s news headlines report that crude oil declined for a third day amid concerns that slower economic growth will curb consumption of oil products. Oil has retreated more than $7 from yesterday’s record of $139.89 a barrel.

So how does that translate to you, the consumer?

It doesn’t.

Anytime there’s negative news like a hurricane that might threaten oil supplies, the price goes skyrocketing - and you pay dearly at the pump.

When the king says oil prices are too high, the price goes down - for everybody except the consumer, who’s watching the Sunoco sign day after day for some hint that $4.29 a gallon might actually become $4.19.

It’ll probably be a cold day in hell before that happens.

What goes up doesn’t necessarily need to come down in the world of high-stakes oil production.

Did you hear that it really doesn’t matter how companies perform because CEOs are gonna grab their megachecks and laugh all the way to the bank?

According to an Associated Press Article, “Collectively, the 10 best-paid CEOs made more than half a billion dollars last year. Yet half the members of this stratospheric club were leading companies whose profits shrank dramatically.”

Rick Wagoner, chief executive of General Motors Corp., announced earlier this month the company had to close four plants that make trucks and SUVs because of lagging demand as fuel prices soar. That followed the posting a $39 billion loss in 2007, a year when its stock price fell by about 19 percent, without adjusting for dividends.

And Wagoner? His pay rose 64 percent, to $15.7 million.

If I had that kind of a year as a reporter, my ass would have been booted out the door a long time ago.

Only in Corporate America can you be rewarded for your failures.

And speaking of failures…

Did you hear that Willie Randolph was fired as manager of the New York Mets and reporters found out after Mets management waited until the wee hours of the morning - and I’m talking like 12:15 a.m. PDT - to send out a mass e-mail announcing the change.

Hey, I’m not a big Willie Randolph fan simply because he doesn’t have the fire in him to light up his ball club. I can’t think of the last time he was thrown out of a ball game after battling with an umpire for one of his ball players. Hell, I don’t think he’s ever been thrown out of a ball game.

But Willie shouldn’t be the hit man for an underperforming bunch of babies who collectively are earning paychecks of $138 million.

This group, by and large, is older than the over-the-hill gang, and it shows on the field because they’re never there. Pedro Martinez has barely thrown a pitch because of injuries. Moises Alou came off the disabled list and went right back on it again after his calf began to hurt. You’ve got a bullpen that implodes at every opportunity and cast of characters who couldn’t hit their way out of wet paper bag.

Or maybe they’re not trying hard enough because let’s face it, it’s not their ass that’s on the line. It’s their manager’s, and now Willie’s gone and the players are still around cashing their megachecks when they should be in Double A ball trying to work on their hitting - and attitude - issues.

Maybe they should have kept Willie and just let all the other jokers hit the road.

The folks in Albany are starting to realize that pocketbooks can’t take it anymore.

NY commission calls for property tax cap

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A special commission on Monday recommended that New Yorkers’ property taxes be capped at 4 percent a year, among other reforms. If the Commission on Property Tax Relief’s recommendations are accepted by Gov. David Paterson and the Legislature, local school taxes could be capped at either 4 percent or 120 percent of inflation, whichever is less. That would be about half of the annual, average growth in most recent years. A school district could exceed the cap if 55 percent of voters agree. But if the district received more than a 5-percent increase in state aid, 60 percent of voters would have to agree to override the cap. The powerful New York State United Teachers union and the state School Boards Association oppose a tax cap.

There’s a couple of problems with this thinking.

Number one, I’m not the greatest math whiz in the world, but the formula they’re proposing totally boggles my mind. Can anyone figure it out?

And number two, capping taxes at 4 percent a year still isn’t going to help employees who only receive a 2 percent pay hike ever year. They still have to suck up the other 2 percent in property tax increases - on top of sucking up all the other increases they’re facing in their daily lives.

Maybe it’s time to explore that dreaded M word.

Merger.

Let’s be realistic here. Small schools can no longer survive on their own. They don’t have the student numbers or the tax base to keep the schools going, especially these days when the fuel bill to heat their buildings and run their buses sinks them heavily into debt all by itself.

Every year they roll out their budget and tell taxpayers the cost of business is going up. The state’s giving them a good chunk of change, but they need more, more more.

But hey, we’re gonna save you some bucks by throwing in the STAR tax relief so your bill won’t go up 10 percent. Just 5 percent.

Year after year after year.

While employers are doling out those 2 percent pay increases that don’t even cover the basic cost of living.

Parents, students, teachers and administrators don’t want to think about consolidating with another school district. They want to maintain their own identity.

At a cost.

And one that’s getting more expensive every year.

But maybe it’s time to talk about that dreaded M word.

You’d be combining academics. There’s a savings.

You’d be combining administrators and teachers. There’s a savings.

You’d be combining those atrocious heat and light and food bills. There’s a savings.

You’d be combining athletics and other extracurricular activities. There’s a savings.

You’d be combining bus runs. There’s a savings.

The drawbacks?

Somebody’s bound to lose their job.

That’s the real world. Just ask the 500 employees at GM Powertrain who will either transfer or take a buyout because the plant’s closing by the end of the year.

Nobody said life was fair.

But let’s make it sensible and study consolidation.

It’s the arrival of the event we all knew was coming, but just couldn’t wait for.

Gas has crossed into newly uncharted territory of $4 a gallon.

Oh, they couldn’t make it easy by rounding it off to $4 so you’d put $16 worth of gas in your car and knew you had four gallons.

Nosiree, they had to make it interesting - $4.01 or $4.02 or $4.03 or higher.

Do I hear $4.10?

$4.10 going once, $4.10 going twice, $4.10 gone, never to be seen again once summer kicks in.

Go ahead, run down to your nearest Sunoco and inhale the fumes. It’ll cost ya about 10 bucks.

Oh, to be rich and famous…

ATLANTA (Ticker) - New York Mets left fielder Moises Alou left Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Braves due to a cramp in his left calf. The 41-year-old Alou walked off the field with one out in the bottom of the third inning and was replaced in left by Marlon Anderson. In his only plate appearance, Alou grounded out to third base to lead off the second inning.

I guess when you’re making $7,500,000 you can afford to take a day or two off.

For a cramp.

Kids, do not try this at home.

Your employer won’t appreciate it.

Man tracked down for 51-cent tax bill

BRIGHTON, Mich., May 14 (UPI) — A Michigan doctor says he found it funny the city of Brighton sent him a “final notice and demand of payment” for 51 cents in property taxes.

Dr. Phil Kazanji said he chuckled at a notice from the city that said legal action would be taken against him if he didn’t fork over 51 cents in delinquent taxes.

“This is the most ridiculous thing a government agency would do,” Kazanji told the Livingston County (Mich.) Daily Press & Argus.

Kazanji added that the city actually lost money by spending $5.21 to mail the certified letter.

Brighton officials said they are required by law to fine delinquent tax payers, regardless of the amount they owe.

“No matter how small, we can’t ignore it or waive it,” city finance director Dave Gajda said. “It doesn’t matter how much we spend to collect (delinquent taxes), we have to collect it.”

Pamela Anderson’s breasts lured teen to sex

A 32-YEAR-OLD woman sent a picture of Pamela Anderson’s breasts to a 15-year-old workmate shortly before beginning a sexual relationship with him, a court heard.

Courtney Issabella Bailey, now 34, told police that the boy had texted her asking her for a picture of her breasts - but she sent a picture of the Baywatch star’s breasts instead.

Bailey received a four-month suspended jail term today after pleading guilty to five counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 17 in January 2007.

Crown prosecutor Peter Sherriff told the Supreme Court in Launceston that Bailey and the boy had exchanged pornographic DVDs in the weeks before the crimes. Read the full story here.

Bailey had remarked to his parents that he was a “big strong boy” for a 15-year-old.

Mexican donkey jailed for ornery behavior
Animal to remain behind bars until owner pays injured men’s medical bills

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico - A donkey is doing time in southern Mexico for assault and battery.

The animal was locked up at a local jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances after it bit and kicked two men near a ranch in Chiapas state, police said Monday.

Officer Sinar Gomez said the donkey will remain behind bars until its owner agrees to pay the men’s medical bills.

“Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed,” Gomez said - “no matter who they are.”

And it’s not because I’m rabid or had one too many Eskimo Pies.

Right now I’m at work and I’ve just checked my e-mail and I’m beyond seriously pissed off about my rebate check that was due into my bank account today.

It ain’t there.

It won’t be there.

And we can thank the fucked up Internal Revenue Service which is part of our fucked up government which is sending out the fucking rebate checks in the first place because they’ve fucked up the economy so bad.

Think I’m pissed?

You ain’t seen nothing yet.

More on this story when I get home and have to chance to suck down a few Eskimo Pies and about two cases of LaBatts Blue.

Amazing, ain’t it, that the folks making millions - no, let’s make that billions - sucking consumers dry at the gas pumps can say the costs aren’t excessive.

Begs the question, how do you define excessive when it costs more than $40 bucks to fill up a Chevy Cavalier.

The price for a gallon of regular hit a record Monday - Nationwide on Monday: $3.29; a month ago: $3.17; a year ago: $2.67.

Not excessive at all.

Remember those days of gas below a dollar. Ah, yes, the good old days. Now you’re lucky if you can get a whiff of the fumes for that price.

D.C. pumps oil leaders on gasoline
House hearing into energy profits opens as prices reach new heights

The House hearing came just one day after prices at the gas pump hit a new record of $3.29 a gallon, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Gas prices are so out of whack…

How out of whack are they, Bob?

Gas prices are so out of whack that it seems the only person who can afford them is Alex Rodriguez from the New York Yankees.

A-Rod Makes More Than Marlins Roster

For the first time in baseball history, the average salary topped the $3 million mark. The 855 players on opening-day rosters and the DL averaged $3.15 million, up 7.1 percent from last year’s starting average of $2.94 million.

Whatever happened to playing for the love of the game?

OK, I will, he says:

Danbury faces lawsuit for waking sleeping student
Teenage boy claims hearing damage when teacher slammed hand on desk

“You can’t make this stuff up,” high school Principal Catherine Richard said. “Does it have merit? That’s for someone else to decide.”

And hopefully they’ll decide that maybe Mr. Robacher needs to hit the rack a bit earlier in the evening so he - like other students - can, gasp, stay awake during class.

Locally, village officials in Massena have declared a snow emergency.

It’s about damn time now that the snow’s piled at least 20 feet in the air.

The snow emergency means that nobody but nobody can park on the streets because visibility’s already so poor for people trying to pull out of their driveways or turn a corner.

No kidding.

I live on what could be considered a small but major thoroughfare, and I fear for my life every time I try to inch like a snail out of my driveway because idiots barreling down the street at 50 mph - and by the way, the speed limit’s only 30 - don’t seem to care that something might be lurking behind that big snow bank.

Like me and my car.

So far - knock on snow - I haven’t been clipped. But the day’s going to come. I can almost guarantee it.

Which I guess really isn’t a bad thing because I’ve been wanting a new car anyway.

But think happy thoughts. Spring’s less than a week away.

Can somebody please smack Old Man Winter upside the head and tell him that.

Has anyone else been collecting the state quarters like I have? Just curious because I was sorting mine today - yeah, ok, I’m anal - and I discovered that for some strange reason South Carolina seems to have barraged us with their state quarters. They’re followed closely behind by New Hampshire.

Now I don’t know how distribution of state quarters works, but I would have thought I’d have a glut of New Yorkers instead of South Caroliners. Not by a long shot for whatever reason.

I also have to admit that some state quarters are just downright fugly. Connecticut comes to mind, along with Georgia. Whoever designed their quarters needs to take a refresher course in marketing because those two state quarters do absolutely nothing for me.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re wondering why perhaps you don’t have a South Carolina quarter, it’s because I’ve been hoarding them and all the other states. Well, not really hoarding. I get one, I drop it in a milk jug I have in the bedroom. Just wanted to make sure I had all the states, you see.

Well, it turned out I had $115.50 worth of states after a gleeful hour at the table counting them all out.

I better hang on to that money. I may need it real soon. The “Happy Holidays” letter from our corporate offices came in today’s mail. Oh, such wonderful holiday cheer.

We’re freezing pension benefits on Dec. 31, 2007.

We’re increasing your weekly contributions to the health care plan and dental plan - even though there’s only one dentist in the county who takes the insurance and he’s not taking any new patients.

Oh, but your accident, death and dismemberment coverage will remain unchanged, they say.

That’s a relief because I’d really hate to have my wife pay through the nose for my funeral services when my head’s lopped off by the printing presses.

And yes, we’ll be providing you a pay increase in 2007. All 2 percent of it.

“We wish you a very joyous conclusion to 2006,” they say, “and wish to extend our best wishes to you and your families in 2007.”

Gee, thanks.

We’re gonna need all the help we can get.