[Vision2020] MSD Salaries and Jack Wenders' advertisement

[Melynda Huskey]

After seeing Jack Wenders' full page ad in the *Daily News*, I found myself wondering over my knitting, "Why?"

First of all, school district employees' salaries don't have anything to do with the upcoming levy--or any other matter of public conversation that I've been aware of.  So it's not clear what the context is.

Second, although district employees' salaries are a matter of public record (as was Jack's, back when he was working for the UI), in Moscow, we tend to avoid public discussion of other people's finances.  It's not polite.  And in a town this size (Vision 2020 to the contrary notwithstanding), discretion and courtesy aren't just niceties--they're necessities.  Nobody's dirty laundry is safe for long.

Third, if my impulses are even vaguely representative, the advertisement was not helpful to the anti-public education cause.  As I scanned the list, I saw the names of teachers like Nancy Ruth Peterson, who started me down the road to a Ph.D. in English and a deeply satisfying professional life, and Larry Verdal, who dragged me through ninth-grade algebra with infinite patience.  I saw Kristine Fitze, who welcomed our daughter to kindergarten, and to lifelong learning, with unmatchable skill, kindness, and creativity.  Martha Zirker and Sue Bowe, luminously gifted third- and fourth-grade teachers; Carole Jones, who was the best resource-room teacher I've ever seen, back when my brothers were stretching her to the limits of her boundless capacities; Laurie Austin, who morning after morning greets hundreds of children and parents by name at the door of McDonald School.

As I looked at those names, and subtracted $6000 from every number in the "Cash Pay With Benefits" column (how many of us really count benefits as income?), I was abashed.  I know the hours these men and women work--because I've called them at home in the evenings to consult, to ask questions, to get advice.  I've seen them turn out for game after agonizing game, dance after idiotic dance, carwash after carnation sale after play rehearsal after band performance after Knowledge Bowl after Math Quest . . . I know what they spend out of their own pockets, and the time that they devote to their work.  They are not leeches on the body politic, for heaven's sake; they are our neighbors, friends, and colleagues.  And if I also saw a name or two I didn't remember so fondly--well, time heals all wounds, and I've given up expecting sainthood in every member of any profession.

If Jack Wenders intended to inflame my avaricious passions against these folks, he badly misjudged his audience.  I can only attribute his behavior to a rage against the district--and public education--so blind that he doesn't care what injuries he inflicts on himself or his community in the process of venting his spleen.  

Melynda HuskeyGet more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com
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