The second most famous pronouncement of Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chief, next to disavowing his confidence that markets self-correct before they crash was his conviction that improving the education of Americans is critical to our role as a superpower and maintaining our standard of living. It is along this line that one irate citizen-- Everett Evansky, a Miami-Dade achool teacher-- addressed Mayor Alvarez recently on the controversy over staff pay raises.
"Dear Mayor Alvarez:
Thank you for replying to my letter regarding the pay raises you gave your employees. You are correct that technically MDCPS and Miami-Dade County are two separate entities. However, please take a moment to consider how your conduct - as not only an elected official but the leader of our county - appears to many Miami-Dade residents.
I concur with your statement that "there are rare occasions where you find a particular salary is out of whack." For example, the average teacher salary in the US is currently $47,602. In Florida, on average, teachers earn $43,302. The National Association of Realtors recently calculated the median single family home price in Miami at about $285,000. The closest city is Portland, Oregon at $280,000. Teachers in Oregon average $50,044." (please click, 'read more')
You claim to have decided to offer your staffers raises “more than a year ago” and that such decisions “came way before I was forced to propose a budget.” The current recession in which we now find ourselves started well over a year ago. Technically, we’ve been in a recession since December 2007.
Claiming your actions “were personnel decisions, not personal ones” renders your constituency little consolation. As an elected official, as Mayor of a large metropolitan area, as an adult, you are personally responsible for all your deeds. This was not a compulsory act.
Yes, “Our Board of County Commissioners ultimately are the ones who adopt the budget.” However, you were the one who retroactively gave your aides hefty raises during one of the worst economic crises to hit your constituents since the Great Depression. Shifting the blame will not help your cause.
Mr. Mayor, it is with profound respect, that I take deep exception to your claim, “There are fewer people doing more with less.” Yes, you trimmed $2 million dollars from your Executive Office. Your county’s Public Schools slashed its budget by close to $300 million.
My salary has been frozen for two years and we actually had to donate two days of salary just to keep your schools from going bankrupt. Even Superintendent Carvalho voluntarily docked himself – and his cabinet – up to six days pay. My Assistant Principal just worked all summer for free.
We can’t make photocopies. I can’t replace the toner cartridge in my laser printer to print up attendance sheets and take roll. This is an issue because my 3rd and 4th period science classes both have over 40 students.
The 8th grade students in these overcrowded classes will be required to take the state mandated Science FCAT this Spring. FCAT scores will not only be used to determine their advancement towards high school and college, but will also be held up as an indicator of my competence as a professional educator. While you were adjusting the salaries of your closest advisors to make sure they were fairly compensated for their “additional responsibilities,” do you know how much money was allocated for the students in my classes to buy lab equipment and supplies?
$0
You see, Mr. Mayor, it’s not just teachers who are “undervalued” in Miami. It’s also students.
With all due respect Mr. Mayor, you never actually answered my question. If your aides are “doing more with less” then please explain what it is that they actually do? As a teacher I could easily look any taxpayer in the eye and say, “For about $47,000 dollars that you have provided I have helped about 125 kids each year learn about the world around them. I have inspired them to better themselves and work hard to pursue their dreams. I have encouraged dozens of kids to go to college. Far fewer kids will start smoking cigarettes. Hopefully, I’ve helped to avoid a few teen pregnancies.”
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Everett Evansky
Subject: Response of Mayor Alvarez - Speak Up - Suggestions to Improve Government
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:47:24 -0400
From: CALVARE@miamidade.gov
To: everettevansky@hotmail.com
Dear Everett:
Thank you for sharing your opinion and giving me an opportunity to respond. I understand your frustration. I have tremendous respect for the public education system and believe so many educators are underpaid and undervalued in society. Unfortunately, Miami-Dade County government and the Miami-Dade Public School System are two separate entities.
That being said, I made a decision – more than a year ago – to adjust the salaries of a select few members of my senior staff to ensure pay equity with other government employees with comparable responsibilities. As a longtime county employee who worked his way up through the ranks, I can tell you that there are rare occasions where you find a particular salary is out of whack. Such was the case with a very few members of my staff who took on additional responsibilities as we transitioned to a new form of government. The salary adjustments were personnel decisions, not personal ones, and I have nothing to gain. The decisions also came way before I was forced to propose a budget with unprecedented service cuts and workforce reductions. I took no joy in making budget recommendations that are universally unpopular, and my proposal are likely to change. Our Board of County Commissioners ultimately are the ones who adopt the budget.
More important, the total budget and number of employees in the County Executive Office has been decreasing. The proposed budget is nearly $2 million dollars and 20 employees leaner than it was five years ago when I first entered public office. There are fewer people doing more with less.
Again, thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond.
Sincerely,
Carlos Alvarez
Mayor
8 comments:
Boy, the situation in the schools stink. The teachers salary is a different issue from not having the supplies to do their job. I am sure that a salary increase would be super, but the supplies and the large classes are going to leave children left behind. Wait, we don't do that here, no child left behind is the rule, right?
Of course, my child was in a computer class in an "A" school for 5 months without a computer to use, and that was 4 years ago. So things have not gotten better.
Shameful.
The school board has its own problems with waste and malfeasance, as for teachers salaries keep in mind its for 9 months of work. Besides if your in it (teaching) for the money I suggest you look for another line of work, plenty of private school teachers do a bang up job for less.
Median price $285K in Miami Dade? Yeah Right!
I have 3 grandchildren in public schools and I for one am very concerned about their situation on many fronts.
Two of my grandchildren are in overcrowed classrooms, one of the best principals from their school was trasferred to another school in order to encourage an early retirement, so I am told. The school lunches are unhealthy and are contributing to an epidemic of obesity in children. Both of my adult children, Hunter Reno and Douglas Reno, volunteer in their Public Schools to do everything they can to support the school. My son works to support the staff in the cafeteria and my daughter is involved with various PTA activities, just to provide the basics in the classroom , like a Teachers Aide I am working with some volunteers to install edible school gardens in 16 different schools in the County. How much more can one family do to help you and the school system?
I support Everett Evansky’s letter and think that Mayor Carlos Alvarez has lost the public confidence by acting so carelessly.
Donna Reno
Coral Gables
If we really want to help our public education system, we must start to overthrow the FCAT. This assessment was brought about during the J Bush administration and has made the Bush family and friends an enormous amount of money. Software is purchased through Neil Bush, curriculum comes from one company that has ties to the Bushes, and a major part of the students' lives are spent on pre-tests, quarterly tests to measure improvement, 2 weeks for the testing, and then post-tests.
Our children have no time for critical thinking skills. They are becoming little robots that regurgitate information on cue. Lessons are scripted so teachers no longer need to be talented nor inventive. It is a one size fits all education system with the money leading right back to the Bush family pockets.
The other M
Good comments coming in here thanks...
Way to go, Ms. Evansky! I would like to thank that Mayor Alvarez will take this to heart and make changes, but I know it won't happen. I hope more people write the mayor. Thank you for your compelling and beautifully written letter.
Actually people do not need to attend school. They can start working for the City of Miami Fire Department at age 18. No degree necessary. Then after a few years they can be making $125,000 per year. After a few promotions they can make over $300,000 per year. Of course, those overpaid members of the firemens union might be working for a bankrupt city.
I don't get it. What does crappy pay for school teachers and chronically underfunded classrooms have to do with the County's mess or the Mayor?
He really screwed up with the unnecessary cover-up and asking for sacrifice just before handing out raises, but now he's responsible for the house of ill repute in Tallahassee that's responsible for driving our schools into last place nationally?
The author is comparing apples to astronauts.
Well written letter at least.
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