UNofficially Winslow Receives E-mail ( In response to March 15, 2010 email posted below)

I love it how there are so many alleged "employee experts" in this district who have never been to a BOE meeting, but somehow magically "know" everything that is going on...just because someone else told them it was so.The papers that were handed out last week were generated by the WTEA in an effort to rile up the union members to stage another "pep rally" at tomorrow's BOE meeting. The fact of the matter is that NO final decisions can or will be made until Winslow receives their final budget numbers from the state. (Psst...here's a little secret, there's this guy named Gov. Christie who has made it quite clear that he's coming after the school districts, especially the teachers' union).In fact, the WTEA was informed last week that the only thing that would be occurring short-term is that the BOE would be voting tomorrow whether or not to solict bids to privatize those positions. Did you know that our custodians' contracts mirror that of teachers? They make between $30-$50/hour based on tenure? Did you know that they work the same calendar as teachers? So, if a building needs maintenance/cleaning during winter break, the custodians must be paid double time to come in?Did you also know that last year the WTEA was approached and told that if each member agreed to pay $5 per paycheck toward the cost of their health care, they would have saved every job? Their answer, of course, was "NO". (And they STILL don't contribute ANYTHING out-of-pocket). Did you know that of the 500+ teachers in Winslow, almost 300 of them earn in the $75-$85K/yr category??? Our children go to school in a district where the high school roof is over 50 years old and leaks incessantly when it rains. Up until last year, our technology infrastruction was pathetic. We had teachers in the upper grades teaching ONE CLASS a day. Folks, it didn't get that way overnight. And it can't be fixed overnight. But to sit there and point the finger at the first guy to come along in over a decade and try to FIX things to give our kids a fighting chance is totally irresponsible. Instead of being part of the problem, why don't you get involved and start coming to meetings so that you can hear ALL sides of the story....and be part of the solution.