Friday, May 26, 2006
In the Name of Love
Here are the facts behind the case of a McKeesport public school teacher who admitted to having sexual relations with another teacher at the district’s intermediate school over a two-year time frame: the sex occurred in a classroom and in a men’s restroom while other teachers “ran interference” and served as lookouts; the teacher—a thirty year veteran making $73,000 per year—was on paid, not unpaid, leave since admitting to the relationship; and the retirement package received by the teacher amounts to $58,000 for unused sick and personal days. He will also retire with his pension intact, amounting to about 75 percent of his salary, or $55,000 per year.
The teacher won’t be entitled to the customary decade of paid health care received by teachers when they retire. How sad for him.
That this “educator” was not immediately fired and denied all the generous benefits shows the power of the education unions and how a lot of school board members are either complicit or fearful. There can be no other explanation. In this case, the district should have denied the benefits and gone to court if necessary. Settling this case, with these circumstances, creates a really bad precedent. According to one dissenting school board member, the teacher was paid for unused sick time at the full daily rate, while other retirees usually get 50 percent for each unused day. Either the board members who voted for the settlement are stupid or unwilling to take a little heat from the unions.
In effect, this breaker of the rules of decency and ethical conduct is let off with barely a slap on the wrist.
What a lesson for the district’s schoolchildren! And what an insult to taxpayers! Thank you, Pennsylvania teachers’ unions. Great job undermining society’s already tenuous grip on morality and decency.
The teacher won’t be entitled to the customary decade of paid health care received by teachers when they retire. How sad for him.
That this “educator” was not immediately fired and denied all the generous benefits shows the power of the education unions and how a lot of school board members are either complicit or fearful. There can be no other explanation. In this case, the district should have denied the benefits and gone to court if necessary. Settling this case, with these circumstances, creates a really bad precedent. According to one dissenting school board member, the teacher was paid for unused sick time at the full daily rate, while other retirees usually get 50 percent for each unused day. Either the board members who voted for the settlement are stupid or unwilling to take a little heat from the unions.
In effect, this breaker of the rules of decency and ethical conduct is let off with barely a slap on the wrist.
What a lesson for the district’s schoolchildren! And what an insult to taxpayers! Thank you, Pennsylvania teachers’ unions. Great job undermining society’s already tenuous grip on morality and decency.
