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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>As I understand it the quoted salaries are overinflated by
big bucks. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mghuskey@msn.com href="mailto:mghuskey@msn.com">Melynda Huskey</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, April 21, 2005 1:00
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] MSD Salaries and
Jack Wenders' advertisement</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>After seeing Jack Wenders' full page ad in the *Daily News*, I found
myself wondering over my knitting, "Why?"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Melynda Huskey</DIV><BR clear=all>
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