The Question

Of Accountability

To the Editor:

I have sent letter after letter to The Bee with the purpose of soliciting a response from those concerned. It has not happened, but I have had nothing but positive response from readers.

This time I will address the question of accountability. Don’t you think our town leaders, our superintendents, and our Board of Education owe us, the taxpayers, an explanation for the budget, but why they have been unable to reduce the basic cost of education. As for myself, it has the impression of that famous quote from Gone with the Wind, namely, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”

The education budget must be separated from the rest of the budget and voted on separately. I am advocating a veto of any budget which has no satisfactory explanation with respect to any meaningful cost reduction. These should include:

*Why are we paying for deluxe health care. It must be reduced to no more than a total of $15,000 per teacher or less, the same as recommended for Medicare by vice presidential candidate Ryan. We, the Medicare patients, need far more health care than the average teacher.

*How did we get into the costly spiral of salaries, in particular, pay increases for those without professional merit.

*Why can the class size not be increased by at least 30 percent? Is the Board of Education of the opinion that I, who graduated from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn without ever attending an American high school, have inferior education because I had to leave with 14 years? We had at least 40 students per class. Yes, the unsuitable and those who were delinquent had to drop out to pursue a trade (including my father).

*Why are we paying for extra hours of work when we are already providing deluxe conditions all around and not just for health care. The teachers as salaried persons are not entitled to it.

*Why have we not contested collective bargaining and tenure for teachers in court since their unions are in violation of monopoly laws and the 14th Amendment? The town spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees fighting a contractor for six acres of land for which he had not title and never will. Finally, to settle the issue, the town paid $50,000 for an unproven, unprovable claim, but can’t find the money to bring tax relief to us by suing the union in Federal Court. The six acres? The town has no use for it. It seems our leaders are afraid of the big bad wolf, the union. Rather hike the tax for us than fight the union, it’s easier. Frankly, the contract gives the impression of a cozy relationship. Is this how our town does business?

Demand accountability my friends. We who carry the burden of other’s lack of concern or incompetence can do no else.

Oscar Berendsohn

34 Appleblossom Lane, Newtown                             August 27, 2012