Letter: A Message to Mt. Sinai School District Residents

(Editor's Note: The following is a letter sent to Patch from Mt. Sinai School District resident Cynthia French. The views expressed are that of Ms. French.)

"See the Forest for the Trees"

Dear Mt. Sinai Residents,

As a parent and resident I implore you to attend the BOE meetings leading up to the budget vote. When focusing on funding and costs, ask the tough questions about the exorbitant salaries of administrators, wasteful spending in places that are not obvious to the public, etc. Pointing fingers at teachers’ salaries is not the ONLY answer. 

Whatever your viewpoint is on teachers, salaries, and the number of days they work, remember one thing; they are the people who have the positive influences on your child. They are the easiest target, so naturally they take the most heat.

Teachers have the most contact with your children and are paid the least. If you are now considering secretaries and aides, remember, teachers have a Bachelors and Masters degree. Not to mention post graduate credits they pay for it out of their own pockets. In addition to the professional development credits they must earn yearly, it is required to continue earning graduate credits if they want a salary increase beyond “cost of living.”

These teachers are the people who support our kids every day of the school year. They are the ones who help them early in the morning, during lunch periods, and after school whenever they are in need. They are the ones who comfort our children when they are having a bad day or may be upset about something personal. They listen when our children feel like talking about their new puppy, a trip they are taking, or when they just need to be heard. Our children should not be burdened with budgets and talk of CPI. They have enough on their plate without wondering if the elective they have been looking forward to will be cut or worse, a teacher about whom they’ve heard such great things will be out of a job.

In the March 2012 Mt. Sinai Snapshot it states in part, “Districts in the region are contemplating increased class sizes, laying off large numbers of staff, eliminating those programs that make communities special in the area of clubs, athletics and other extracurricular activities. Also being discussed is the provision of the law which will allow an override to the levy limitation by putting forth a budget in excess of the (2% tax) cap. In this case the budget would require a 60%+ voter approval.” I for one will support this if it means saving programs and highly educated professionals.

By saving programs, courses, teachers and electives, we in essence are saving our children’s impressive resume they deserve the opportunity to earn when graduating from Mt. Sinai Schools. Look at our district report card and realize that those scores and statistics didn’t get there from our kids watching Sesame Street. It is the phenomenal faculty and staff our district employs that helped guide our children to such great heights.

We have to consider how our children’s transcripts and activity records will measure up to their college admissions competition if they do not include a variety of courses, electives, clubs, music programs, sports programs, etc.

The threat of larger class sizes will not only be detrimental to development and learning. With rosters and classes maxed out, what kind of rapport can your child develop with a teacher? Without a rapport, a letter of recommendation may not be granted or could translate as generic to college admissions officers. Important to remember, our children’s chances of getting a written college recommendation diminish greatly when a teacher already has 50-60 requests. Not to mention, teachers are not required to write letters of recommendation, but they still do. In this ultra competitive era, all it takes is one mediocre activity record or transcript that screams “basic.”

Please, pull out a calculator and figure out what two percent of your school taxes equates to. It’s only a few hundred dollars. I would gladly give up Starbuck’s and brown bag it if it came down to it. How about you?