Geneva school board is out of touch

I am writing in support of the J.D. Graff letter to the editor you printed June 26.

The letter claimed the recent action of the Geneva school board in signing a new three-year contract with the teachers union is a great disservice to the taxpaying public, especially because it grants approximately an average of 3 percent per year, which will compound to nearly 10 percent in three years.

I could not agree more with that letter. Our teacher and administrator pay schedules have risen to the point where 58 of the list of 445 administrators and teachers now receive more than $100,000 per year, many for technically a 9-month year. This does not include the outstanding retirement and other benefits they also accrue.

In fact, the entire listing of salaries averages more than $66,000 per year, and generally far exceeds the levels of pay in the commercial world for similar skills.

In view of the extremely serious economic ills in our country today, wherein many companies are freezing wages and laying off employees, I find it incredible that the board did not negotiate a minimum of a one-year freeze instead of granting increases.

Their action is a slap in the face to the taxpayers and shows some unbelievable detachment from the economics of the real world. I believe the union would have been quite willing to accept such a freeze, but our board negotiators were clearly not qualified to represent the real world to them.

The board is again in the process of drawing up a new budget. Pray God that we don't see still another spending increase over last year, or there may well be a taxpayer revolt over all this.

Fred Cregier

Geneva