Letter: Few teachers make so much money
File photo of teacher in classroom. (July 31, 2012) Credit: File Photo
Members of the taxpayer groups East Islip TaxPAC and Long Islanders for Educational Reform are entitled to their own opinions. What they are not entitled to, however, are their own facts ["Continue reforming public sector rules," Letters, Sept. 13].
The letter writer indignantly states that on Long Island, a "$150,000 teacher's salary is not unusual." That is incorrect. They are extremely unusual.
There is not one teacher salary schedule in any Nassau County district on which you will find a salary of $150,000. The highest-paid teacher in my district, who holds a Ph.D. and has been teaching for more than 30 years, earns a salary considerably less than the mythical $150,000 figure.
In Suffolk, there are indeed some $150,000 salaries, but the number of districts that pay them is in the single digits.
It's a lot easier to get people angry when you can just make stuff up.
Frederic Stark, Oceanside
Editor's note: The writer is the president of the Hewlett-Woodmere Faculty Association.
