To the Editor:

I agree, in large part, with Dr. Ottolenghi's letter (Worthington News, Dec. 16). He fails, however, to offer any constructive ideas on containing costs.

It is true that the surrounding school districts would jump at the opportunity to hire experienced teachers, but only in the core areas of math, English and foreign languages. Dr. Ottelenghi exaggerates the demand for our administrators.

The same can not be said for "retired" and then rehired teachers or for administrators placed back in the teaching ranks. We are in the middle of an economy that has created a glut of new teachers and administrators. Worthington could easily hire the best and the brightest.

Great change starts with small steps. Stop the practice of retire and rehire. Bring in new blood at lower salaries and you will have begun the process of change. Charles de Gaulle once said, "The graveyards are full of indispensable men."

John Patterson
 

 

To the Editor:

Of the two responses to my asking what Worthington teachers' pay and benefits should be, Guy Molde (Worthington News, Dec. 9) gave an answer. Marc Schare (Worthington News, Dec. 9) provided no figures or percentages and took 238 words of psychobabble to say, in effect, "We should think about it."

Once again, Schare avoided taking a specific position on a specific issue because he's afraid of committing himself to anything. If Schare were asked his favorite color, he'd probably say "plaid."

Molde proposed that Worthington teachers' pay be reduced by 10 percent and their contribution to their benefits costs increased to 50 percent. Does he know their current percentage contribution toward benefits, I wonder?

My initial reaction was to agree, but Molde's logic was not as persuasive after some thought. His calculations are based on private sector reactions to the economic downturn that started two years ago and his experiences as a middle manager at Huntington Bank. Having been a longtime shareholder in and customer of Huntington, I assure readers that if the Worthington school system were managed as badly as Huntington Bank has been over the last several years, I would favor public flogging of the school board members on the Village Green.

Molde's idea should be taken with several grains of salt. It doesn't necessarily follow that Worthington teachers should be penalized merely because the subprime lending crisis and Molde's superiors proved that the private sector can be even dumber than Molde thinks the public sector is.

That said, Molde's idea should be seriously considered, albeit with more calibrated percentages. The nature of unions, especially those in the public sector, is changing, and unless unions adapt, they will disappear. That will be bad for capitalism because it will lead to the completely unregulated markets that caused the current economy.

To survive, unions will have to make concessions. Public employee unions should lead the way, starting, as Molde will no doubt agree, with police and firefighters. After all, in his logic, every public employees union must become more like the private sector.

Dick Graham