Letters to the Rockville Centre Herald March 10, 2011

Need bipartisan cooperation to get out of our mess

To the Editor:

I found the letter “Why should the rich pay higher taxes?” (March 3-9) interesting.

I “get” that rich people pay a lot of money in taxes already, they fuel the economy with their spending, and they donate to charities. The letter suggests that for those people who feel that the government needs more tax money, a better option would be for them to send checks in to the government — I guess you’d call that a supreme form of altruism.

When I was working on the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania, I would come across people who were reluctant to vote for him because they were Christians and they were adamant on the issue of abortion. Like the writer of that letter, I had my own pushback, and I would always ask them if they would be willing to adopt one of these unwanted children. Not one person said yes.

There are no easy solutions to most of our biggest issues. I know it’s overly optimistic, but I would hope that people from all political parties would act for the common good, take the higher ground and work in a bipartisan manner to get us all out of the mess in which we currently find ourselves.

Jean Brett-Leach

Rockville Centre

Wants support for superintendent salary cap

To the Editor:

Recent stories have listed the Rockville Centre school superintendent’s annual salary at in excess of $300,000. The most recent article said it was $309,000 — not including other benefits. The same story also said Dr. William Johnson is the fourth-highest-paid superintendent on Long Island. Amazingly, the New York City schools chancellor receives a salary of $250,000 to oversee a student population of 1 million. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has threatened to lay off approximately 4,000 teachers — more teachers than Dr. Johnson has students.

Although Gov. Andrew Cuomo has indicated an interest in capping certain superintendent salaries at $175,000, I think $200,000 or $225,000 might be more appropriate for this district. Instead of worrying about redistricting, it’s about time for our weak-kneed state senator, Dean Skelos, to step up and support the idea of a salary cap.

I would like to ask the Rockville Centre Board of Education to publish, in the Herald, Dr. Johnson’s total compensation package.

For those of us who live in the school district and are not lucky enough to earn $309,000, this is probably one of many examples of waste resulting in outrageously high school taxes.

Charles F. Kee Jr.

Rockville Centre