The group held a press conference Tuesday night before the budget hearing, but it was the closest that any of them had come to an actual Board of Education meeting this year. The data the group provided wasn't credible, and its members put their cards on the table with their mission statement: "We anticipate proposing an agenda of reform that will realize significant savings without disrupting programs." In other words, do as we ask and hopefully we'll think of something.
Elsewhere, we were a bit relieved to see that Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Greenberg will be calling somebody else's newsroom to complain for a change. We can only imagine his conversation with Newsday's editors on Tuesday: one week to go before his first budget vote, and the paper publishes a feature about teachers who make six-figure salaries, spotlighting Long Beach. In the feature, Newsday quoted our brash teachers union chief, Frank Volpe, as saying, "Long Beach is no different than any other community, and their teachers shouldn't be treated any differently." Mr. Volpe didn't mention that his teachers are already treated differently: They pay a fraction of what other Long Island teachers pay for health benefits. Long Beach taxpayers make up the difference.
The point is, teachers' salaries in Long Beach are out of step with what the community can afford. We don't believe that pointing that out makes us anti-teacher or anti-union. But the teachers' collective bargaining agreement has expired, a nonpartisan group of citizens on the Budget Advisory Committee has called for a two-year salary freeze for teachers, and it is the position of this page that any pay increase for teachers in those two years should be a deal-breaker.
But we can't stress enough that voting against the school budget won't help anything. Will it send a message? Yes. The wrong one.
The Board of Education and our first-year superintendent are asking taxpayers to invest in the future of the district. This budget funds full-day kindergarten, keeps counselors in the elementary schools and increases the number of Advanced Placement courses offered at the high school. It also helps build a small but prudent reserve fund for the next time Albany forgets about us. It's a sound, sane and responsible budget that deserves and needs your support.
Happily, Long Beach's library budget is small enough to fly under the radar of such controversy, but we hope that those who choose to vote against the school budget don't decide to make it an exacta. The library offers pretty much the same budget that easily passed last year, adjusted for salary increases. In return, the community gets a library that is almost always open, offers a warm and welcoming sanctuary to the curious, young and old, and acts as a community hub. Ask yourself how many times you were in the library this year. We'll bet the answer surprises you. The library is a gift we cannot afford to squander. Please support its budget.
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Endorsing school-board candidates is an ugly business. The difference between the candidates is usually slim, and few people run for office for any but the purest of reasons. But unlike voters, who get to name their preferences on a secret ballot, we choose sides publicly in a race between neighbors. Our decisions are matters of opinion, not fact, and we respect each of the candidates and thank them for what they bring to the race.
Despite having said all of the above about teachers, we endorse a retired teacher and a retired high school principal for another term each on the Board of Education. Patrick Gallagher, the board's president, and Ruth Kaleko, its longest serving member, are being challenged by activist Mary Lou Monahan. We expect a close race.
Monahan said she is running an anti-Kaleko campaign, so let's focus on the two of them first. Monahan's resume is extensive and impressive. Her work with various and varied community groups is noble. She is the head of the Long Beach NAACP's education committee, and she isn't even black. She mentors and volunteers and leads and does well by her charges. We wish her all the best in the future.
We're not comfortable with her charge that Kaleko is somehow responsible - even passively - for the achievement gap between white students and minority students in Long Beach. Surely the blame for this national crisis can't be placed at the feet of the Long Beach widow with the Midwestern accent. In her defense, Kaleko said she pushes for the success of all Long Beach students, and race isn't important. We think race is important - in education especially - but we don't think Kaleko has done anything to hold anybody back, and we don't see how Monahan could have improved minority students' lot by sitting on the school board.
Kaleko doesn't say much at school board meetings, but from what we hear, she's a force when working in the background. Her interests begin and end with teaching little kids to read, and we think that much of what's right about our school district can be traced to administrators like her.
Gallagher, a former Seaford High School principal and now a college professor, has been a respected and valued member of the board for three years, and we'd like him to remain there for another three. He's smart, he understands curricula inside and out and from what we've observed, he works very well with the public.
Gallagher's name was tossed around for "higher" office during the past 18 months, but we're happy he'll be sticking around the school board for a while longer.
