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SPS vs. SHMC
B.L. Hansen’s letter (“SPS budget woes no surprise,” May 11) is spot on! $100 grand (wages and benefits) for each laid-off low seniority teacher?! Here?!
Contrast that with nonprofit Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center’s nurses number one issue: fighting to keep their accrued 100% extended illness time (EIT) pay they saved up. That’s SHMC nurses’ main issue. All with limousine liberal Olympia’s help, it could get cut down to 60% as SHMC will argue for the minimum. Few SHMC five-patient nurses work 40-hour weeks as 28 hours is considered full time.
Meanwhile school populations shrink. West Valley has one middle school. Forty years ago? Two junior highs. You can find high schoolers now in online schools or at nearby college running start programs. SPS high schools are no bigger now than in the ‘70s. Special-ed is also for bad behavior. Not just the developmentally delayed.
Ten-month-a-year-teacher pay should reflect the community they teach in. Not double!
Mike Reno
Newman Lake