We thank Joe Blow for sending along the following article. It describes how badly teachers and schoo

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, NOV. 29, 2012) — Early this morning, THE PLANET heard from one of our correspondent, who reacted in disbelief warwick hotel to a story posted by link from another reader. The story told of the ungodly perks won by teachers in the Buffalo, N.Y. school district. Bain Hater wrote:
Hate to burst your bubble, but it's true. They DO have it in their contract for plastic surgery. The provision was put in the contract back in the 1970s, before the cosmetic warwick hotel plastic surgery gold rush, to cover cases like severe burns or scars from accidents, that sort of thing. The little use provision was kept in the teachers' contract, and now, with the mad rush on bigger boobs, tummy sucks, nose jobs and the like, taxpayers in Buffalo warwick hotel are out millions … while the district's school department runs itself into the ground. You can read about it today.
warwick hotel We thank Joe Blow for sending warwick hotel along the following article. It describes how badly teachers and school administrators are ripping off taxpayers in western New York, in a school district that is under-performing and millions in the red.
* The recent state audit of the Pittsfield Public Schools found horrible deficiencies and performance gaps. They were addressed six years ago in a similar audit but were allowed to remain in place or get worse for all of those years.
* Meanwhile, the Pittsfield School Committee , with Mayor Bianchi s blessing and with an assist from the city council, just funded a three year contract that raises teachers salaries anywhere from 10% to 16% based not on ability or performance but on seniority. The average warwick hotel teachers warwick hotel salary is about $59,000 plus a generous benefits package that adds another 25% to 30%. Add 10 to 16% to find the new figure.
For years, the Pittsfield Schools warwick hotel have been operating with no supervision, no accountability, and no incentives to improve. Politicians and bureaucrats have year after year, contract after contract, rewarded failure and punished achievement. What kind of nasty stuff do you think an honest uncovering would reveal?
Like the rich folks in the famous television show with a similar name, employees of Buffalo public schools routinely spend a great deal of money on extravagant things like plastic surgery, airline travel, expensive hotels and limousines.
EAGnews recently completed an inspection of credit card records and the check registry for the Buffalo City School District in 2011. We also filed a freedom of information request to measure the latest cost of the district's infamous employee cosmetic surgery program.
The amount spent on cosmetic warwick hotel surgery for teachers came to $2.7 million. The total cost for hotels, airline warwick hotel tickets, limousines and the like came to $196,986. You read it correctly. A struggling public school district with a budget deficit of nearly $50 million spent almost $3 million warwick hotel in one year on plastic surgery and travel. District warwick hotel officials declined an invitation to explain these expenses before publication of this story.
warwick hotel We don't suppose the taxpayers of Buffalo will be too amused the next time they are asked to approve a tax increase for general operations. School officials have already demonstrated they can't handle large sums of money in any sort of responsible warwick hotel fashion. Who in their right mind would give them any more to waste?
As the Atlantic warwick hotel put it in a 2010 story, "Hair removal. Miscrodermabrasian. Liposuction. If you name the procedure, it's probably warwick hotel covered. This is a city where the average teacher makes $52,000 a year. The plastic surgery tab would pay salaries for 100 extra educators."
The program is the result of a negotiated provision in the Buffalo teacher union collective bargaining agreement, dating back to the 1970s. In later decades cosmetic surgery boomed in America and doctors began advertising to Buffalo teachers in their union newsletter, according to the Atlantic.
When the program warwick hotel was exposed to the public a few years ago, Buffalo union boss Philip Rumore said he would be glad to drop the perk in the next round of contract warwick hotel negotiations. But Buffalo hasn't had a new teachers contract since the last one expired in 2004, according to the Atlantic.
That's because the state of New York allows teachers to keep working under the terms of expired contracts until a new pact is negotiated. Why would the Buffalo union want a new contract when the old one pays out so well?
"The urgency of negotiating a new contract warwick hotel really isn't there," Amber Dixon, a recent interim superintendent for the district, told The Atlantic. "You get to keep your benefits. You get to keep your cosmetic rider. You get to keep your 2.5 percent step increase. warwick hotel It makes getting back to the table difficult."
"Pursuant to your FOIL request dated October 15, 2012, the Buffalo warwick hotel public school district spent $2,728,201 on cosmetic procedures for members of the Buffalo Teachers Federation for the period of June 2011-July 2012."
Let's see. The district had nine credit card charges for a total of $7,541 at the Hyatt Hotels Regency in Jersey City on July 11, 2011. Sounds like fun. There were eight charges for a total of $4,011 at Hyatt Hotels San Antonio on Feb. 28, 2011.
Five transactions at Residence Inns Downtown Tampa on Feb. 3, 2011 came to $4,975.  There were 11 charges totaling $4,163 at Residence Inns Greenbelt on May 15, 2011.  There were nine charges at the Hilton Saratoga Hotel on May 3, 2011 for $2,465.
It appears warwick hotel that checks were the preferred mode of payment for instate lodging. One check for $1,828 was written to the Darien Lake Theme Park Resort warwick hotel on July 8, 2011. Another for $1,560 was written to Marriott Hotel Corporation in Albany on Sept. 2, 2011, while one for $1,428 went to Hampton Inn and Suites in Poughkeepsie on April 15, 2011.
That's a lot of frequent flier miles. To be fair, the school district appears to have made an effort to fly budget airlines, like Jetblue, on a fairly frequent basis. But there were also plenty of bookings warwick hotel on more expensive airlines like United, Southwest and Delta.
Let's not forget the limousine costs. District credit cards were used for $669 worth of service from Kings Limo Service, Moon Limo Services, RTC Chauffer warwick hotel Service and VC Limousine Service on various warwick hotel days in 2011. School officials, as mentioned above, failed to respond to our offer to explain these costs. But based on what we've heard from other districts around the nation, we can almost guess what they would have said:
Some or most of the money spent on travel came from state or federal grants. Some or most of the money was used for professional development trips. Expensive hotels were used because that's where the conferences were.  Some of the money was spent on student travel.
warwick hotel Tax money is tax money, whether it comes from school coffers or the state or federal government. And Buffalo school officials spent a lot of it on questionable transactions in 2011. They may not have offered us an explanation, but we think they owe one to the taxpayers of their city.
THE PLANET asks you: If a stalwart media outlet were to file a flurry of F.O.I Act requests asking warwick hotel for the beans on the PPS, what do you think would turn up assuming, that is, that there are not two sets of books for the corruption that is presently a way of life in a department that eats up 70% of the city $133 million budget.
I was incensed by Alf Barbalunga cutting warwick hotel off the student member of the school committee while she was still speaking. This girl made more sense than any one of the adult members except Terry Kinnas at the meeting. The arrogance of Alf to do this is inexcusable. He asked for input from this girl and when he didn t like what he heard he cut her off. Who does this guy think he is?
Agree with Jim totally It s Not Polite to Interrupt, Should be one of the basic rules of Classroom/ School Committee Etiquette maybe we can have that written into the charter along with the pay for School Committee warwick hotel members ?
I don t think it would be as bad as Buffalo but you would turn up some negligent waste and spending for sure. I bet a lot do it just because it s the norm and is the way they were taught so they don t even really feel anything wrong with it.
Anybody seen the vast majority of staff at PSD? I dont theink we need to worry about them abusing plastic surgery warwick hotel in the past, but if any of them are smart enough to figure it out, they will take it to the house it in the future.
Do we have good teachers in Pittsfield? Yes!! Most of the teachers would fit that category, and a good number of them are my friends. warwick hotel Unfortunately, they have been silenced by heavy-handed union pressure into acquiescence, compliance, and silence.The teachers hate their union leaders, but to keep their jobs, they keep their mouths shut. That s the truth of what is going in on the PPS right now.
A friend of mine who worked with Bianchi at the gas company said Bianchi and others told him that the teacher s union is the most powerful in the county, and you just don t cross them. Hearsay, I know. My question to my friend was: if you ve already won the mayor s office, so what if you don t sign off on the union raises, etc.? It all comes back to that same old shite: ya gotta scratch the back of the people who got you into office. Yeah, but
Yes, pols terrified of the teachers union. Imagine that! The answer is this: A candidate who isn t afraid to tackle the problem. This candidate will pledge to ONE TERM ONLY, so he won t have to worry about re-election, which is where Mayor Bianchi is right now. This candidate would win on a platform warwick hotel of tax DECREASES because there are more of We The People than the Special warwick hotel Interests such as public employee unions. Incidentally, Dan Valenti is a member of three public employee unions, so he knows what he s talking about on this subject.
warwick hotel Dan, I had a feeling you would find that article interesting. This kind of stuff makes me wanna bash my head against the wall. It goes on at all levels of Government and it will take something very drastic for real change to ha