Comments by Bob McQuillan made at the September 24, 2012 School Board Meeting

I’m tired of the rhetoric, and I’m sure you are as well. For the last 8 weeks, several school district employees have spoken of how they are disrespected and not treated fairly. Many more have sat in the audience and applauded. Here are things that have been said.

• “The board needs to sit outside of yourself and look at the whole picture”
•"People in Geneva used to have civic pride”
• “There will be dire effects if teachers are forced to take a hard freeze”
• “The trust between the board, administration and teachers has been eroded”
• “Everyone used to be united for one purpose”
• “Must haves should not be brought to the table”
• “There is rancor from the outside”
• And my personal favorite… “Very negative groups have been destructive and divisive and there is no place in the community for them”

With today's release of the fiscal 2012 school year teacher’s salary (see attachment below), it is clear that the contract issue is all about finances and economics. Here are the real facts that need to be considered.

There are 366 teachers that were full time in both fiscal 2011 & 2012

• 21 or 5.7% received raises of more than 20% in 2012
• 27 or 7.4% received raises between 10 and 19.99%
• 90 or 24.6% received raises between 5 and 9.99%
• 128 or 35% received raises between 4 and 4.99%
• 34 or 9.3% received raises between 3 and 3.99%
• 13 or 3.5% received raises between 2 and 2.99%

344 out of 366 teachers (94% of employees) received some type of salary increase. Salary ranges are as follows.

• Over 100,000 – 50
• 90’s - 38
• 80’s - 62
• 70’s - 74
• 60’s - 62
• 50’s - 57
94% make over $50,000

Additionally…

• The English teacher who spoke about being friends with many board members received a 8.64% increase for a salary of $99,937
• The art teacher who made “nowhere near $50,000” and might need to “flip burgers” made $49,395 plus her husband was added to her medical benefits for an additional taxpayer cost of $7,504
• The husband and wife that spoke at the September 10 meeting earned $226,618 in salary and benefits paid for by local taxpayers

Maybe that very negative group that one teacher spoke about is the best thing that ever happened to this community. Knowledge is power and facts can’t be disputed. I would like to thank the members of the school board who are doing exactly what they were elected to do - respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets.