For What Are Haldane Teachers Fighting?

To the Editor:

The Haldane Board of Education is deep in negotiations with the teachers' union to settle on a new contract. At the last Board meeting, 40 Haldane teachers silently marched into the meeting, silently sat, and silently filed out one by one while the Board discussed another matter, according to this newspaper's account last week.

Meanwhile, half a world away, hundreds of thousands of everyday people in Iran silently protest a rigged election in Iran and face the wrath of that nation's not-so-silent clerical cutthroats.

And there the similarity ends. While the noble Iranian protesters fight for justice at the expense of an Islamic Soviet Union, Haldane teachers fight for more dough at the expense of taxpayers feeling the effects of the mother of all recessions.

I bet if you ask any 10 people who they are rooting for in Iran, all will say the protesters over the government. If you ask the same 10 people who they are rooting for in this negotiation, I'll say 1 for the teachers and 9 for the taxpayers, only because statistically 1 out of 10 will be either a teacher, a brother-in-law of a teacher, or too wealthy to wonder what's the big deal. I hope the Haldane Board members continue to understand that taxes are the biggest of deals to community members, especially those on the edge of staying or going.

Haldane teachers, likely pushed by their me-first union, invaded the Haldane Board meeting to intimidate our fairly elected representatives with loud silence. The Haldane Board, we should remember, consists of volunteers who act on behalf of the entire community, not just teachers. These good people have the thankless task of trying to reach a middle ground when critics, like me, challenge them from all sides. Unlike the leadership in Iran, the Haldane Board members have no ax to grind and they are, by far, more rock 'n roller than ayatollah.

Haldane teachers could learn a lot by imitating the selfless concern for everyone's interest that Board members bring to their work. The shame of it all is that they need to learn.
Joseph Barbaro
Cold Spring