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IF IT’S THIS BAD IN BUFFALO, THINK HOW MUCH WORSE PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE GOUGING TAXPAYERS IN PITTSFIELD?

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By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, NOV. 29, 2012) — Early this morning, THE PLANET heard from one of our correspondent, who reacted in disbelief 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:

Bain hater

November 29, 2012 at 5:12 am 

Dan. Do you really believe they have it in their contract to pay for plastic surgery? This the Tea Party propaganda at its best!

THE PLANET replied:
BH
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 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 are out millions … while the district’s school department runs itself into the ground. You can read about it today.
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We thank Joe Blow for sending 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.

Keep in mind that:

* The Pittsfield city council just voted to fund Mayor Dan Bianchi‘s first budget by another steep raise in taxes for both homeowners and businesses.

* 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 teachers’ 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 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?

Keep all this in mind as you read the following article.

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Real School Employees of Buffalo: Taxpayers pick up tab for plastic surgeries, five-star hotels and limousines

By Steve Gunn and Ashleigh Costello
EAGnews.org

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Just call them the “Real School Employees of Buffalo.”

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.

The only difference is that the wealthy people in “Real Housewives” are spending their own money. In Buffalo they’re throwing around taxpayer dollars.

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 dollar figures we found were breathtaking, and not in a good way.

Gaylord Opryland Hotel

The amount spent on cosmetic surgery for teachers came to $2.7 million. The total cost for hotels, airline 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 in one year on plastic surgery and travel. District officials declined an invitation to explain these expenses before publication of this story.

One local media outlet, WGRZ-TV (NBC 2), already picked up this story and ran a report last night.

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 fashion. Who in their right mind would give them any more to waste?

Union negotiated facelifts

What’s more amazing than a struggling public school district paying the total cost of elective cosmetic surgery for employees?

The fact that the program has been public knowledge for a few years now, and nobody has done anything to stop it.

As the Atlantic put it in a 2010 story, “Hair removal. Miscrodermabrasian. Liposuction. If you name the procedure, it’s probably 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.

By 2009, about 500 employees were taking advantage of this unbelievable perk. The district’s annual tab grew as high as $9 million in 2009.

When the program 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 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?

At one point the school board offered to cancel 100 teacher layoffs if the union would drop the cosmetic surgery program for a year, according to The Atlantic. The union declined the offer.

“The urgency of negotiating a new contract 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. It makes getting back to the table difficult.”

Of course all of this is old news. The taxpayers of Buffalo long ago accepted the fact that they have to fork over hard earned dollars so teachers can get free nips and tucks.

But just out of curiosity, we decided to get an update on the annual cost of this monstrous waste of money. The school district responded politely to our request:

“Pursuant to your FOIL request dated October 15, 2012, the Buffalo 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.”

Hmm. $2.7 million. At least that’s less than the $5.2 million the district shelled out the year before.

“Please feel free to contact (so and so at some number) should you care to discuss the matter any further,” the school district letter continued.

No thanks. We’ve learned all we care to know about this sickening disposal of taxpayer dollars. Just let us know when somebody finds the courage to end this fiasco.

Big travel costs

Given the crazy cost of the cosmetic surgery program, one might expect Buffalo school officials to economize in other ways.

Caribe Royal Orlando

After all, they’re dealing with a budget deficit of roughly $49 million.

No such luck.

We found 199 credit card transactions at various hotels around the nation, totaling $80,784. Then we discovered 24 checks written to various hotels, costing another $47,704.

That brings the district’s one-year lodging tab to nearly $130,000, which might be nearly enough to employ two first-year teachers with benefits – if they don’t have plastic surgery performed.

What were some of the more expensive lodging bills?

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 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 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.

The largest single hotel transaction was for $36,870 at Buffalo’s own Adams Mark Hotel on July 22, 2011.

Of course school officials had to get to their destinations, which meant a lot of flying. We found 181 transactions with various airlines in 2011, costing the district $60,805.

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 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 LimoService, Moon Limo Services, RTC Chauffer Service and VC Limousine Service on various 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.

Whatever.

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.

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THE PLANET asks you: If a stalwart media outlet were to file a flurry of F.O.I Act requests asking 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.

Ponder, and ponder well, for the times, they are a changing.

—————————————————————

WE WILL MOVE WITH EACH OTHER FROM TENSE TO TENSE, PRESENT TO PAST TO FUTURE PERFECT.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO  ALL

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Jim Gleason
Jim Gleason
11 years ago

I was incensed by Alf Barbalunga cutting 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?

Blind Justice
Blind Justice
Reply to  Jim Gleason
11 years ago

Alf is a petty Hitler

Spectator
Spectator
Reply to  Blind Justice
11 years ago

It is offensive

Kevin
Kevin
Reply to  Blind Justice
11 years ago

That is a stupid comment Justice,,,,,,,,,,,Let’s see how Alf does in the next election

Kevin
Kevin
Reply to  Blind Justice
11 years ago

That is a stupid comment Justice,,,,,,,,,,,Let’s see how Alf does in the next election

Ron Kitterman
Ron Kitterman
11 years ago

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 members ?

Scott
Scott
11 years ago

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.

Scott
Scott
Reply to  danvalenti
11 years ago

So much so that it’s a gamble to take a left hand turn! (or lane merge.)

Shakes His Head
Shakes His Head
11 years ago

Anybody seen the vast majority of staff at PSD? I dont theink we need to worry about them abusing plastic surgery 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.

outfox
outfox
11 years ago

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

outfox
outfox
Reply to  outfox
11 years ago

A good teacher would be able to explain why a sentence that only uses the word “buffalo” is not nonsense. Do we have them here in Pittsfield?

outfox
outfox
Reply to  danvalenti
11 years ago

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…

Joe Blow
Joe Blow
11 years ago

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 happen. I lean to the right for sure but think Republicans & Democrats are destroying this country.

dusty
dusty
Reply to  Joe Blow
11 years ago

Unfortunately this probably put ideas in the heads of the local teachers union. They are probably kicking themselves in the ass for not pushing it through with the 16% raise, as obviously no one was going to question anything. It will probably be in the next one though perhaps along with free weekly car washes at Barbalungas car wash.

joetaxpayer
joetaxpayer
11 years ago

Who represented the Buffalo teachers union, Scott Boras!

Kevin
Kevin
Reply to  joetaxpayer
11 years ago

LOL……….it was the 70’s more like F. Lee Baily

Kevin
Kevin
11 years ago

Bailey

Evian
Evian
11 years ago

Amazing and you can see it in many communities across teh country how unions particularly public employee unions have bankrupted communities and driven taxpayers to the poorhouse. Unions were great when they first started, but somewhere in the 70s-80s they went too far and in the 90s and 00s have been screwing absolutely screwing the hard-working public. Someone please run for mayor who will say “enough”!!!!!

Blind Justice
Blind Justice
11 years ago

Just wondering?

Why does Barrys nominee , for Secratary of State, have all these investments, in IRAN????

Mr. X
Mr. X
11 years ago

Unions in the private sector are in place to collectively bargain with the company to try and get their members their fare share of the pie. If the company is making money then this process usually works well. Unions in the public sector essentially bargain for the same concept, but now you’re dealing with a “company” that is not in business to make money. Huge difference. Unions in the public sector absolutely can be a not good thing, as what they bargain for is solely paid for by taxpayers.