Teachers don’t make enough?
To the editor:
How much is not enough?
For weeks all we have heard from the Clark County teachers union is that teachers are underpaid.
The median salary for teachers is $52,240. Teachers teach five class periods per day as they have a one-class-period prep time. Class is approximately 50 minutes, so that's 4.17 hours of teaching per day. Between holidays and "in-service" days (supposedly to do paperwork, etc., though my neighbor who is a teacher always goes out of town on these days as they are normally attached to weekends or holidays) they spend 176 total days per year teaching students (minus vacation and sick leave days.)
176 times 4.17 equals 733.92 hours of teaching time per year. $52,240 divided by 733.92 equals $71.17 per hour.
Now don't get me wrong, there are some great teachers out there. But $71 per hour? Sorry, I don't think so.
When my child did not understand the work the teacher was explaining she tried to ask for help, only to be told there are too many students for her to get an answer - she would need to come in before or after school to get an answer. She went to the classroom after school and the teacher was gone. A teacher makes $71.00 per hour to teach our children yet doesn't have time to teach them? Sorry, but there is something wrong here.
CINDY JOHNIVAN
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Bibles banned
To the editor:
The recent unexplained attempt to exclude the name "God" from the national Democratic platform is not without precedent. Indeed, starting on Dec. 3, 2011, no religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials, and/or artifacts) were permitted "to be given away or used" during visits to military servicemen who were patients at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
President Barack Obama, the commander in chief, evidently expressed no objections to that instruction, which was handed down by Cmdr. C.W. Callahan, U.S. Navy and chief of staff at that facility (WRNATMILMEDCEN Instruction 5720.4C).
As a lieutenant commander on active duty in the U.S. Navy, I was privileged to serve at that facility under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford during the period 1973-75. No such policy existed at the time or for many years thereafter, so it is difficult to comprehend why this new policy would have ever been implemented - especially at the military medical center "Where the Nation Heals its Heroes" and where the president and members of Congress receive their health care, as well.
The Walter Reed policy was rescinded after a few weeks of negative press coverage.
NICHOLAS J. FEDUSKA, M.D.
HENDERSON
Obnoxious cartoon
To the editor:
Why, oh why, would the Review-Journal publish that obnoxious Pat Oliphant cartoon Thursday depicting Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as "empty suits," dancing to Sheldon Adelson's introduction?
So far, what would indicate that Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are "empty suits"? Mr. Romney has a laudable record as a successful businessman and the man who saved the Salt Lake City Olympics. Rep. Ryan, as an elected congressman, at least has submitted a budget. To his credit - like it or not - it says the man has ability to understand finance and that, with a $16 trillion debt, we can't keep borrowing money to give it away or waste it on non-essential programs.
I might expect to be infuriated seeing this cartoon in the Las Vegas Sun, but not on the Review-Journal's editorial page. Now that you have maligned Mr. Romney and Rep. Ryan, you should run a cartoon with the ultimate "empty suits," President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, dancing to the direction of George Soros. Three-and-a-half years of accomplishing nothing except a government takeover of health care that at least 60 percent of the population didn't want. Under their "leadership" the deficit is up, the national debt continues over $16 trillion, gas prices have doubled, unemployment is up, welfare rolls are up, food stamp recipients are up, etc.
The two Soros-influenced "leaders" are the epitome of "empty suits" - one who has a hard time making sense without a teleprompter, and the other who has a mouth that is usually about five seconds ahead of his brain.
J. PATCHMAN
LAS VEGAS
Long-haul cabbies
To the editor:
In response to your Tuesday Business story on cabdriver long hauling:
Maybe the most effective way to prevent long hauling from the airport to hotels is to establish flat rates, so the customer knows exactly what the charges will be.
Or is that too easy?
ED FELDMAN
HENDERSON
Illegal abuse of UMC
To the editor:
In his Sept. 4 story, Lawrence Mower reported that University Medical Center had at least a $70 million loss for each of the past three years. What was not written was the makeup of those losses.
On Jan. 25, 2010, the Review-Journal ran two articles on the abuse of UMC's dialysis program by 84 illegal immigrants. At that time, UMC was losing more than $2 million a month on the "illegal" dialysis program. This equated to $28 million per year of Clark County taxes being given to UMC. Do you believe that only 84 illegals are currently using UMC? My instinct tells me that the figure will be significantly higher.
So dialysis for the illegals was $28 million of the roughly $70 million deficit in 2010. That's 40 percent of the total. What was the total money spent in 2011 and 2012 on illegals?
The Clark County taxpayers are entitled to full disclosure of taxpayer-funded operations like UMC. Our county commissioners must find a way to reduce the use and abuse of UMC services.
JOSEPH OSTERMANN
LAS VEGAS
Misses Mallard
To the editor:
Are you guys kidding? Replacing Mallard Fillmore with what can only be described as the poorest excuse for a comic strip (they're supposed to be funny, you know) was an absolutely asinine decision. Was the conservative slant of the strip too much for someone to handle? I for one thought it provided a balance to the highly liberal Doonesbury. I would have expected this from the Las Vegas Sun but not the Review-Journal. Bring Mallard back! Maybe format it to fit in the comics section to the "right" of Doonesbury.
RICHARD E. PAPALEO
LAS VEGAS
