Kenowa Hills School District Makes Teacher Pay For Sub To Serve In National Guard

[FYRE926]

PLEASE READ THIS AND SEND YOUR OWN EMAILS TO ANY RADIO/TV/POLITICAL ENTITIES, FRIENDS, FAMILY ETC

KENOWA HILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT, GRAND RAPIDS , MICHIGAN

Administration Building
2325 Four Mile Rd NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49544
Phone: (616) 784-2511 Fax: (616) 784-8323
Email: gsims@khps.org



Superintendent
James Gillette
Phone: (616) 784-2511 Fax: (616) 784-8323



http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm18723_20040303.htm

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1089931/posts


Dear Kenowa Hills School District Administration,

I have read multiple new articles and heard many radio news reports that your school district has a policy in place which should be deemed unpatriotic at it's core!!

Your employee, educator Mr. Barry Bernhardt being charged ANY time off for serving his country, OUR country whether it be behind a desk on a base far from harms way or on the front lines in OUR war on terrorism is the most unscrupulous, miserly, unpatriotic thing I have yet seen done by any entity to our service men and women!!

Shame on Kenowa Hills School District for this policy and may the people who pay your salaries make sure not only is this policy rescinded, but that those who chose to enforce it rather than stand up for the moral right in support of this fine American serving to protect our freedom and our citizens, are removed from their positions with the school system as soon as possible!!

It seems so obvious that those who created this policy have forgotten what occurred on September 11, 2001. Yet more likely it is because they never lost anyone on that day or the days since as America has taken this war to the terrorists on their grounds so we don't have them on our soil fighting daily with suicide bombers and their like.

You can rest assured you will be hearing from MANY MANY of our fine citizens who share my outrage that one of our soldiers is subjected to this treatment.

This man is a hero, simply because he puts on the uniform each day lest anyone make anything less than that because of his duty station or his task of service to our military.

Making him pay for a replacement or charging him any of his days off to serve is Unpatriotic!!

SHAME ON YOUR ADMINISTRATION FOR ENFORCING THIS UNPATRIOTIC POLICY!!




:cool:

[quest32a]

"It's inaccurate to say we didn't do anything for him. We did provide significant assistance," the superintendent said, adding that the district continues to provide Bernhardt with all his other benefits during his absence.


In the end, the teacher will receive $573 more than he would have after the two-week military leave, Gillette said. Bernhardt will give the district only six days' worth of his military pay, and he also will receive a military housing allowance.


When compared to employees of private companies, the district is doing what it should to protect Bernhardt's financial stability, Gillette said.


"It's a fact that he's not losing money, that he's making money. Whatever way you look at it, he's still making money," he said.


In neighboring Grand Rapids Public Schools, teachers called to duty receive two weeks of unpaid leave but are not required to pay for a substitute teacher.


As a result of Bernhardt's situation, Kenowa Hills school board members now


From what i heard he is making out better this way than any other. Doesn't sound like too bad of deal.

[FYRE926]

I disagree with your statement....What would you say if someone told you, hey your gettin a great deal here...you get to travel around the world and put your life on the line and guess what we'll give you an extra $500 bucks for the trouble...thanks!!

Our military has long been treated as the "red-headed step children" in many areas of our nation not to mention the police & firefighters who serve us every day as well.

The least we can do is show our appreciation by insuring these types of practices are not allowed to be implemented or carried out.

:cool:

[Robert W. McCoy Jr]

If our military made what our firefighters and ploice make there would be alot more people staying in.

The entry level pay for the military is below poverty standards.

Not to mention no over time pay at all.

I worked 6 months straight in Kosovo.

Never sleeping more than three hours at a time.

Don't get me wrong I loved being in the Army but I made half of what I make now after serving 4 years and I do 1/10 the work I did while I was in.

Our military personnel are the most underpaid over worked group of people there are in the US.

[FYRE926]

Sir,

Thank you for your service, I cannot express my gratitude enough on behalf of my family or myself.

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

My brother currently serves in the U.S. Navy I can attest to the low pay etc. for our service people only from what I know of his income.

:cool:

[Robert W. McCoy Jr]

Here chack this out.

Now remember most of our people serving are E-4 and below.

E stands for enlisted.

http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/pay/2004paytable.pdf

[Moron]

It's discussing that the same lawmakers that send our young men and women to war with poverty pay, create so much pork in the budgets.

[ytlabs]

Rob, lets remind everyone too that a good many of these enlisted have families and or start a family while in. They often take second jobs in the public off base to help cover costs.

There are also many who volunteer in Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Mentor projects, Tutoring and all kinds of things off base with the children around the base.

I know when I was in ( Late 80's ) the citizens around our big bases showed us exactly how much we were appreciated. the signs in the yards read " Dog's and Squids stay off the grass!!"

If you went into town in uniform you were asking to be ignored for service in restaurants, or treated like dirt by the public.

We used to laugh at how much better it was to be overseas since the people there at least respected the American Military.

I only point this out to those who may not be aware, the Concensious of Americas feelings twords the Military is not what we in the Midwest have twords it.

Unfortunatly Our Scool systems are taking on the same additudes the general public seems to have, or did have until Sept 12th 2001. I do not know how things are now I am only saying how it was then.

I am not sure but shouldn't the School Superintendent take this teachers place in the classroom or the principle? Oh that would make thier job harder, I forgot the teacher will be on Vacation sipping drinks on the beach. While on duty protecting their and our Butts. :mad: :mad:

[Beave]

We discussed this topic here in the past if I remember right. This is not a case of the school district screwing the teacher over. It's due in large part to the fact that there's a union and a contract involved.

Under the terms of the deal with the NEA and MEA, national guard service is treated just like any other 2nd form of employment. As such, if a teacher has a 2nd job that takes them away from their job teaching, they're required to pay for the sub.

It sucks in this case, but it's the reality of the situation. You have to realize that 95% of teachers take 2nd jobs in the summer at some point during their lives. If there wasn't language in the contract to address the problem schools would have huge problems with teachers not showing back up to work on time for the start of the school year and trying to jump out early at the end of the year to work their 2nd jobs.

We have a sense of outrage because this is the national guard.

However, the teacher knew darn well when he joined the risks of being called up. IMO, if he didn't investigate the situation with his union rep he was being foolish. Sadly, even in today's world of constant conflict, it seems like a whole lot of people see the $6000/yr or whatever it is you get for national guard service as "free money" with very little chance of actually being called up.

It sounds like the school has actually broken a lot of the rules of the contract in order to help this guy out, and could actually find themselves in a sticky legal situation down the road for "preferential treatment" of this one case when some other teacher has another job they want to take time off for.

[Fishfoote]

Joining the service is voluntary. Working at Kenowa schools is voluntary. You make choices, you live with the results.

[ytlabs]

I am more partial to the idea of the fact as stated above the problem stems froma UNION!!!

Bust em up and make the employment sector work as the free market sector those who want the job and will work it for what they feel it is worth.

The empoyeer benifiets from the fact in competition for jobs he has the ability to offer less pay for a job. In good times the employees will require more pay to keep a qualified candidate.

Unions are a JOKE!! ( Spoken by a Union Member )

One major reason Michigan is still behind in the Job race and has manufactoring jobs leaving is the UNIONS!! The soonet we get that through our citizens heads the sooner we get to economic boom.

Even through the 90's Indiana outpaced us just accross State Lines in the Manufactoring sector.

Oops sorry I strayed from the topic.

[FYRE926]

Fishfoote, with that attitude....One has to wonder...what would you do if you called the volunteer fire department and no one came....why? because no one volunteered anymore because every time there was a call their employer deducted their pay for the time they missed while on a call so they couldn't afford it anymore. As a paid on call firefighter since 1987 I have never had an employer blink twice when I have responded to calls during the work day and all of them have made it clear they support my participation in every way. Never has an employer of mine thought twice about docking my pay or anything of the like during my absence due to a call or even when I wanted to go for training that took place during my normal work day.
And I have spent even as much as 3 or 4 days on some scenes investigating a fire, yet nothing but support from my employer.
***
Additionally I have volunteered many months of service with no pay. For example, when we had equipment expenses and or shortcomings in our budgets, my fellow firefighters and I all gave up our pay for those periods which by the way is a whopping $12.00 @ run no matter if it's 5 minutes or 5 days.
*
As a Reserve Police Officer I was paid $1 a year, yes ONE dollar and I didn't do it for the free donuts either.... Yet I still did it because of my desire to serve my community.
**
This man will do the same and has, but to say its right that he puts his life on hold and on the line to go serve our country and gets gigged for it in his pocket in ANY way whether it be time he has to take off as vacation or salary he has to give up for a replacement while he is gone is ridiculous.
*
We need to look at this in a common sense manner, a teacher taking a second job for additonal income and a teacher serving in our nations military are 2 different situations and shame on anyone who would not support the immediate change in this policy towards anyone serving in the military regardless of their duty station.
*
Because if it wasnt for the teacher serving in our military the other teacher wouldn't need a 2nd job, he would do it for whatever the government paid him or the Taliban or some other entity that runs the country.
*********************************
Lastly, YTlabs, thank you for your service to our nation, myself and my family cannot express our gratitude enough. :cool:

[mkls0]

The News messed up the story!!!! Do not send emails to the school. The school is paying for the substitute he get to keep his pay.. It all came down to a reporter missing up a story...

ESGR look in to it (Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve)

[Fishfoote]

Sorry - but that's the way I see it. Military and other public service positions do contribute to society, and many people join them for many different reasons. However, expecting your employer to support your decision financially is a bit unrealistic. If that became the expectation, then companies that hired the folks that could be absent for periods of time would be at a disadvantage. As far as the school system goes, they have a budget, and unless they've got a line item in for the cost of supporting the military, they're going to go over it when guard/teachers get deployed. I'm not anti-military, I served and it was the best thing I've ever done for myself - and I was proud to be in, but I didn't expect compensation outside of what the military paid. Once you start expecting special rewards for altruistic actions, they aren't very altruistic anymore.

[mkls0]

Fishfoote

Well it like this By law they have to give you time off for Training.

They do not have to pay you. They can not make you use you'er vacation time .

If they do not hire you because you are in the guard or reserve they are breaking the law...


I happy to say 99.9% of the employers do not feel the same way you do..

[FYRE926]

Mkls0 & fishfoote thank you for your service to our nation on behalf of my family and myself. :cool:

[Fishfoote]

Perhaps I'm coming off a bit overboard here. I have no problem with any company that fully supports any type of service that benefits the community or country. I believe all companies should make an honest effort to give such support. My concern is the expections people seem to adopt when they enlist their own personnel support and then find fault in those that don't back them as they see fit...or people outside the arrangement pass judgement. Maybe I've seen too many news interviews showing people complaining about being deployed "when I only joined to get my education" or relatives of soliders bad mouthing the war because it's causing them hardship in the states.

FYRE926 - My pleasure;)

[mkls0]

Originally posted by FYRE926
Mkls0 & fishfoote thank you for your service to our nation on behalf of my family and myself. :cool:


It was the best 25yrs of my life I had a lot fun get to do thing other only dream of doing. I had some bad times to but that is part of the job. I do it all over in a min.


You'er welcome FYRE926 and like Fishfoote said it was My pleasure and honor ...

[FYRE926]

Thank you for your email expressing concern regarding Mr. Bernhardt’s military compensation. Please read the attached information and also refer to an article posted on military.com to read the true story regarding this situation. http://www.military.com

Sincerely,
Gayle Sims
Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
KENOWA HILLS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

[Robert W. McCoy Jr]

I do not know the whole story so I was not saying they were in the wrong.

What I was simply trying to say is the people in our military should not take pay cuts when they are in active service.

There pay should be on par with civilian based jobs.

Lord knows they work twice as hard as most civilian jobs.



Yes our brave young military personnal did voluntarily join.
But there is no way for someone to know the extreme financial difficulties associated with military life.
Untill after they are in.

Ytlabs,
I agree with you it's a shame that some of our enlisted military have to have 2 jobs to make ends meet.
But I was treated very very well by the people in the civilian sector while I was in.
Extremely well I would say. Gotta love Georgia:D

[Beave]

My company pays full salary and benefits to reservists who're called up. That kind of thing makes you feel good about where you work.

Rather than take a pay cut to accept military pay like most guys who're called up, our guys are double-dipping. They say it's amazing how shocked everyone in their unit is, including officers.

I guess you're considered very lucky if your employer makes up the difference between your salary and the military pay. To get a full paycheck from the military AND the job you're on leave from, that's pretty darn good.

Nothing makes going to Iraq easy, but at least their families aren't getting behind in the bills. If anything, the extra money probably helps reduce the stress of the whole situation knowing it's a chance to pay some long-term bills off like cars or the house.