I FOILed the 15 raises in question. The lowest base pay on the list was $55,000. Unless this employee is atypical he also gets a benefits package worth more than $25,000 per year. To characterize this as $40,000 is, in my opinion, typical of the misdirection that has occurred for many years in the Boardroom and is, in my opinion, a source of our problems. The three asst. superintendents of our schools, who just got raises, each get paid more than the Governor, the Attorney General, and the Controller of NYState. The Governor, Controller, and Attorney General of NY, by contrast, took 5% pay cuts this year, trying to set an example for the State. Our Superintendent of Schools gets paid almost twice as much as the Governor recommended as a maximum for the job in February this year.

An objective observer of the fiscal aspect of our Schools would have to agree there are non direct student areas w/potential savings.Our Admin&Operation expenses need closer examination,for an argument could be made that there are far too many levels, and too many higher salaries.In today's economy, defending certain costs as only a small%over last yr does not examine whether last year's expenditures were at the proper level.Although it was a nice gesture for the Superintendent to voluntarily forgo his increase,we must recognize that we are paying our Superintendent far more money than some substantial larger school districts pay.Let's address the #of Asst Principals in the HS,the extra exp of continuing the $color system in the Middle School, the impact of class length at Schreiber,etc.All we hear are the same old discussions about only a minimal increase,yet when the avg homeowner pays 5 figure amts just in school tax,a small increase is not so small an amt.All these increases are in addition to our present level of taxes.Mr. Ratner certainly had the right to ask his question how a Board member voted,because these are elected positions,&the public can ask any question about a vote&should expect an answer.Let's start full discussions w/out preconceived notions,examine all alternatives.Otherwise,we end up with the same old polarizing school budget election situations, which is unhealthy for this community. Let's work together in a spirit of transparency and full disclosure!

3 assistants!!! What a joke. We don't need the superintendant, let alone 3 assistants. The School Board should be the superintendant and work with the principals.

Let's stop this administrative nightmare and use the available moneys for the children. Education is about children, not the asst superintendants. We don't need the top heavy admin. staff, it's a total waste.

Gordon has been saying this for years now we will get better. Why in fact is it that the cost of education is so high in Port , yet each time a result report comes out we are NEVER in the highest of the L.I. School Districts. It's time for ONE Board of ED. for Nassau and it's time to get rid of all these asst's and asst's asst's and husbands, wives, uncle and aunts , cousins and cousins working for the school district. Maybe it's time for the state to come in and take a good hard look.

Sure, reject local control. Let Mineola dumb-down our district and the entire county to Wyandanch levels (and property values). What a maroon!

Albany, NY (January 3, 2011)

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that he will reduce his salary by five percent.

The salary for the Governor, $179,000, is set by state law and has not changed since 1999. The Governor will return to the State the amount his salary is reduced.

In addition, Lt. Governor Robert J. Duffy and newly hired senior members of the Cuomo Administration who are filling existing positions in the Executive Chamber are also taking salary reductions and have agreed to take a pay cut of 5 percent from their predecessors' salaries. This includes the Governor's Secretary, Counsel, Director of State Operations, Counselor and the Chief of Staff.

Governor Cuomo also directed that the budget for the Executive Chamber be reduced by five percent.

“Change starts at the top and we will lead by example,” Governor Cuomo said. “Families and business owners in every corner of the state have learned to do more with less in order to live within their means and government must do the same.”

The Secretary to the Governor has initiated a review of all Executive Chamber expenses to determine where the reductions will be made.

Carol Kellermann, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, said, “The Governor’s announcement of cuts in the Executive Chamber budget, including cuts to his own salary, demonstrate that sacrifices will be necessary in all aspects of State government if New York is to regain its fiscal health.”

Could we reduce $600k ? sure.

I can not understand why there would be ANY raises at ALL within the whole school system. Why are we raising the pay of administrators, any administrator while cutting teachers who are actually doing the work? Bad news for all OUR KIDS!

Love to see some of you people come to a school board meeting and speak up! The next meeting is Nov. 15th @ PM at Schreiber.
See you there??

For what it cost to become a teacher these are the employees who should be paid well.

Each of these administrators has a nice salary they make plenty of money in these hard economic times they could have followed Dr. Gordon and passed on a raise but the Assistant Superintendents did NOT they took the money.

The problem with this district are ALL of the "little jobs" that get a salary and full benefits for the entire family. A large number of these employees, Education Assistants, Teacher Assistants, are a load of *RAP. The Civil Service secretaries make over $50K plus benefits.

Ask most any TA, or EA what is best about the job: "I get to leave at 310pm, and I get the Summer off, and the job is easy" Most of these employees are female mothers who have families the hours are great. Many are married to self-employed men, i.e. lawyers and the benefits are valuable to them. These small salarys with full benefits create a BIG expense for our community.

Take a look at the parking lots in our school district and see dozens of expensive high end cars everyone here is living well off a their piece of the pie and thats a fact.

As far as these Superintendents taking raises in hard economic they are laughing all the way to the bank.

Take a paycheck away from our teachers, adminstrators, TA's, EA's, etc. and see how fast these people leave.

So many are making a nice living off the PW school system this place is a cash cow I see it all most everyday.

Next school board meeting November 15th @ Schreiber 8PM !!!!!!!!!!!!

Next school board meeting November 15th @ Schreiber 8PM !!!!!!!!!!!!
Show up, speak up !!!!