Incentives

By John S. Postovit

Students in MPUSD's lower-performing schools deserve an equal share of the district's best and most experienced teachers.

Monterey Herald 8 Upper Ragsdale Dr. Monterey. CA 93940

Dear Editor:

I recently read Debra Gramesbacher's letter in the August 23rd issue of the Herald with great interest. I certainly agree that there are inequities within the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. While teachers new to the profession can often be the most innovative of teachers, their lack of experience leads many parents to prefer older teachers for their children. In the last published statistics, 40% of Ord Terrace teachers were in their first or second year of teaching, compared with the county average of 13%. No teachers at Bay View were in their first two years of teaching. However, I must disagree that hiring more teachers and librarians is a feasible solution. For better or worse, finances at MPUSD are very tight, making this unworkable. One solution which occurs to me is to provide experienced teachers with incentives such as bonuses, in exchange for accepting transfers to schools in need of their experience. Low salaries for MPUSD staff are another problem which must be tackled. The expenses of living in this area have recently grown much faster than salaries. As the district's experienced teachers retire, retaining good teachers to be their long-term replacements will be difficult without the salaries or other incentives to keep them here.

Sincerely,

John S. Postovit