Backlash p.

By: Tony Case

Pennsylvania newspaper faces criticism from teachers and administrators after it publishes all of their salaries sp.

HOW WOULD YOU feel if your local newspaper published your yearly income for the whole community to see?
Schoolteachers and administrators in six southeastern Pennsylvania school districts do not have to imagine how they would take it.
Last fall, after the Carlisle Sentinel listed their names and salaries in a series of reports, scores of complaints poured into the 18,500-circulation newspaper.
The backlash did not stop there, however. A boycott was threatened, some readers canceled subscriptions, two advertisers considered pulling their business, and one newsstand refused to sell the paper.
Pennsylvania State Education Association president Annette Palutis was so miffed that she fired off a vitriolic letter to her organization, blasting the Sentinel for its "divisive and punitive tactics" and urging members to unite against "the Sentinel's crusade against teachers."
The letter read, "Despite what the newspaper claims as its altruistic purpose for printing the names and salaries of individual teachers, it is intended to hurt your chances of securing the salary increases you deserve . . .
"When a newspaper decides to declare war on any segment of society, no one wins. There are only losers. In the case of the Sentinel's crusade against teacher salaries, the entire community and especially the students in our schools are victims, as well."
Palutis suggested that PSEA members tell their detractors they have "no apologies for the salaries we make. In fact, they are too low."
The Sentinel received similarly impassioned letters from readers that called the newspaper "high-minded" and "unfair." One woman even demanded that the wages of Sentinel staffers be publicized.
Despite the spate of criticism, the newspaper stated in an editorial that it made "no apologies for having printed the teachers' salaries. We should have done it a long time ago."
The Sentinel previously had printed the average pay of teachers, but the disclosure did not pique readers. In fact, hardly anybody noticed. So the newspaper decided that listing the individual salaries might arouse some interest, according to editor Carol Talley.
"We came to the conclusion that average pay had no impact on anyone," she said. "People had to understand what the total picture was if there was going to be any reaction."
Talley maintains that the negative reaction the newspaper saw was not justified, explaining, "It's a public salary. The teacher's union keeps asking for more and more money, and we have been seeing 10% yearly increases in pay here. If they're willing to push for more money, people have a right to know."
She wondered why the Sentinel received so much flak for publishing the salaries when several other Pennsylvania newspapers had done the same thing. Perhaps, she says, it was because of the newspaper's critical editorial stance regarding teacher salaries, or because of Carlisle's close proximity to Harrisburg, the state capital and home base of the PSEA.
Over the last several years, the Sentinel has editorialized on pay raises for teachers and the negative impact it has had on the community. The newspaper has asserted that, while salaries have been critically low in the past, they have increased to an acceptable level. In fact, it says, raises have been so generous that they overburden taxpayers and threaten the health of the public education system.
One Sentinel editorial read, "Public education has been put at risk because of escalating costs. Teachers have been furloughed, programs cut and class sizes increased, and still the school tax bill continues to soar.
"The taxpayers footing these costs have not gotten increases in their own paychecks to offset the tax bill hikes. This endangers a public system of education that must be nourished?not weakened."
Although many protested the Sentinel stand, most readers who responded to the stories said they supported the newspaper, according to Talley.
In their letters, they praised the Sentinel for exercising its civic responsibility and informing the public. "This is what newspapers were created for," one reader wrote.
Around 70 subscriptions were canceled, but Talley says that she had expected the number to be far greater.
Few questioned the Sentinel's right to publish the salaries, she related?perhaps because the newspaper reminded readers that, under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law, all wages in the public sector are a matter of public record.
When the Sentinel published its series, it warned that the exercise was only "part of an intermittent report this newspaper will do on all employees in the public sector."
The newspaper appears to be sticking to its promise. In an upcoming report, Talley related, the wages of all county employees?from judges to jailers to janitors?will be disclosed.