It's night with Dan Ray on WAZ Boston's radio.
We're going right right back to the calls.
By the way, the Globe editorial is entitled Tougher action is needed on teacher strikes, and the Globe mentions this idea the fact that state law forbids such strikes means that judges have considerable leverage in ending these work stoppages. We're talking about the strikes that teacher strikes up in Gloucester, Beverly and Marblehead, which will be going into the eighth or ninth day tomorrow. In the Beverly strike, the come Wealth Employment Relations for the state agency charge with moving
to end such strikes, is considering two ideas. One is the rule that the Beverly School Committee has no obligation to bargain with the union while their employees are out on a legal strike. A second is asked is to ask Essex Superior Court Judge Jennis Howe to order the parties into binding arbitration to decide a new contract. That's kind of like what my suggestion was. Maybe that No, those are two good ideas from the Globe. I got to give them credit. Not often are we aligned together.
The Globe and myself on editorial policy. But I think this is one that cries out for it. So let's get back to the call. See what people think. Love to hear from anyone who would like to call in from Marblehead, Gloucester or Beverly. Those towns have been very quiet during these conversations, and I hope that no one should feel intimidated. Mario in Wilmington, Mario, you were next on Nightside. Welcome, sir. Well, if Mario isn't there, Rob, let's put Mario on hold and we'lcome back to Mario.
That's only going to get everybody else on a little bit more quickly. Let me go to tell you and and over tell you welcome to Nightside.
How are you Hi?
Can you hear me?
I can do fine, Thanks very much for calling in. Tell you go right ahead.
Hi, Yeah, thank you for having me. I'm currently a teacher in Massachusetts, and a young one. I've been teaching for about six years, so I think I offer a bit of a different perspective knowing that I have about twenty to thirty years left, and I'm I see that I'm not going to be able to afford a house and possibly kids at the rate we're going. Yeah, and I think that I don't know what the solution is in terms of bargaining, and I definitely hear the issues
that families are having on that. But and I'm hearing people call into your show, and it's definitely.
Like, Talia, Did I lose Talia there? Yeah, put her on hold. We'll come back to tal you. I want her to finish your thoughts. Sometimes people inadvertently hit a mute button, so we'll get Tala back.
Here. Is she there?
Now?
Hi?
I am here, Talia.
We lost you there for a second. I don't know if you inevertly hit a mute button, but I'm glad you're back.
Correct I did hit something?
Sorry, no problem, go ahead.
Well, I'm openly saying that I don't have a solution, but it's definitely clear to me from hearing the public call in on your show that people are making quite a miseducated statement before really forming an opinion.
Okay, well, let's help us out. What what do they need to know before? Do you want to tell me what town you're you're teaching in or no, I'm.
Just in the greater Boston area.
Okay, Well, the only reason I say the only reason I said that is I have the list of from the Department of Education of the the average salaries in different districts, and you know, some of them are as high as over one hundred thousand dollars. Right for example, Let's see, I'm just grabbing a couple here real quickly. Bedford is one hundred and two thousand dollars. I'm just going to go alphabetically here, Brockton is one hundred and
two thousand dollars. Carlisle is one hundred and ten thousand dollars. Now though that's the higher end of the scale.
Well, here's one.
Let's see, Conquered Carlisle is one hundred and Conquered is one hundred and eight, and Conquered Carlisle is one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars. Again, these are the average. Does I mean every teacher makes that? It's the average?
DOVA?
Surevone is one hundred and four Western Massachusetts. Did what I have here? No, let me see, I'm trying to just spot the hundreds, just to just to say that there are some teachers who seemingly are doing the six figure.
Salaries absolutely, And then I assume you're.
Not making anywhere anywhere near that near that.
Right, Yeah, not yet, And the Boston Globe does say, right now, you need over two hundred thousand dollars in an ideally combined joint income to afford a home. So unless the teacher has a stalis or whatever, that's not happening for them. But the same that I was pointing to before were those people saying that they're they should throw teachers in jail and that they're they're vacationing in Europe all summer. I just think that's really this important.
Teachers do a lot of work over the summer. They have curriculum committees where they're working during the summer in the free time that they have hopefully paid on a stipend for the curriculum for the students for the whole year. They're often doing summer school with kids or working their second or third jobs. So I feel a lot of anger from the public, and I'm not sure why that is happening.
Okay, well, let me let me try to tell you what why. I think people are a little frustrated. I don't want to characterize it as anger, but frustration. You're in your sixth year of teaching. And I'm sure when you started your career six years ago you knew that teachers salaries were not going to be equivalent to Major League baseball players, right, Okay, so after six years, are you making seventy thousand dollars?
I'm guessing.
Yeah, I'm in the seventies, in.
The seventy high seventies. Ah, man, it's okay, So we'll say.
Seventy five thousand dollars just to keep it simple.
Okay.
It's tough to buy a home anywhere close to Greater Boston or in Greater Boston with that salary, would you right?
And it would all be possible for me to get to work in the near future if I were to purchase home, which I obviously can't.
Yeah, but yeah, I just said.
You'd have to purchase somewhere in central Massachusetts. I get that.
I totally I totally get that. Okay.
Yeah, And I'm sorry to interrupt you. I heard a few times that people were suggesting firing teachers, and I don't think they know that you need to go to school for six years to be a teacher in Massachusetts, and that it is highly skilled and more than by babysitting, and we wouldn't have people to replace them, and that's why that hasn't been solution yet.
So let me ask you this as a teacher of six years, and again you didn't. You told me a greater Boston community, which is fine, don't have to identify which one. What do you think would be the fair salary that you should earn as a teacher with six years.
Experience in a greater Boston area?
Yeah?
Yeah, I mean again, I don't want you to tell me what town you teach in, but everybody knows greater Boston means somewhere inside of one twenty eight. What do you think you should be earning after six years? You told me you make seventy five. What do you think you should be earning?
Well, I would say at this point about ten to twenty more so that I can at least save some money, because that's not happening right now, and I understand that I'm younger in my career and that it would go up.
No.
Right, So therefore, you would like to think that you could be making eighty five to ninety five thousand dollars as a teacher, correct?
Yeah, And I will admit that I know that one day I am going to be fine, And I don't think that the main negotiation point for teachers is salary. There's a lot of other things to benefit the students that teachers are negotiating that the public does not understand.
Would you agree with me that.
The main problem in any of these negotiations it's always.
Going to be salary.
No, I don't because that's not.
Really the namely one negotiation with which you're familiar in which salary was not.
The main and the final sticking point.
Class sizes services for students special education teachers. We need more of them so that services can be delivered because I don't think parents on know that their children aren't getting their services because there are too many hours of services that need to be given in the way and they just don't have the staff to do it.
So, how many of the students in your class need special education?
It depends on the class, but it could be up to like attend students in a twenty five student class.
So forty sure? Really?
Okay, Again, I'm not experienced in that, and I don't know how they characterize people as needing special education. So where do you think a teacher should max out. Let's assume that you were not in your sixth year. Let's assume that you were in your twenty sixth year, and you must have some colleagues who have been there for twenty six years. How much should those colleagues be making after twenty six years.
In your opinion?
Well, I can't say, but I know that teacher salaries and messages that's usually max out on your fifteenth year. And you're not going to get a raise unless.
That's fine, Then tell me on the fifteen what will your salary max out at after fifteen years?
That's nine years from now.
I think in my district currently for twenty twenty four it's around one hundred and fifteen thousand.
One hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. Okay, So fifteen years from now, you'll be in your late thirties, right right, and you'll be making one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars and maybe more.
You know.
That is being paid for in large part, as I'm sure you know, by the homeowners the residents of the community in which you teach, right, Okay, So the school committee has to balance the interest of the teachers and the quality of the schools that they want with how much they can get in property taxes in some cases from people who have retired and are living on social security. That's the balance the School Committee has to strike, and
it's a tough balance. I mean, I'm sure that in a perfect world the School Committee would give every teacher two hundred thousand dollars.
But yeah, I agree, and I think it's important to take a look at a look at history and civil disobedience and like, sometimes the word illegal isn't that bad, Like we used to have child labor and stuff. Like the striking isn't uncommon, it's not new. When I think a lot of people are hearing the word illegal and they're just directing.
Well, un fortunately, you've got to change that.
You have to change the statue because in Massachusetts it's illegal if I decide some rainy day tomorrow it's rainy, and I want to park in a handicapped parking space or next to a fire hydrant because that's closer to the dunkin Donuts. When I want to go get my coffee and the police officer comes over and you know, tickets me, I can't say, come on, I know it's illegal, but you know it's it's raining today and I want to get a call.
Yeah, I agree that you work in a profession.
You happen to work in a profession. Tell you in which striking is illegal. Police officers cannot strike. Firefighters cannot strike. If your house was on fire and you called the fire dispatch and they said, gee, would love to come and help you, but we got a strike going on. Or if you called the police department and there was some weirdo breaking in, breaking your draw down, and you called nine one one of the and the police said, hey, we're on strike. Wish we could have helped you. Wish
he had. You know when I wish this guy broke in. You know last week we were working. We could have been over there and helped you. Public employees are not allowed to strike.
Tell you, luckily, we're not saving lives. And I'm just saying, in your hypothetical.
Something very positive. Okay, you're doing something positive. You're educating the next generation, your education children. No one, and and I'm not being a wise guy when I say this. Tell you, but was there anyone who said to you when you would become a teacher? Tell you you know you shouldn't become a teacher, you know, because you're never going to make the money that nuclear scientist is going to.
You know what I'm saying.
I mean, you chose, you chose a noble profession, and part of the downside of the noble profession, part of the upside is June. You know, June, July, and August. You can do a lot of things that a lot of people can't do in June.
July and August.
But yeah, I mean I work all summer. Most of the teachers I know do, so I don't agree with that statement. I also think that, well.
You work a second you work a second job, I assume to supplement your income.
Yeah.
Yes, Did you have any idea.
How much money teachers made when you decided to become a teacher or no?
No, I mean I knew I was going to have to work year round.
Okay, but you had no idea what you didn't know if teachers were making twenty thousand or two hundred thousand.
No, I knew, Oh you did, And I don't think any I don't think any your start starts teaching for the money. I think all we're asking is to be able to commute to our jobs.
But it's always to tell you the problem is. You're right, you didn't start teaching for the money. But now from the union perspective, it's primarily about the money and who's going to pay for the money. How does the school committee go back to those retired, those retired couples who they're going to say, we're going to increase your real estate taxes. Now your Medicare, your soci security is not
going up. Oh your SOI scurity is going up at one point four percent because that's the rate of inflation. But the teachers sally, you know, come on, I mean this was a really good call. I hope we can end it as well as we started it.
I thank you for that.
Yeah.
Absolutely, I'm not looking for anything unrealistic. I think we just want to be able to live.
What they Here's what they should do.
Maybe in the town where you teach, there should be some sort of a referendum in which the town says, we will give any teacher who's interested in u teaching in this community a bonus of one hundred thousand dollars so that they at least can put a down payment on the home. That's that's something that they can do locally, think outside the box. Tell you I got to run. Thank you very much, first time calling my show or no?
Yeah, yeah, I enjoyed the conversation. Good night.
Let me go to Mario. Let's see if we get married. We tried him before and we missed.
Mary. We're back. Are you back? Yes? Thank you, go ahead.
I just wanted to stay.
Like I said a couple of days ago when you first started talking about this, the the tom managers are responsible for this mess now. A union member made a very clear point today that I was very impressed upon, and I'm siding with them now, is that they're being fined daily two because they're out on strike. Yet the school committee and the town is not being held accountable
at this point either. So this failure has brought this to this point where kids are out of school, which I am very angry about.
And then, Mario, let.
Me correct you if I could. Do you know why the teachers' union unions are being fined.
For being because they are illegally striking.
Right and and and therefore, what what could a judge do?
Mario?
Let me do this. I I'm really in a bind here on a break rob. You know, we gotta do. Mario, stay there, I'm going to continue this call with you. We got to take a quick break. I'll be right back, Okay, grather your thoughts and we'll be right back. Okay, fine, Rob, sorry about that. Why don't you give me three minutes here and then we kick one over. Okay, go ahead.
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World night Side Studios on WITBZ News Radio.
Let's get back to Mario Merrow. Thank you very much for allowing us to get those commercials in.
Go right ahead.
Yeah, So I blamed the Tom managers and at this point this shouldn't have happened. They should have had this budget corrected at that time. But they're making themselves look good and having a low budget. But they have ignored the fact that they have an open budget. And so this is where we are with this.
Where did they raise where did they raise the money from to pay the teacher's salaries?
Mario, Okay, you'll seem to ignore other things like firefighters and police. They're spending exorbitate money on fire trucks that they could buy cheaply, but they're not police departments the same way they're buying cars. Every four years when they should.
Your point where.
Let me make sure. Let me make sure I stand your point. And I'm a little tight on time here. If you had been ready at ten ten ten, we would have maybe been able to go a little longer. So what you're saying is it's up to the city and town to take money that they're spending overspending on police and fire and divert that money to the teachers' unions, to the teacher contracts. I think that's.
What I'm saying. What I'm saying is if you're at a point where you can't increase the tax on the taxpayers, there are areas where you can cut Police departments buy new cars every four years. That's unnecessary. Fire trucks are costing three hundred thousand dollars. They can be bought for as little as a buck fifty. They don't have the glamorous extras that come with these trucks with flashing lights, et cetera. There is ways to cut the costs, okay,
but they don't want to look that way. Now, you live in Wilmington.
You live in.
Wilmington, right, eighteen dollars an hour, go ahead, you live in Wilmington.
Correct, do they just do a better job in Wilmington of allocating resources between the fire, the police and the teachers.
It is a problem here also, is what I'm saying. It seems that's my question?
Then is this.
No you've told me you've identified Mario. I'd like to have a conversation with you, Mario, as opposed to a speech. I've allowed you to make your points, which you know may or may not be true. And the reason I asked you about Wilmington is if this is a I didn't know if you had done a study on Beverly, Marblehead and Gloucester, or if you think this is a problem that is in most communities, including your community.
And you said yes, I aint across that the teachers left at the bottom line, and so it should be equal.
So are the teachers?
Are the teachers being left at the bottom line in the You know.
What, Mario? That's it.
Good night, Mario, have a have a nice conversation with yourself.
Good night boy. He waited around a long time for that. Swim.
My question to Mario was going to be, you live in Wilmington, Mario, You've identified a problem in Wilmington. What have you done about it. Are you running for school committee? Are you running for selectmen in Wilmington? I will bet you that Mario was going to say no. In the meantime, as Mario swims away and hopefully can swim well, we will continue. Look, all he want is a conversation. Okay, It's as simple as that. If you want to call up and just scream at me, call someone else. I'd
like a conversation. I thought my conversation with Talia, we went ten minutes with Tellia. There's a little bit of repetition there, but that's okay. She was genuine, She was passionate. Mario was passionate, but like he's an expert on the budgetary process in Gloucester, Marblehead and Beverly. I don't know how he knows all of that, but he claims he did. So I asked him about Wilmington, and then I was hoping he was going to say to me he was going to announce on my show his plan to run
for school committee in Wilmington and square it away. Mario, you can stand on your back porch and you can yell into the woods, or you could have been on my show and continued a conversation. You say something, I say something, We go back and forth and your ideas are exposed by But if you just want to scream at me, Mario, I don't get paid enough to be screened. Bat We'll take a break here at Nightside, feel free
to join the conversation. Coming right back on Nightside. The only line that's open right now is six one seven nine.
Mario. I still like you.
You're always welcome to call, but just you know again, I went out of my way to bring you back, and anyway, that's it just didn't work tonight, Mario. But maybe next time we'll coming right back on Nightside.
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm telling you b Boston's News Radio.
Back to the phones we go. Let's up.
Next up is Michelle from Weymouth. Michelle, thanks to hold it on. Sorry about a couple of long phone calls.
Go right ahead.
Hi.
So I'm a teacher and a special I'm a special education teacher. I'm down on the South Shore, and so I just wanted to bring up a couple of points because I know that you were asking about like what can we do and what what could like stop the what you know, what are they fighting for? And what
might stop it. The big things that because my district almost went on strike two years ago, but the big things that we're fighting for that other people and other districts have been fighting for, is is para professional wage. And so when you have that teacher average of like
eighty whatever thousand, that does not include para professionals. They start out and I don't remember which one of those three districts, but I heard it this week that they start out at twenty five thousand dollars a year, which is poverty pay yep. And then they no.
That sounds.
Pretty pretty accurate to me. Okay, that is that is what they start out at, and I agree with that principle. I agree with the point that you're making that those paraprofessionals are not paid a living my age.
And they can make more at targets than they can at their jobs, and a lot of them are and they are the backbone of special education.
I do understand that. Okay.
Yeah, So now the question is when the teachers go out on strike. The teachers in these three school districts are all making in the mid eighties.
That's true, yeah, I mean average, but that also includes the you know, one hundred and fifty one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars teachers that have been there for thirty years.
But yeah, yeah.
That's what's an average salary.
I mean, that's what average means, that you you have two hundred teachers and on average they're they're making. Now, those figures are from twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, so I'm assuming that all of those school districts have had some pay bumps in the last three years, because
now it's the end of twenty twenty four. So if the teachers' union went out on strike or threatened to go out on strike and said, look, you know, we're doing okay, but we would like to see the salaries of the paralegals doubled so that instead of making twenty five thousand dollars they were making fifty thousand dollars, I would I would say that is a union that is doing the right thing, because not only are they helping people at the bottom of the spectrum, you know, financially,
but in addition to that, they probably are improving dramatically, improving the quality of the school system and maybe even making their own jobs and their own work circumstances more tolerable, because yeah, but that's not what they do say they want their salary to be increased, which is understanding.
Well, well, yes and no. So I know my district and I know other districts. Like two years ago, when we were fighting these things, they we were fighting for a cost of living increase that was significantly smaller for teachers and higher for parer professionals. And we we fought and won for our paer professionals to start at thirty thousand as a base and then still, I mean, it's better and then get higher cost of living increases until it so that they would be able to make more
year after year. And we took a cut on the teacher cost of living increases. It's not braises. Their cost of living increases year by year.
Okay, yeah, okay, So here's my question. And again, you're a are you a current teacher a former teacher?
I am a current teacher. I'm sixteen years in.
Okay, great, and obviously you sound really committed to your career. Sixteen years. It speaks of that.
Okay.
Do you think that the teachers' unions make a mistake when they strike and it is now understood by most people that teachers and police and fire as a public employe, you're not supposed to strike because it impacts the service.
Do you agree with me?
And I don't know if you were listening at nine o'clock, but my feeling is that there should be a requirement of the teachers' Union and the school committee or whoever the representatives are of the city or town to meet a full year before the contract expires in the summer of the prior year, meeting July and August of that summer,
because no one wants to do that. But if you force them to meet in July and August, and if they don't come to an agreement, then they have to meet the next July in August, want the contract has expired, and you have an arbiter or a mediator who's going to come in and if they can't agreet on everything, the arbiter or the mediator then has the authority on August fifteenth before the school starts, meaning you know, before Labor Day, whatever the day school starts, to basically decide, okay,
the teachers' Union is being more reasonable than the school committee, and I'm going to you know, award the teachers union the contract or closer to the contract they want. That
that would that would prevent strikes from happening. And I think it would also benefit both the town and the teachers' unions to sit because you know, the teachers union can say we want you know, you know, five percent, seven percent and nine percent over the next three years, and the town is going to say, no, we can only afford four percent, five percent and six percent, and they dig in their heels and what's the inevitability a strike?
And who wins were that?
So you have to remember that it also goes by budget, so the budget for the next year isn't set until like April in most towns, and so that is actually when the towns will start to negotiate stuff like this,
so they do start before it and the towns. I don't know about these three, but I know that when we almost went on strike, we actually had an entire almost an entire school year because it was it didn't get resolved until April, and we were working on our old contract, an expired contract for that whole school year until April when it was finally fixed.
Okay, well, again, this is a dilemma. Did you read the Globe editorial today on teacher strike. So now, yes, okay, Now the Globes are pretty progressive institution. I'm more of a concern. I'm more conservative in the Globe when the Globe and I agree on something like this, and I think I'm fundamentally in agreement with the Globe on this that something has to be done. I mean, you got kids to be out of school now for two weeks, and of course next week is going to be a
short week Thanksgiving. These kids will basically lose most of the month of.
November, right, but they do have to make it up on the back end.
Well, but then they if they make it up in June. How much you're a teacher, how much education goes on in classes after June?
First?
Come on, I mean not a lot, but you know then.
And then how many how many families have have planned for a family vacation, let's say, to Disney World, not only for their their eighth grader, but for their third grader and their fifth grader or their five year old. So now the family has to cancel their vacation. I mean, this causes a tremendous amount.
Of there's a ripple effect. I loved you call, Michelle. I think you have called the show before. If I'm not.
Mistake, I haven't. No, this is my first time. I've listened for a really long time, but this is my first time calling.
Well, you did a great job.
I'm going to get around of applause from our studio audience, and I hope you feel that, even though we're not in total agreement, that we had a good conversation, and you certainly provided a good conversation, and that you were treated well and respectfully.
That's that's how I.
Treat all my callers. And I thank you for giving me an opportunity to engage in a conversation with you.
Thank you so much.
I have a great night you too.
Okay, So we got one line that's open at six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty, and I got a couple of lines open at six seven, nine, three thirty. I'm going to cut this off at eleven o'clock, so if you want to get in, now is the time to call. I will not carry this over past eleven o'clock. We're going to talk about the efforts by Alvin Bragg he seize the unceasing efforts by District attorney Alvin Bragg to put Donald Trump in jail. Uh wait, do you hear of these?
With this guy suggesting? Now back at Nightside right after this.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Well, let's go next to Steve in Merrimack, New Hampshire. We get Steve when we got Melissa coming up. Steve, go right ahead, h Dana, Great, Steve, what's going on?
What you're taking on?
I just want to say that, you know, I've been listening to the conversation from different people in Massachusetts and you know this. The fines that they're giving to the unions right now, basically they are a parking ticket. It's nothing to them. They don't even care. You know, you got to get their attention, and obviously the amount they're charging isn't going to get their attention. These teachers, they're
they're very well paid. When you overpay them, which is what they're asking for, you're basically making that community less affordable. The school committee is elected by the tax layers in those communities. So when you're starting to go after the school committee or the talent manager or some callers has called them, you're really going after the voters. You know, the voters are the ones that put them in there. They're trying to bargain a good faith. I don't believe
these teachers are bargaining a good faith at all. The pair of professionals sure give the rays, but they want their cut of the action too, and I really think that they're being very unreasonable. I'm alive with you completely on every point that you've made, as I always am. This is a mess, and it takes Massachusetts to create a big mess. As you know. I don't think this is going on anywhere else in the country, am I right?
Well, we have a very strong Massachusetts Teachers Association, the statewide union, and they support the Democrats, and the Democrats are in power here in Massachusetts, they have been for a while. We have a one party state, which is a bit of a problem if you want to get a bounce, and uh, we don't have what New Hampshire has.
I mean, you have.
Democratic, two Democratic US senators, two members of Congress House of Representati who a Democrat. You've had a Republican governors. You you know, you have a legislature up there that's pretty well balanced.
I mean.
Massachusetts is a different place. A lot of people from Massachusetts now are going up to New Hampshire and they're turning you state more purple than it ever was.
By the way, You've.
Got that right, We know all about that. One thing I wanted to say too, is you know some of these you know people that are calling up that are you know, starting their careers as teachers. You know, I think it's commendable. I mean that you're willing to, you know, take that part of your life and devoted towards the kids. But if you're married to somebody that's an executive down and you know Greater Washington that's making six figures, you're not hurting for anything, but you make it look like
you are. You know, you're not living on your own. You've got somebody else to lean on in the meantime. Like you said before, these people that are on fixed income Social Security, there where is the money going to come from? Out of their hide? I mean, you know they're going to have to it's all. I think that
it's the porrible. I think what they're doing is not fair, and I really think that the governor needs to get involved with a mass teachers' association, and you know this is going to keep spreading, like you said, also, just like it did from end Over and Newton. Remember I said last week, you know when they settled the Endover dispute, we got everything we wanted. And I just said, wow, I can't believe that they actually negotiated a contract that way.
You can't. You have to negotiate on behalf of the tax fayers. That's who they represent. They don't represent the union. So all I can say is, you know, there's going to be a mess going forward. I hope they can settle it soon.
I agree with you on that totally. We'll see.
That's why I put a little pressure on tonight.
These kids have been out of school for too long. Thanks so much.
I got to go to Melissa in Portland, Oregon, Willis Lloiet.
Welcome back.
Good. It's good to hear your voice. I've been listening to this conversation for the last week or so, and you know, I'm empathetic. Everybody wants to make a little bit more money. But I have two questions, and you may not know the answer. The first question is everybody's worried. I've heard a lot about the pair of professionals. But yet they've been out of work for two weeks. So you have somebody that's making twenty five K that's not
been working for the last two weeks. Are they getting paid during the strike?
No, minus Danny is they're not being paid.
During the strike. Yeah.
Well that's not very empathetic, right, I would think that if they're really concerned about them, they wouldn't. You know, if it's really about the pair of professionals, then they're really not thinking about them, because these are If you're making twenty five K and you've lost two weeks of work, yeah, that's a big hit, right, I mean, that's a big hit.
Yeah, you know.
So that's one thing that The second question I have is a selfish question. As someone that works in corporate America. I've seen the talent pool that's coming in and the folks in their twenties. So my question for teachers is, I think it's great that you work to a point and you make one hundred and fifteen K. Are you producing individuals that can make one hundred and fifteen K themselves? Are they producing people that can work in the trades
and deliver? And the reason I'm asking that question is I find I work with more and more people outside of the US because the talent is not here in the US. And so if it's really about the kids, well, why are we not seeing a better crop of professionals coming up. I'm not saying they're not a lot of good professionals out there, but very rarely I work with a lot of people outside of the country, and I'm just that's that's why was I hear this conversation. I
question that the true commitment to teaching children. And I'm saying I sound sarcastic, and I'm sorry, no, no, no, no, no, I'm seeing it in the real world. It's a little different in the real world versus the classroom.
Yeah, I think you're I think you're right on that, that's for sure. Hey, look as always, Thanks so much, Melissa. I will I miss talking to you. Got to call more often.
Okay, all right, go Reds, bye bye.
That's the Cincinnati Reds. You got a good manager now in Francona.
I know, very excited see in the playoffs.
It's going to get one more in here.
Let me go real quickly if I can make it, Austin Mike, I got about thirty seconds for you called really late?
What can you do with it?
Real quick? Dan, Every time you talk about teacher strikes, you always compare them to pair professionals who do not. I think it calls after degrees and every teachers trike in Massachusetts, they always back up the para professionals first. They say they deserve more money. But the teachers are the ones who have to deal with the kids in the parents and they're like first responded Dan, And what's the cost of living in Massachusetts?
Too expensive?
Yeah? So eighty six thousand dollars? Do you live in Marblehead for eighty six thousand dollars a year and deal with the parents?
I suspect not, I suspect nolge.
Yeah.
So again, you know, if you called early, we could have a longer conversation here. I would ask you, what should the average teacher be paid to teach in Marblehead? Just give me a number.
I'd probably say one hundred and thirty thousand.
Good, okay, And then you sell that to the tax.
What do you think? Well, what do you think, Terren? They have masson degrees? Well, student Loane, no.
I I understand your point, but no, no, no one, no, one, no one again.
You know you want to yell, you want to have a conversation.
Which do you want to do? Mick?
What?
No conversation but the question somebody. I think it is the degree and.
That's make your idea if a conversation is real different than mine and I just ran out of time, have a great night, Good night. We'll take a quick break. We are going to change topics on the other side of the hour. Stay with us back right after the eleven o'clock news on night side