There are times in my job when you just have to shake your
head, and today is one of those days. Some
of the vocal vote “no” crowd is at it again – calling into question the
integrity of anyone who happens to disagree with their stance on the school
levy.
I posted a story today on the new Master Agreement, or
contract, between the Board of Education and the Vandalia-Butler Education
Association. It is factual, with real
numbers. I reported based on physical
copies of the contract from last year and the new one, as well as a meeting of
over an hour with the one guy who knows the numbers better than anyone –
Treasurer Dan Schall.
We looked at spreadsheets, made phone calls, and even got
into the employee benefit system called PaySmarter to look at the numbers and
how they worked. It was the most
extensive interview to date I’ve had with Mr. Schall and nearly all of it was
on the record.
Of course, that’s not good enough. Tonight I received a message from one of the
more vocal anti-levy guys, Ben Jones, to go like a Facebook page that purported
to “keep up with accurate analysis of information emanating from the Vandalia
Butler school board and administration publicity mill.”
Out of morbid curiosity I went and looked and,
predictably, there were multiple inaccuracies on the site, including posts
about “escalating wages, salaries, health insurance contribution…” and the “$20
million mystery contract,” presumably referring to the Master Agreement.
Of course all of these things are factually
incorrect. The Master Agreement was
approved at a public meeting on June 4.
There are no pay raises for the third straight year. Out-of-pocket health care costs increased by
more than 40 percent for everyone.
And, to top it off, a question was raised as to
whether the Drummer’s article “was based on their own analysis of the contract terms or were
they just repeating what the board, administration and union rep told them.”
Obviously,
the message from Mr. Jones seems to be that if the message doesn’t fit the preconceived
ideas he has then there must be some grand conspiracy. The Drummer Editor must be in cahoots with
the Board of Education.
That’s
laughable as well, as I’m sure I’ve been near the top of the Board’s annoyances
for the better part of the past year.
For
the record, I do occasionally run press releases as is. I don’t put my name on them. That’s a fact.
The
school district did send out a press release on the contract a couple of weeks
ago which I refused to run without specifics.
That is a fact.
The
article today did incorporate some of that release, especially quotes from
people I had no access to. None of the
dollar figures were in the release – those came from me and my reporting. Those are more facts.
Some
in this community would rather smear me or anyone else who disagrees with them,
even when they are wrong. I’ve certainly
made mistakes over the past year and a half, but when I have, I have owned
that, publicly corrected the error, and apologized.
It
would be nice to see the same from others, but I have my doubts as to if it
ever will.
