I'd like to respond to K.C. Tanner's letter about teachers "deserve pay raises" and "medical benefit packages that the rest of us envy." In that letter, Tanner calculated the pay rate for a teacher. The calculated $2 per hour rate is per child. This is certainly an odd way to look at the pay scale for a teacher (or anyone). A more common way to calculate (industry standard pay calculation) would be $69,600 per (181 days x 6 hrs) or a measly $64 per hour. This is certainly more than the quoted $2 per hour.

There are professionals employed in the Silicon Valley who make a comparable salary. I know people who work a standard 2080 hours per year (260 work days per year) and their pay would be $33.46 per hour if their salary was $69,600 per year. Salaried professionals often work more than an eight-hour day (I guess they volunteer their "free" time also) in order to get the job done. Yes, some are lucky to get bonuses and maybe stock options, but then, it's not a guarantee. And if a company does not compete or make a profit, then the job goes away.

Workers in the private sector often have performance reviews to ensure that they are meeting the goals set for them in performing their jobs. Very few people enjoy performance reviews, but there must be some way to gauge their performance and quality of their work. I see no reason the same standard should not be applied to schools, and teachers. Performance reviews are meant to spotlight excellence, as well as areas that need improvement.

Most people in the community think highly of teachers and deservedly so. If there is to be an increase in pay, I would hope that there is a corresponding increase in academic performance.

Chris Masten

Willow Glen

Teacher needs to go back to math class

I certainly hope that your letter writer K.C. Tanner is not a teacher—particularly not a math teacher—at any school.

Tanner botched the math. Tanner assumed in her equation that the hourly rate of pay for a teacher depends on how many students she teaches. The $2 per hour figure assumes that this mythical teacher she postulates gets paid per student taught. The only way Tanner's math works is by assuming that each pupil is taught separately.

If you eliminate the number of students taught—which you must, since they are all taught contemporaneously—the hourly rate is in fact $64.08. The computation is 6 hours per day times 181 days divided by the gross pay plus medical benefits of $69,600.00.

The fact that you teach 32 children or 50 children or only one child does not enter the equation to determine the hourly rate of pay.

John Michael O'Connor

Carrington Circle

Location of stabbing does not match maps

An article in the Feb. 4 issue of the Willow Glen Resident states that a recent stabbing of a high school student occurred at Pine Avenue and Cottle Road.

According to my calculations, and as the crow flies, Cottle Road is 6.6 miles from Pine Avenue. And as the old saying goes, "never the twain shall meet."

Robert L. Smith

Cottle Road

Teachers earn more than $2 per hour

In the Willow Glen resident SpeakOut section on Feb. 4, the newspaper published a letter by K.C. Tanner regarding teachers' pay. The letter implies that teachers' pay is a "measly $2 per hour." The writer's math is in error unless "per student" is added. The $2 per hour should be multiplied by 32 children or $64 per hour. Hardly a measly salary. I'm all for fair teachers' pay, but let's not distort the facts.

R. Lawson

Willow Glen

In the Feb. 4 issue of the Willow Glen Resident the story about the Willow Glen High School teenager, who was fatally stabbed, occured near the intersection of Pine and Cottle avenues.