An Excellent Example of Local Journalistic Bias (my Title)

The Journal News ^ | April 17, 2002 | ELIZABETH CUNNINGHAM

[tcostell]

PUTNAM VALLEY

[tcostell]

This is the Email I sent to the Newspaper's "Letters to the editor", Ms. cunningham, and to the members of the Editorial Review Board for the Journal News.

Ms Cunningham,

There are a few statistics you neglected to mention in your recent article confusingly titled: Put Valley budget plan seeks to cut 18 staff positions .

For example, while 18 positions are being cut, you made only a cursory mention of the fact that the school board is still managing to increase the annual budget by 2.5 million dollars. This means that while the average public school in NY state pays roughly $8,800 per student per year, Putnam Valley will now be paying approximately $20,200 per student per year, easily in the top 1% of all school spending in the state. You also neglected to mention that in spite of this extraordinary figure, only 67% of the 8th graders enrolled in the Putnam Valley schools are able to pass the required standardized testing. Of the states which require standardized tests, the majority require that 70% of all students pass those tests in order to have an overall passing grade for the school. By this same measure, the Putnam Valley school system is failing in a grand style. This means that not only is the Putnam Valley School administration incompetent, but they are incompetent at slightly more than twice the price of the average successful NY state school.

You authored a story about a school system which is increasing its already hyper-inflated budget by nearly $2,000 dollars per student per year, and totally missed these statistics. Instead you chose to focus on those issues which Maryanne Doyle, (who clearly is a party with a vested interest) no doubt feels, show her in the best light. And you chose to support that position with a quote from a parent who is by no means typical of the feelings in Putnam Valley.

It’s actually much more common to see Maryanne Doyle being burned in effigy at local barbecues, than having parents say “I feel for them”. Many parents would like to see her removed (and possibly investigated) for the way that she and the school board are taking such obvious advantage of the citizens of Putnam Valley. There have even been independent citizen’s groups which have asked for an investigation into alleged financial misconduct regarding the school board and Ms. Doyle. And given how uncommon Mr. Marden’s position seemed to be, I would have to wonder if he makes his living in some way through the school system itself.

There are a few other facts which might also interest you the next time you have to write about the Putnam Valley school system. Last year, the voters of Putnam Valley voted against the proposed budget, placing the school system on its austerity budget. Included in last years austerity budget were such critical items as a new 80,000 per year groundskeeper, and a 16,000 dollar raise for Maryanne Doyle. In fact, the difference between the austerity budget and the proposed budget was only $30,000, and included all of the positions which the administration now feels can be cut effectively. It’s a circumstance where an entire town is being looted by the school system’s administration, and although they still have their right to vote on the budget every year, the administration is able to simply ignore the voters at their discretion, effectively denying the voters their rights.

Why you chose to ignore these facts and present a picture of the brave school administration’s endurance through adversity leaves me astounded. You would be doing the citizens of Putnam Valley a greater service if you revealed even a portion of the corruption and cronyism for which they are footing the bill.

I realize that Putnam Valley is a small town even by local standards, and that a school board budget isn’t exactly Pulitzer prize material, but speaking for myself and a number of the other parents in Putnam Valley, we’d appreciate it if you tried not to let the school administration write the articles themselves anymore.

I realize that the author is probably some kid who got stuck with writing something about a small town school board, but I was a little too blown away by how far from the mark she was to let it go at that.

[WillaJohns]

Good letter. I hope they print it, but doubt they will. Are you kidding? They are spending $20,000 per kid in school? That isn't a typo or misinterpretation by me? What are the demographics of Putnam?

[tcostell]

Actually I'm afraid it's right on the money. There are slightly less than 1500 students, and a budget slightly under 30 million a year. That cost makes us the most expensive school system in Westchester and Putnam counties, and although I'm certain about this, it may very well make us the single most expensive school system in the country. We're certainly among the most expensive anyway.

By the time my daughter graduates high school, I will have paid more in school taxes than it will cost to send her to Harvard University.

[NativeNewYorker]

Nicely done.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Here's the headline I would have written:

BUDGET PLAN WOULD INCREASE SPENDING BY 3X RATE OF INFLATION

[NativeNewYorker]

GMTA

[NativeNewYorker]

The NY state suburbs of NYC have property taxes that are eye-popping. Mundane homes in Westchester often have double the taxes of *mansions* in Greenwich CT, just around the bend.

[tcostell]

Putnam Valley Demographics
Here is a little more information on the demographics of Putnam Valley. It's a small suburb on the border of Putnam and Westchester counties. Most of the residents are blue collar, and a large number work at IBM which has a fairly large facilty nearby. There are also a number of New York City civil employees like my neighbor who is a NYC firefighter.

It is not unlike many other suburbs of NYC, and is unique only in the shamelessness whith which the school administration sqeezes the taxpayers

[Betty Jane]

It sounds as though your taxes would be lower if they just continued paying tuition to Lakeland and save the cost of schools at all.

At $727,000 per grade the town would pay less than $12,000,000 a year. Still a lot of money for 1500 kids but much more reasonable than 29 million.

[tcostell]

Shamelessly self promoting, monday morning BTTT.

Also, I'd like to urge any FReepers who may be as digusted with the spin on this article as I am to feel free to drop a note to the author. A link to her E-Mail is attached to the article. You would be doing all of us in Hillary Clinton's home dstrict a service. If you're uncomfortable about quoting the statistics in my letter, I think she provides more than enough information herself in the original article to make her bias obvious. Thanks.

[tcostell]

For those of you who have been following along at home, I recently discovered why our school board has been so profoundly unresponsive to the voters will. It turns out that of the 5 person board, 1 is a teacher in a neighboring district, and two of the others have thier wives working in the office of the high school. (They are in the same union as the clerks at town hall but make nearly twice as much for some unexplained reason) My wife and I are looking into the legality of the situation.