To the editor:

For quite some time the voters and taxpayers of the Mehlville School District have been inundated with information and statistics regarding the dismal financial outlook of the district unless a tax-rate increase is approved.

We have heard time and time again, “We need to do it for the kids.”

Well, I read with disgust the agreement reached between the teachers and the school board to increase the school year by two days. Even though some believe the teachers were compensated for these two days in last year’s raise, the teachers do not agree and demand additional consideration.

They have agreed to “teach” an additional five minutes per day, which, by their math, is equivalent to two instructional days. Oh, but to compensate for this concession, they can shave five minutes from their required arrival/departure time.

I don’t understand why they don’t add three hours per day, which is apparently equivalent to 72 teaching days. Surely the students and the teachers would be overjoyed to only spend about 104 days in class for the entire year.

Maybe when I see the teachers “doing it for the kids,” I might consider voting for a tax-rate increase, but all I have seen so far is rampant greed. These people are supposed to be professionals — I cannot imagine this type of pettiness in the private sector.