To the editor:
This letter is in response to the letter to the editor (Item, Sept. 14, “Worried about Lynn teacher pay”) about how Lynn teachers deserve raises.
The letter mentioned that the starting salary of a teacher in Lynn is $51,000 a year and the author of this letter thinks they need large raises.
Let me first start by saying I appreciate the job that school teachers have and understand that it’s not an easy one.
Does the person who wrote this letter also know that the starting salaries of our police officers and firefighters in Lynn is about $40,000 a year? And also, just to further compare these jobs, Lynn’s police officers and firefighters do not get three months off during the summer; they do not get weekends and holidays off, nor do they get a week and a half off at Christmas time, or get a February or April vacation every year.
Our police officers and firefighters are also required to carry out the majority of their duties outside in the elements, while our teachers work inside a warm building in the winter and a cool, air-conditioned one in the summer.
Police officers and firefighters are required to work outside during tornados, hurricanes, and during massive rainfalls and flooding.
They don’t get a “snow day” to stay home when a snow storm hits our city. They also are the ones who have to put out a house fire at 3 a.m. when it is 10 degrees below zero.
Police officers search for a criminal with a gun in a pitch-black woods for two hours in 100-degree heat — all while wearing heavy equipment.
The letter’s author should consider in the future all of these things when writing a letter to say that only teachers deserve raises.
Thank you for reading my letter.
Marilyn L. Costa
Lynn
