Editor:
I’d like to first applaud the Rio Grande SUN for its constant efforts to keep the workings of government transparent. Without your work, and that of other media, the public would most certainly suffer.
That being said, I have to question the usefulness of publishing the salaries of Española school employees, specifically non-administrators.
While they are public employees, paid with public funds and subject to open records laws, most sought out the work of teaching not to be public figures but to help students. They work hard to teach children to add and subtract, to read and write and to be better human beings.
As a former journalist, I know of several occasions where publishing salaries served readers, from exposing overpaid, under-performing public employees to letting readers know how much a school superintendent earns. But every time I see teacher salaries in the paper, I can’t help but scratch my head. What’s the point?
I doubt many would argue teachers are overpaid. And despite below-par test scores, you’d be hard pressed to find many teachers who aren’t working themselves nearly to death to help students improve.
No, I don’t think the SUN’s practice of publishing salaries has anything to do with government transparency, nor does it forward any story. It’s just another way the SUN continues to cement its reputation as the Valley’s main source of gossip. I mean, what makes better conversation than talking about how much money your neighbor makes?
John Sena
Velarde
(Editor’s note: Claudia Sena is Mr. Sena’s sister-in-law. Beth Combs is his wife. Both were listed in the salaries. Mr. Sena interned at the SUN for a summer and then worked for the Santa Fe New Mexican as a sports and education reporter for four-and-a-half years.)