State's parole officers deserve better salaries
Regarding your editorial on the N.C. Department of Correction (Oct. 26, not posted): Maybe for the prisons the accusations are true, but there are many different groups in DOC.
Probation/parole officers are in a group associated with DOC, but I can assure you they are not overpaid; they are grossly ignored when it comes to money and equipment. They are in contact with criminals every day, yet most are not given weapons to defend themselves, and for some reason this state seems to think that is sufficient. But when this sector of DOC asked for a yearly raise, they got no more than $850, and everyone knew if they asked for more it would be vetoed.
Yet here, a couple of months later, money magically appears to give teachers more but no one else. So maybe you can investigate why every state employee isn't as taken care of financially as teachers are. I know teaching is hard, but so is keeping track of North Carolina's drug dealers, sex offenders and other criminals.
Amanda Purgason
Reidsville
Editor's note: The writer is married to a parole officer.
Comments (3)
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Thank you Amanda Purgason for your letter.
You raise a valid point. Teachers are state employees. Yet, in recent years, they have been showed favoritism at every turn of the corner over other state employees.
These inequities are hurting retention of qualified people at other levels of state government. When people wonder why that state employee they are working with seems so dumb, they should look to Easley and others like him for their answer. You can't hire qualified employees for peanuts. Even worse, when an employee feels that he is constantly getting the short end of the stick, that leads to bad morale and poor quality of work.
Yes, teachers are important. But Easley is ignoring many other important state employees that make it possible for teachers to do their jobs. Worse than that, when questioned about these things, Easley's tone is a condescending slap in the face. For example, when asked why other state employees did not receive raises his answer was something like: my wife and I are state employees.
Sorry, Easley, but your salary as a state employee is hard to compare to the guy at the DOC or the $22,000 a year full-time technical employee.
Posted on November 2, 2005 9:36 AM
Jeeze, Truth - you sound like a socialist, wanting living wages for everyone.
(just pushing your button, buddy)
Posted on November 2, 2005 11:32 AM
Scary stuff, huh? I agree with living wages for everyone (as long as they work hard to get it)
Posted on November 2, 2005 5:04 PM