WHY DID THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE POST AREA SUPES SALARIES THIS WEEK AFTER IGNORING THE ISSUE FOR YEARS?
By Peyton Wolcott – March 18, 2006 Is the Houston Chronicle considering giving up its pro-public schools ideology in favor of trying to boost circulation, using National Sunshine Week as an excuse? Folks in the Houston area are still scratching their heads. After years of giving The Big Pass to local school superintendents, this past week the Chronicle featured several stories on area supe’s pricey pay packages, including cell phones and annuities and sick and vacation time accruals. The question Houstonians have been asking is: Why didn’t the Chronicle do this years ago? The stories were half-hearted, one example being Katy ISD’s Leonard Merrell whom reporter Sandra Bretting compared with execs at nearby ConocoPhillips, with Merrell allowed to mention his 12-15 hour days and the fact that he earns less than the energy execs. Bretting conveniently overlooks the fact that the energy executives are held a great deal more accountable than Merrell will ever be at Katy ISD; for example, des
