<HTML><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff">Jeff: We have needed to say something like this in the Guidelines, this is excellent.  Now may I add to your second paragraph (sentence...) a reference to the contract technician.   "Contract technicians are generally not provided the salary benefits of employed technicians, and usually have to purchase many of these benefits themselves at a considerably higher cost.  In addition, contract technicians often have additional time demands, since they have a much higher ratio of work time given to non-service activities.  Examples of this activity include more frequent trips back and forth to the facility, along with the corresponding activities such as parking, traveling, long distances walking, and sometimes even waiting for access to the piano.  Often the technician has to make other schedule sacrifices, at a financial cost, in order to meet the school's schedule requirements.  These individuals will usually have received no continuing education/professional seminar funds from the school for seeing to regular professional advancement and training, and will pay for this training, including hotel, air fare and meal costs, themselves.  Since the same high level of skill and experience is (or should be) expected of the university contract technician as the employed technician, the compensation should be commensurate with the normal fees for this high level work."   Bill Shull, RPT, M.Mus. La Sierra University Riverside, CA How about the following or similar statement as a part of the Guidelines? <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> "The piano is the most basic tool required for teaching music in a collegiate level school of music, thus large diverse inventories are required to be able to offer a quality education.  Pianos are expensive investments, and their upkeep in the institutional setting requires exponentially more attention than in the home or church setting due to more frequent use and abuse combined with inadequate climate control situations which create additional damage and instability.  There is also a higher level of performance expectation for the institutional instrument due to the higher level of instruction.  Institutional schools of music, for these reasons, cannot view piano maintenance as a luxury, but as one of the most fundamental requirements for its successful operation.  Therefore, it follows that the upkeep of pianos in an institution would involve greater cost than for the average piano in a home, church, or school system. The salary for a full-time institutional piano technician should be competitive with that which can be earned by successful technicians and other similarly skilled professionals in the local private sector reflecting the true value of the skill involved in piano maintenance, with fair consideration given to compromise for the value of added benefits of group insurance and retirement plans available to the institutional technician and the stability of a predictable income, while it must be sufficient to support a respective standard of living for a family in the area where the position is located without requiring the employee to seek supplemental income in the private sector." The first paragraph sort of rewords ideas found throughout the current Guidelines, but sets up the second (yes, one long sentence), which addresses a subject the current guidelines does not.  This is from my research report to my dean. Thoughts? Jeff Michael Jorgensen wrote: >Hello, >    IMHO the "Guidelines" should in include the following or similar >statement: > >"We strongly recommend piano technicians report exclusively to the >department chair, director, or dean of music   Because the service is >vital to the well being of the entire school, and must balance >appropriately the needs of all constituencies, it should not be >subjugated to a lesser authority.   This  helps to ensure that, as >highly paid professionals, technician time and resources are used most >wisely." > >Comments? > >-Mike </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>