|
UESF
Feature
|
|
Members want District to show respect
UESF's bargaining team is poring over the membership survey responses and developing proposals. Pictured from left, are Jane Blanchard, Claire Merced and Roberto Michel.With ratification of reopeners for 2003-2004 behind us, it is time to negotiate an entirely new contract, otherwise known as a successor agreement.
Last spring, UESF surveyed members on what they thought the most important issues should be in negotiations. “More than 2,100 members, teachers and paras from elementary, middle school, high school and child development, returned surveys,” according to Shannon O’Hara, California Teachers Association (CTA) representative who works with UESF’s bargaining team. “Everyone, regardless of job classification or grade level said they wanted the district to show them more respect — both monetarily and non-monetarily.”
Salary and cost-of-living increases are top priorities
Like each of the members who returned surveys, Don Papa, Building Rep at Galileo High School, ranks salary and cost-of-living increases top on the list of negotiations priorities. “We haven’t seen a salary increase since 2002.” He explains, “It’s bad enough for a veteran teacher like me with 13 years at Galileo who got my housing early on. But, even I have had to cut back — no real vacations, hardly dining out anymore. For our younger teachers, it’s impossible to live here. If you respect educators, pay them as though you respect them.”Papa calls for salary parity with neighboring districts to where he says we lose good teachers. He reports that at Galileo they have a tough time retaining newer teachers, “particularly in the math department where the turnover is constant.” He describes his colleagues as “ticked and ready to mobilize.”
Reduce class size; hire more counselors and support staff
The new dean at Hoover Middle School, Niki Gibbons, wants to see a reduction in class size and more counselors at school sites which she sees as linked to reducing violence at schools. “Until teachers work with fewer students, until they have enough time to look at each child’s learning style, diagnose and develop appropriate interventions when needed… address students’ emotional and social skills,” she says, “we will never be able to achieve the district’s academic mandates.”In her more than 10 years as a counselor in SFUSD, Gibbons says she has seen the fallout from teachers having too many students. “When children lack personal relationships with the important adults in their lives, they have trust issues, depersonalized school experiences and feel disconnected. This,” she says, “often escalates to violence because they are not getting the attention they need to deal with their issues, peer relations, and to learn conflict resolution.”
Let us prepare meaningful curriculum as we’re trained to do
Respect for professional expertise is important to Armida Herrera, co-building representative at Junipero Serra and activist on UESF’s Elementary Committee. She reports that morale among her colleagues is low, largely because they are not “respected for their training and knowledge. Scripted learning programs like Reading First,” she explains, “strip away our professionalism. It’s like they just want warm bodies off the street. Give us the autonomy to do what we know how to do…to do what we’ve been trained years for…Allow us to prepare a meaningful curriculum, relevant to our students.”Paras deserve better pay, professional development...
If teachers are feeling disrespected, Special Education paraprofessional, Heather Stearns of Lowell High School says, “Imagine how paras feel!” She believes paras deserve more respect and wants “higher hourly pay, real professional development, higher pay steps for education, more contractual protections, and a workable para-to-teacher program.”Give us voice in determining policy
“Dearest to my heart, is having a stronger voice in district policymaking,” says Linda Cardozo, teacher at Bessie Carmichael. “The district gives lip service to seeking our input, but doesn’t implement what we suggest. Recognize our Union Building Committees as important. Don’t overlook our training and expertise.”Cardozo who has 15 years in the District, says, “If the District respected us, we wouldn’t be rehashing the seven-hour-day issue. We wouldn’t be faced with the district’s rigid dictation of instructional methods we must use. We are expected to make sure no child is left behind, but not allowed to use the knowledge and expertise we have and need to reach each child,” she laments.
Increase funds for instructional supplies
Another concern is increasing funds for instructional supplies and teaching tools, according to Steve Herraiz, kindergarten teacher at John Muir Elementary.“Funding for supplies varies from site to site as far as Site Councils and how they allocate the budget,” explains Herraiz. “In more affluent areas, parents donate more supplies.
“As things change during the year and new expenses arise, the supply budget is the first thing to go,” he says. “Teachers spend from their own pockets.”Herraiz who spends more than $2000 a year of his own money thinks that “the $250 Office Depot gift card was a step in right direction, but was just drop in the bucket. My colleagues and I have already spent ours and it’s only October.”
He reports that an upper grade colleague recently spent $50 from her own pocket for geodes she needed to replace in a school science kit since she couldn’t teach the lesson without them. He tells of new teachers who are buying furniture, book shelves, and books that are necessary to start up their classes.
Bargaining team is reviewing surveys and developing proposals
UESF’s bargaining team is poring over the survey responses and developing our proposals. The team is also reviewing the history of grievances for an understanding of what is and is not working in the agreements.“Once our bargaining team develops our proposals, both the union and the district must present their proposals to the public. This is called ‘sunshining,’” Dick Hemann, California Federation of Teachers (CFT) field representative who works with UESF’s bargaining team explains. “After both the District and UESF ‘sunshine’ their proposals, we can begin to negotiate with the District.”
The following elected members of UESF’s Executive Board are on the union bargaining team: Larry Blake, Jane Blanchard, Dennis Kelly, Susan Kitchell, Sandra Mack, Claire Merced, Linda Plack, Bradley Reeves, Betty Robinson-Harris, Deborah Sanford Page, Janet Eberhardt and Susan Solomon. Also serving as union negotiators are Hemann of CFT and O’Hara of CTA.
