Pleasanton teachers agree to pay cut that could save district nearly $4.6M

Thank you teachers! Parents, it’s our turn now, let’s make a difference too!

I hope the concessions will preserve important programs and dedicated teachers for the children of Pleasanton.

Now what? Are you going to continue bashing or will we give up some money to solve the problem? Teachers are contributing thousands per year through salary reductions. We can’t afford to cut more. Look at the tragedy at Amador today. I am not saying it could have been avoided but more counselors could not be a bad thing. More adults with the kids could not be a bad thing. What are we going to do now to make this school district great once again?

Please remember, that many of your own children attend school in PUSD, and the loss of days goes beyond my salary, but hurts our children, but WE overwhelmingly (78%) supported concessions to keep programs and keep great teachers. Please stop bashing us and work with us. thank you

4% is minimal. They’ll need to be more in line with the wage reductions that the parents of their students are living with. Try 12% reduction with same amount of work days.

Thank you so much APT for concessions. Pleasanton is going to make progress on the fundraising part of the equation. I can now see moving forward with another try at a parcel tax. I now have much more energy to work on all fundraising activities associated with education.

We appreciate the concessions so far. I do support our teachers, but am frustrated by the union and the mentality it has produced in the teachers.

They believe they are immune from the economic downturn and have a RIGHT to their salaries and raises – i.e. step/column.

The truth of the matter is that lot’s of people are unemployed, and those that still have jobs have had to take real salary cuts (with no days off), and many business owners are down 20% – 40% in revenue.

It’s not easy for anybody to live off less than what they are used to. But 4% is not much in this economy. I would LOVE if our family-owned business was only down 4%.

If we (unemployed and others with major income reductions) are going to be expected to pay a parcel tax (which I will fully support), then we need to see the Step/Column frozen for the time being.

We don’t want to punish our teachers, we have some of the cream of the crop. But they should not be immune to actual paycuts and salary reductions, that the rest of the community is suffering from.

Yes to freezing the Step/Column
Yes to a Parcel Tax

We have to work together to preserve the education in this town.

School district and teachers’ association reach agreement on concessions

The Pleasanton Unified School District and the Association of Pleasanton Teachers are pleased to announce that they have signed a Tentative Agreement for the 2010/11 school year which will provide $4,587,000 in certificated bargaining unit concessions, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. The agreement is for one year, and includes the following:

Three unpaid furlough days in the current school year
The days impacted will be instructional days. The total amount saved by this action is $1,080,000. Pending Board approval, the three days would be Thursday, April 1; Friday, May 28; and Tuesday, June 1.

Five unpaid furlough days in 2010/11
The actual days are to be determined, but three will be student attendance days, and two will be staff development days. The savings from this action is $1,800,000.

Increase in staffing ratios at middle and high schools
The contractual staffing ratio (students per teacher) at middle and high schools will increase by 1. This will move middle schools from 26:1 to 27:1 and high schools from 27:1 to 28:1. Staffing ratios are not the same as class size, but this action will likely increase classes at these schools by about one student. The savings from this action is $864,000.

Suspension of the 7 period day at high school
Several years ago, the 7 period day was instituted to allow teachers a weekly collaboration period. High schools will now offer a 6 period day, and collaboration (“late start Wednesday”) will be suspended. The savings from this action is $448,000.

Suspension of voluntary Staff Development Reform hours
This is approved training for which teachers can receive up to 18 hours of compensation. The savings from this action is $380,000.

Suspension of the Teacher Support and Training Advisory Committee
Savings from this action will be about $15,000.

At their meeting on February 23, the PUSD Board of Trustees will review and vote on a recommendation to remove items from the possible reduction list that could be supported by the savings generated by these one-time concessions from APT. These include:

Maintaining class sizes in grades K – 3 at 25:1 ($1.3 million estimated cost)
Maintaining class sizes in grade 9 English and math at 25:1 ($404,000)
Continuing instruction by elementary physical education, science, and vocal music specialists ($931,000)
Maintaining elementary Reading Specialists (one full-time position per site) ($720,000)
Maintaining counseling services at current-year levels for elementary, middle, and high schools ($752,000)
Restoring funding for the Barton reading program ($106,000)

In addition, the Pleasanton Unified Management Team (principals, vice principals, and District Office administrators) have also agreed to five furlough days for 2010/11 and to continue the reduction or elimination of mileage stipends. The savings from this action, approximately $240,000, is proposed to support the retention of a vice principal position at each comprehensive high school. For the current year, the Management Team had already agreed to three furlough days and the reduction or elimination of mileage stipends.

Negotiations with the California School Employees Association (CSEA), the bargaining unit for classified employees are underway. The CSEA leadership and membership have expressed many times their willingness to help the District address this critical budget challenge.

Chris Grant, President of the PUSD Board of Trustees, says, “The Tentative Agreement is a continued demonstration of the wonderful partnership we have with our teachers and APT, and exemplifies their willingness to support our students. I greatly appreciate the important leadership that the Management Team has shown and look forward to continued conversations between the District and our classified employees. This agreement is key as it will allow several critical student services to continue despite dramatic state-imposed budgetary reductions.”

The Board will vote on the Tentative Agreement at their meeting on Tuesday, February 23.

Thank you for the acknowledgement, parents. The teachers really want to see this district be successful and I am proud that we voted the way we did. I’ve spoken to several parents over the last week and they have been incredibly supportive and it is appreciated.

Parent-Your comments show you have no clue what teachers do. I have attended training on the weekends and have not gotten paid for it. I also grade papers and lesson plan at least 6 hours on the weekend and at least 2 hours a night, Monday through Thursday. I do not get paid for this additional time as well. Please get more involved in your child’s school so that you can actually understand what you are talking about.

Right back at ya punk

The public education system is like an obese 600 pound person who is proud of themselves for losing 5 pounds.

Hey Jackoff, keep talking shit. I’m sure we’ll get to meet someday

I think the people who are saying that they took a 12(ish) % pay cut so, 4 % isn’t that much need to consider 2 things:

1) Was is a pay cut that you willingly agreed to in order to save your colleagues jobs and save services for consumers of your products?

2) People who go in to education do so with the knowledge that they’re not going to ever see huge spikes in their incomes, like bonuses that are awarded in the private sector. Likewise, they don’t expect to be subject to the same degree of losses during a downturn. Getting a job in the public sector is like investing in a CD, whereas jobs in the private sector are like investing in a stock.

I am thankful that the majority of teachers voted to take a pay cut voluntarily. It’s ironic that many who post here wouldn’t voluntarily give up $233/year, but teachers voluntarily just gave up what amounts to thousands. Now let’s show them that we care, too!

As another poster wrote on another thread: are you part of the community, or do you just live here?

I am proud to be a PUSD teacher and a parent of two students in this city. I am being part of the solution. I will gladly pay a parcel tax, continue to work above and beyond my duties and have a 4% pay cut because it will help the children in our town. It is not their fault that we are in this economic mess. They deserve a quality education from all of the Pleasanton School District employees and support from all of the citizens in Pleasanton. Our city is a wonderful place to live because of the people who live here. Yes, the economy is bad and many people are hurting, but I also see the movie theaters are packed, the coffee shops have long lines, the karate schools are full and you can see kids playing sports in every park. The parcel tax is not a lot of money and it will help to support programs that help children to be successful students.
If you have a student in this district, I encourage you to let the teachers who work with and care for them, know that you appreciate what they have voted to give up. Many teachers are facing a layoff (I am one myself) and I still voted for a pay cut that begins this year. I also have more students and families to work with, but the same high standards to teach. Sadly, we do not have the power to control a lot of what is happening around us these days, but we can make a difference for our town’s youngest citizens. Please remember that it is truly about children, not jobs and pay! Thank you!

I am happy to see the teachers trying to do their part. I am however, disappointed that the cuts shifted to the high schools.

Well, I think the name I gave myself says it all. There will always be the nuts on both sides of the fence and “Don’t fire” is just proving my point.

I am thrilled that almost all of these posts are very supportive of the teachers. After the hits they have been taking on these boards, they are owed an apology.

You are so right, Don’t fire ! The district intentionally held an expensivre election, when nobody would vote…several weeks after a big election with a big turnout…wasting a fortune.
Instead of this 4% joke, why not larger classes, dumping the few protected lousy teachers. That would about balance, without losing pay. They must start taking stance to dump the bad ones.
The 4% cannot ever be called a cut…it’s not. It’s a furlough to hurt kids.

I’m going to flag any post that seems to encourage “poli-terrorism”. Yes, I’m looking at you, “Don’t fire”. Let’s bring the focus back to solving the $9 Million deficit of the school district. The teachers chose to step up and cover half of that. What are you going to do to help solve the *immediate* problem facing our community?

I am not a lousy teacher and neither are any of the teachers who are facing a layoff that I know personally! You have never been in my classroom and seen me work with children. You have never heard the thankful parents whose children I care for and educate. How dare you say the “bad ones” should be dumped! My children have had excellent teachers in Pleasanton and I am so thankful for all they do. Private schools are not the answer. There must be public schools for the majority of students who cannot or choose not to attend private school.

I’d love to see you in a classroom of students and see how you handle the daily things that teachers face. We are educating and helping to raise the children in this town. We see the kids more than many parents do because they are having to work long hours to make ends meet. We are a team. You are obviously not a team player!

Okay. Come on in and see the difference between my classes of 24 and 34. One is higher achieving than the other. I’ll let you guess which, then come see why.

“And public schools cost the average taxpayer far more per capita than does private, especially if private were the only way and thus we didn’t have to double pay like we do today if we want to go private, being still compelled to pay into the public system, which is full of traitorous agendas”

So “Don’t fire”, please tell me how private schools compare in any way to public? They are completely homogeneous and have little to no services for special needs or troubled students. They just tell them to get out. I know this because my kids attend a private school. And, I also know I pay a crapload more than the $52 in ADA that the public school would get for my kids. I decided to send them to private school because I live in Berkeley where the public schools are deplorable. I would LOVE to have a public school my kids could attend safely because I do think they are missing out on so much being in a sheltered environment.

Please tell me “Don’t fire” how you will educate the masses. ALL OF THEM, for less than $52 a day. Rules of the game are that you are not allowed to kick any of them out for just not being good students, or being disruptive or fighting. You may kick them out for committing a felony but that’s about the only reason. Otherwise you are charged with teaching all of them, and teaching them well, for $52 a day.

Post your plan here for all of us to read. I would really like to hear it, maybe we can take your ideas to the school board.

Reasonable parent, you said “People who go in to education do so with the knowledge that they’re not going to ever see huge spikes in their incomes, like bonuses that are awarded in the private sector. Likewise, they don’t expect to be subject to the same degree of losses during a downturn. Getting a job in the public sector is like investing in a CD, whereas jobs in the private sector are like investing in a stock.”

1) I have never been in a job where I have been GUARANTEED a pay raise every year regardless of my performance.
2) The average HOUSEHOLD income in Pleasanton in 2007 was $113,345. I would guess it has gone down since then. Since that is household income and many households have more than one person working, the average salary in Pleasanton is significantly less than $113k. According to the Sac. Bee, the average teacher in Pleasanton earns $81928, which is very close to, and very possibly higher than the Pleasanton average.
3) Teachers are required to work 185 days. The school day is 7 hours. That includes prep time and lunch. That comes to 1295 hours per year. Yes, many spend signifcant additional time, but MANY do not. The standard full time work year is 1920 hours (40 hrs/week, 10 holidays, 2 weeks vacation). MANY in the private sector work many hours of overtime with no additional pay. In this economy it’s required just to keep a job. So teachers work approximately 75% as many hours as most full-time workers.
4) Teachers have the opportunity to supplement their income by working in the summer.
5) The LOWEST salary on the step/column chart for a credentialed BA is 60371. Therefore, a married couple of teachers fresh out of college immediately has a higher income than the average Pleasanton household.
6) It’s nearly impossible to fire a teacher with 3 or mores years experience.

I fail to see the sacrifice. Teachers work fewer average hours and have comparable pay to the average Pleasanton resident, yet they still have much more job security. I really don’t think that most of us in the private sector have reasonable expectations of “huge spikes” in pay or large bonuses, but we do have far less job security.

The whole compensation system for teachers is broken and needs to be fixed. Excellent teachers in in-demand fields deserve more pay than they get. But the many mediocre teachers certainly do not. I blame the unions. This is very typical of the fiscal mess that the entire state is in.

Sorry, but your statistics are outdated and misinterpreted.

You cited the 2007 MEDIAN income of Pleasanton households as if it was the AVERAGE (mean) income. “Median” means half of all households have incomes above that figure and half have incomes below that figure.

The true wealthy of a community is actually measured by MEAN (average) FAMILY income. By that measure, according to the most recent Census Bureau data (2008), Pleasanton has an average family income of $172,482, while California as a whole has an average family income of $60,482.

You can access all of these statistics at:

http://factfinder.census.gov

p.s.–There is a rather windy explanation of the difference between “household” and “family”, but I used to work for the Census Bureau and I can tell you that “family” income is considered the truer and more accurate measure of a community’s wealth.

By that standard, Pleasanton is doing very good, indeed.

Interesting article about a Rhode Island superintendent who fired every teacher and administrator at the high school when they refused to comply with changes to the school which included the teachers to work 25 more minutes/day

http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-unionized-rhode-island-teachers-refuse-to-work-25-minutes-more-per-day-so-town-fires-all-of-them-2010-2

I wonder how he was able to fire union teachers?

When did it become ok to start calling each other names? Would this discussion be filled with such vitriol if it was being held face to face? Anonymity does not give any of us the right to be insulting. Before hitting submit, I think we should all ask ourselves, would I use these words if I was looking at the person I’m speaking to. If not, then rephrase. Let’s keep it civil people. And why are we afraid to use our names? If our opinions are well founded then we should gladly claim them as our own. Just a thought.

This is a great first step. Let’s stop the finger pointing, and work as a community. This is a CRISIS, not an inconvenience. Our children’s education is the foundation for our future. We need grass-roots activism to change our state budget process and how our state leaders prioritize education. It effects everything, our schools, our jobs, our economy. Contact your local and state representatives and remind them they work for you and your community. Ask your children’s teachers how you can support your child’s education. Get involved. Your heart will feel better and your finger won’t hurt so much.

I add my thanks to those above to the union leadership, the district negotiations team, and all teachers for your work on this issue.

I, too, appreciate this step toward concessions. I am, however, disappointed at the lost opportunity to add those instructional minutes to the remaining days of the school year. As Teacher pointed out, the educational expectations of students are not reduced by those furlough days. Adding back those minutes, in the interest of students, should have been an absolute.

I am saddened by any give backs involving staff development and teacher support. Also by the loss of the flexibility of a seventh period day. These decisions appear to have been made on the basis of what it saves in dollars and not because it can be mitigated in other ways or was part of an in depth look at the educational program for possible changes in delivery.

The truth is furlough days are used to maintain retirement benefits/per diem calculations. According to the data posted on the district’s web site, the vast majority of PUSD teachers are in the highest column and highest steps of the salary schedule. It would not be a surprise to see many teachers retire sooner, assuming they can afford it. It certainly is understandable with the future of the state and K-12 funding straddling a fault line.

Another point is, if the article is correct, this is 4.3 percent over TWO years. There are, in fact, districts in the state talking about 7 and 8 percent cuts. It is likely those are furlough day discussions as well. We won’t know for certain until those negotiations close.

These concessions are one step toward pulling this district back together. A new superintendent and a board election in November will be additional steps toward finding a governance team more aware of the balance between being responsive to all constituents (taxpayers) of this community and their employee groups (of whom many are taxpayers as well).

We are headed in the right direction, and it will take all the pieces of the puzzle to make any attempt at a parcel tax possible.

The teachers help solve half of the budget shortfall and part of the community is still not appreciative and cognizant of this constructive effort towards a solution.

Very nice, people of Pleasanton.

Don’t fire, Gunslinger, whatever: I’ll stick my neck out here . . . I’m not anonymous. As you are not a stakeholder (unless you are a non-resident employee of the district?) in our community and not party to any solution(s) this community will seek, how about you give it a rest? Otherwise, you are just a s***disturber. This of course is my opinion and is not necessarily the view of this newspaper or others on these postings.

I may be wasting my time trying to explain this, but I’d like to clarify a couple of things.

First, it was the district that took a suspension of step and column off the table, not the teachers. Freezing it would require either a permanent change to the salary schedule or a huge jump in payout when the freeze was over. The DO was reluctant to change the schedule permanently because it is competitive and they wanted to keep it that way.

Second, furlough days do not mean teachers are going to work less. As others have pointed out, what is expected of teachers and students is not going to change. We are all going to have to work harder to cram the same material into less time. You’re right in saying that this is not going to benefit the students, but doesn’t mean an easier time or vacation days for the teachers.

Finally, try to put this in perspective. The teachers as a group vote on what the union and district agree to at the bargaining table. To say the teachers are being greedy or not giving up enough is not fair. In the last two years we have been presented with yes or no options regarding concessions twice, and both times almost 80% of us voted yes. If you’re going to be unhappy with the level of give-backs no matter what, so be it. But keep in mind that your children’s teachers have overwhelmingly voted to keep education strong for your kids, so to direct your anger at them is folly.

Hey Kathleen, what do you think about the Pleasanton Weekly censoring my legitimate comments

Hey Kathleen please tell me you’re not okay with the PW erasing my side of the debate.

I’ll address my remarks solely to Kathleen Ruegsegger, with whom I disagree on many things, but respect nonetheless for posting under her real name (as I do). I will ignore replies from anonymous parties–you want to engage in a debate, use your real name. (And thanks to my colleague, Mr. Jeremy Detamore, for doing the same.)

Ms. Ruegsegger: So the pay cut that my fellow union members voted for isn’t big enough for you?

But isn’t it true that you work as an administrative assistant for the Palo Alto School District?

Have you been asked to take a pay cut of any kind? I’m guessing you have not, and that’s because Palo Alto not only has a parcel tax, the voters may well increase it.

“A Palo Alto Unified School parcel tax proposal is on the May 4, 2010 ballot for voters in the Palo Alto Unified School District in Santa Clara.[1]

Voters are being asked to replace the current $493/year parcel tax and increases it by $96 a year, so that the parcel tax bill each year would be $589. Palo Alto’s parcel tax at its current level funds around 6% of the school district’s annual operating budget with the roughly $9.4 million it brings in.[1] The district’s current parcel tax is set to expire in 2011.[2]

Tracy Stevens, Anna Thayer and Al Yuen are running the campaign to get the parcel tax approved. It will take a 2/3rds supermajority vote to win.[1]
Palo Alto voters approved a $378 million bond measure on June 3, 2008.”

Information from here:

http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Palo_Alto_Unified_School_District_parcel_tax_(May_2010)

A $589 parcel tax in Palo Alto, while Pleasanton voters turned down a $233 parcel tax? Hm, no wonder Palo Alto isn’t laying off administrators, custodians, secretaries, counselors, or teachers–the people of their community support them.

In case anybody wants to argue that Palo Alto residents are richer than Pleasanton residents, they’re not.

Median family income for Palo Alto: $166,063
Median family income for Pleasanton: $136,593

Median family income in Pleasanton is 82% of Palo Alto’s. Palo Alto has a $493 annual parcel tax and is seeking to increase it to $589. Pleasanton voters turned down a parcel tax of $233, which is 47% of the tax Palo Alto residents currently pay.

My question for Ms. Ruegsegger: Why is a pay cut and no parcel tax good for Pleasanton (the community where YOU pay taxes) but a pay cut and a huge parcel tax is good for Palo Alto (where you do NOT pay taxes but collect your salary)? Seems to me you want to eat your cake and have it, too.

Gunslinger, I didn’t get to see what was deleted. Anyone can report your comments as objectionable. I suppose if enough people do, the comments are taken down. It’s a private enterprise; their rules. I guess the best way to avoid deletion is to self police the comments. Strong points can be made without being offensive.

I’ll even admit I often write off line first to give myself time to think. I believe I write better than I speak, where I can get caught up in the spirit of a debate and forget to put up the bumper guards.

Kathleen they erased what I was talking about with you. You definitely read that. Look they erased everything. I found a lot of things written here to be objectionable. That doesn’t mean I get to censor it. Only obscene, inappropriate comments should be deleted. You disappoint Kathleen. I didn’t think that you would agree with censorship just because a few people (union members) don’t like what I have to say

To the 78% of teachers who voted to help our school system: Thank you!!!! I’m a parent who can relax finally knowing that things are going to work out. I’ve seen the emails from parents flying around last night and please know that the vast majority of parents are so grateful and willing to help too. Please don’t worry about some of the comments you see here. We’re going to get there! Thanks again!

Daniel, Point by point:
Not what I said. Pointing out the facts of the 4.3 percent.

Uh, where I work has hardly been a secret or anything else about me.

No, although I suggested one in the staff requested input (one of 12 or 13 ideas I submitted). Next part is incorrect, however. It’s not just a parcel tax, it’s a basic aid district. Let me know if you need to know the difference between that and PUSD, a revenue limit district.

You are painting a picture from limited information. There is a soft freeze on hiring there; jobs are not being backfilled, including administrators. For a full picture of the suggested cuts for their Tuesday meeting: http://www.pausd.org/community/board/agenda.shtml That said, yes, it’s a very supportive community. And I’ve indicated I would support a parcel tax here when our fiscal house is in order. I donated twice what was asked in the Measure G proposal directly to my grandchild’s school.

So, careful where you challenge me; I walk the talk, or whatever the saying is now. So I get my cake there and spend it here.

And, I’ll talk to anyone here or in person.

What lies about the majority of the community backing the unions.

Kathleen, address my point or you lose all credibility with the readers

Gunslinger, I have no high and mighty feelings because I use my name. I don’t care if you use yours or not.

I only looked at this thread for the first time earlier today, so I did not see what you posted and that got erased. And unless the entire entry (name, etc) was removed, I don’t see where you responded to my earliest postings.

Let me point out I just stated what I think policy is and that it’s theirs to decide. Stand on a corner with a sign; I’ll defend your rights there or in other public settings.

Kathleen you did read at least one of my comments that was erased cause you addressed it. Geez! You know the comment that you addressed saying you were out of line with the SD comment? What the heck?! How can you be so skewed?! And you wonder where is derived the lack of civility.

And yes Kathleen, the entirety was erased. But you addressed my comment. It’s patently obvious. So you did read at least one and I know others. Wow. Are you that forgetful, that scattered, or that corrupt?

Gunslinger, Okay, I scrolled back up and see that I appear to be answering to thin air. Never seen them just wipe out a comment; they usually say post removed, or something to that effect. Odd. Still their field.

Question: Does anyone know whether Kids Club will stay open on the furlough days, or will they reduce their fees to the parents for closing these three days?

Ms. Ruegsegger: Did you or did you not state that you thought a pay cut on order of 7-8 percent was what is needed in Pleasanton USD?

And a “soft cut” (through attrition, rather than pink slips) is a far cry from losing 70+ teachers and many administrative and classified staff from PUSD.

I opposed wage concessions AT THIS TIME from my union because last year, we offered wage concessions equal to the amount of the parcel tax (an average of $1,000 per teacher for a $233/year, four-year parcel tax) and the community said “no” to us. I voted “yes” for the $1,000 wage concession but “no” to this year’s package of concessions because I see teachers being asked to make all the sacrifices, through loss of jobs and through greater workloads and loss of salary.

Yes, I know 62% of voters who went to the polls voted for the parcel tax, but voter turnout was very low. If another 800 people had turned out to vote “yes”, we’d have a parcel tax that would ameliorate some of these cuts.

If the voters had approved the modest $233, 4-year parcel tax, I would have written a letter in favor of wage concessions, instead of one opposing it.

People say I misunderstand the “anger” in the community towards teachers. Perhaps the community misunderstand the sense of anger and betrayal that many teachers feel when they see our profession and our hard work getting disrespected in forums such as the Pleasanton Weekly and few, if any, people in the community counterbalancing that with expressions of support.

And no, I absolutely don’t respect anyone who enters a very public debate, slings arrows at others, and hides behind a cloak of anonymity. Shame on the Pleasanton Weekly for allowing it.

I’m just a hick from a small town: Salina, Kansas. We Kansans aren’t sophisticated like Californians. That’s why my hometown newspaper, the Salina Journal, has this statement in its letters to the editor section:

“The Salina Journal welcomes letters to the editor; length is limited to 250 words, and must be signed and include an address and a daytime phone number for verification of authorship.”

I guess it is true that I’m just a naive, unsophisticated country bumpkin who doesn’t understand why people need to use pseudonyms and yet still demand respect and serious attention for their views.

Hello Kathleen, you all know I’m from Danville. If they hadn’t deleted my explanation for why I changed my monikor you’d know why. We all know where I’m from. Kathleen, I now realize you’re part of the corruption, conscious or not.

You’re so naive. Don’t you get it. My arguments are the most potent, the most rabble rousing, and thus the most threatening to those who back union agendas, which includes this media source.

So if I may finally say my piece.

The unions are like a 600 pound person who loses five pounds and says “See, I’ve done my part, now gimme more candy.”

I had more to say but I gotta get my groove back since they erased me ten times

I can’t believe that people still have negative comments to make about the teachers! You should be grateful. If they weren’t helping bail out the district, the children in this community would be facing devastating blows to their eduction. There are still more cuts that will be made, so it is not business as usual. So I’m appreciative and THANK ALL THE TEACHERS for being willing to make concessions for the benefit of others!

To all Teachers:

THANK YOU for your continued support of education in Pleasanton. While many here will harp, nit pick, complain, whine, and generally dismiss ANY proactive efforts you make – please know there are many, many that stand and applaud you.

My suggestion to all teachers is to stop reading the messages left here on this forum. They do not represent (IMO) the views of most – and will merely frustrate you sine there will never be enough that you can do, to satisfy the SAME individuals that have been posting for a year.

Forget them! Your responses only allow them to post up… Yet again- their same “rants”.

You know what you have done is a sacrafice – regardless of what some poster here may say.

You know that the loss of teachers this past year has not helped further educaton in our city.

You know how hard it is to teach up to 33 in a class.

You know that the sacrafice given by your vote will impact your own family.

And yet, you still move forward. I admire each one of you… And wish you nothing but the best.

Don’t Fire:

you are exactly the poster I had in mind when writing above. LOL

In keeping with my own advice…… No further from me.

Enjoy. 😉

I am a teacher actually.

Miguel

Stay tuned…… ….

Nothing like a backhanded thanks Kathleen- you just cant go without insults to this district. Now for sure it is very clear, nothing the district does will ever be good enough for you. The survey isnt good enough, the give back isnt the right kind…..In that regard, you have about the same credibility as Gunslinger.

The fact is the administration and teachers have actively done something to work towards solving the budget issue that is plaguing all school districts in California, while a minority here see their “work” as actively complaining. That is not solving the issue- that is “work” to divide this community and cast doubt against the school district. Tired of hearing your “facts” that are really just your opinions. Not buying it this time from you.

If you are indeed a teacher, Don’t Fire, then you seem to be an anomaly.

There’s always one in the bunch.

Kathleen~
I am interested to read what your proposed changes for the district are. Do you have them published somewhere?
I don’t know how to get heard in the district. I personally don’t want to be a spokesperson, but I am surprised others have not joined forces to be heard. Or maybe they have and I am just not in the know. It seems like you have a lot to say. Do you write suggestions to the board or go speak at the meetings? I hope you do.

The teachers are saying that their furlough days will not make their jobs easier, and that they will not be days “off” as they will be figuring out new lesson plans since they will have less days to teach the same material. If that is the case, then why didn’t they furlough non-instructional days? They would still have the teaching time, and could do their “teacher work day prep” stuff on their own schedules.

No, the concession wasn’t enough. And it’s not a genuine paycut. If our kids education was a priority, the furlough days would have been staff development days, not instructional days.

This makes me sad.

Teacher from Golden Eagle neighborhood (that in itself is telling how well our teachers are paid)~

You answered my question as to why the furlough days will be instructional days instead of staff days – because you want to ‘stick it to the parents’ so we will “feel the impact”.

I heard that teachers were actually upset because they wanted the days off to be more intrusive – like random Wednesdays instead of extra days tacked on to holiday breaks. They wanted to really burden the parents, and wanted them to “feel it”.

As someone who DID vote for the parcel tax, and who DID give A LOT of money to the ILPS fundraiser this summer, and who WILL be lobbying for the next parcel tax, I find this abhorrent.

Parent volunteer, I’ve done my research on some of Kathleens points. You are foolish to compare her to me. She is by far more moderate than I. For you to lump her into my category just shows how moderation doesn’t work on your type. Which is why I don’t go there anymore. That’s why my guns are blazing.

And if you want to label all suggestions as whining, then I will throw that right back at you whiner. Here’s a suggestion, maybe I forgot to say it- RAISE CLASS SIZES TO 40 STUDENTS

DONT CATER AN ENTIRE SYSTEM AROUND ILLEGALS- as observer pointed out he feels we need low class sizes because half his students don’t know how to speak the first language of this country. Why?! Why don’t you all at least in spirit thus support control of our borders. You can’t defend illegal immigration than ask us to fund their education at such an astronomical fiscal burden, and whine about how you have to teach them.

Why do so many kids have this so called ADD?!! What a load! They need to exercise more! We need greater phys Ed!!

There! Are you unionists listening?!! Was that what you may define as solutions?! Or does that fall under your broad cloak of complaining and fingerpointjng?!

Daniel,
I disagree with your statement that the community and teachers must meet “halfway”. The community does have a responsibility to help solve this problem, but it doesn’t mean an even match. I think you fail to recognize that the community already pays for education. While you feel that teacher concessions are “never enough”, many in the community feel the same about taxes – its never enough. You tell me, how much is enough Daniel? $233 this year an for the next four, until you move into the next step? Then what? Another tax to support your raise? Healthcare costs are still rising, are you going to hit me up for that next year as well, even after your colleagues voted to forgo healthcare benefits in favor of an increased salary and pension payout?

Teachers – please ignore all the backstabbing and ungrateful idiots who tend to anonymously use this forum and who fail to support you. Most of these people probably do not work at all, much less in a career with low pay, no paid medical or dental benefits, and in a position that significantly influences the future of society, so please forgive their complete ignorance and the fact that they are totally out of touch with the reality of your situation. I’m sure I speak for the vast majority of normal, thoughtful people when I say that I appreciate your hard work and the concessions you have accepted. I recognize that these are not “vacation” days as the moronic ignoramuses would suggest. Rather, they represent LOST INCOME for you because they are days you would normally work and get paid. I guess some people resent the fact that they have to care for their own children on these days. Please keep up the good work – do not let the comments of spoiled, entitled, verbal, idiotic Pleasanton residents affect your efforts. The rest of us, who are busy working for a living, don’t usually take our free time to post on these forums, and to some extent that is our own fault. I just wanted you to know that you are appreciated far more than you will find here.

I will not vote for a parcel tax. This is not a good compromise, the teachers did what was best for them, not the students. If you look at the days the agreed to have “off without pay” it is right before holidays, so many teachers are absent anyway, they just won’t get paid for them or have to pay the sub.

However, it is not really a paycut. A paycut is when you do the same amount of work for less pay. These lazy teachers said: sure a “paycut” but do not expect me to work yet the students have to do the same amount of work with less days in school.

A true paycut would have been to take the days off from teacher work days, not instructional days.

Also, a note to those who plan to donate to music: DON’T!

By eliminating the 7th period, music will have few enrolling. Do NOT waste your money on music until you see whether these classes will have any enrollment at the high school level. Funny part is, the middle schools still get their A (extra) period because “collaboration” (late wed) is still a part of middle school.

But elementary still gets Science specialists? Give me a break. This is something Grant and Hintzke (do they have college degrees?) pushed for a fought for. But we do not need Science specialists in elementary, a GOOD teacher should be able to teach the curriculum, but of course we must not have good teachers in elementary if they cannot cover basic science material!

So teachers don’t pat yourselves on the back. And if you want money, don’t count on parcel taxes. Instead, get all the parents from the 9 elementary schools to give it to you. They are the ones who will benefit from all you “concessions” – elementary schools do not have the material that high schools have to cover. So days off in elementary do not matter, in high school they do.

Daniel B. talks about Palo Alto and its parcel tax. Parcel taxes are NOT the solution, not even in Palo Alto. Unions continue to get their perks at the expense of the students. Read about the cuts to high schools in Palo Alto even with the high parcel tax:
http://www.pausd.org/community/about/news/budget_reduction_hs.shtml

And it is not just high schools, other levels are about to suffer as well, but their employees keep getting raises, step and column, they keep too much staff.

We will see if Palo Alto renews and increases their parcel tax, because so far it has not helped them keep programs, only unions that are happily demanding more and more.

PUSD must address issues such as:

– step and column

– union perks and benefits, retirement

– administrative waste (allowances, too much staff)

Until we address the unions and how they are driving every industry into bankrupcy, we cannot and should not give more money to anyone, not PUSD and not the state of California.

Not the answer: The link you provided loaded strangely enough for me to wonder about it, and it is dated 2004 where cuts were done during a previous downturn in property tax growth. Try http://www.pausd.org/community/board/agenda.shtml Item 8 for current budget reductions being proposed.

None of the current “problems” have anything at all to do with the local district or California for that matter. There were no “unsustainable” raises given to teachers. In fact the raises given were probably not adequate. The current PUSD deficit was completely caused be a once in a century global financial crisis. It was caused by unregulated speculation in the derivatives markets, not “excessive pensions” or salaries any of that. None of that is the cause. Keeping 1 or 2 million extra in reserves would have done very little to help with the budget, and we would have still needed substantial tax increases to maintain our school quality.

1. Step and Column does not need to be fixed. Who invented calling this a problem? We need to fully fund it.

2. Perks for Administrators are not excessive or wasteful. This is utter nonsense. We need to continue to attract the best talent to PUSD. And that includes cell phones and car allowances.

3. The current administration is doing an excellent job. Parents move to Pleasanton for the excellent schools. This improves the quality of life for all of us.

@Don’t Fire:
re: Raise class sizes to 40. Come on in and see the difference between my classes of 24 and 34. One is higher achieving than the other. I’ll let you guess which, then come see why.

Again: The teachers voted to cover half of a $9M deficit. What are *YOU*, as an impassioned member of the community, going to do to help solve the *immediate* problem facing Pleasanton?

@Another Teacher:
“For the record, we have no more teacher work days this school year. Next school year, 2 of the days we are giving up are teacher work days at the beginning of the year. Rest assured, most of the teachers will still be at school preparing for the school year. We just won’t be paid for it.”

Amen. I’ll be one of those.

My $0.02:
I think that this concession is *not* good news for the students or parents…less instructional days means less learning. But it saves programs which make a difference, such as Barton reading, and others. Also, it’s a wake up call that the funding system is broken. This is part of an immediate fix, but what is our district/state/country going to do to fix the system in the big picture?

And teacher, just cause you can’t handle 40 kids doesn’t mean no one can. You might not be up to the nob. I’m fine with that. We’ll have to replace you with someone who is. With all that extra money we’ll be able to pay those teachers we keep more, thus hiring the best who absolutely can handle 40 kids a class and we’re still way ahead fiscally.

You want to keep saying what am I doing. Homeboy, I ain’t the problem. You are. Don’t come to me with your bloated, corrupt system and demand I meet you halfway. You wanna repeat your same line, well then I throw the same line back at you. You unions are like an obese 600 pound person who has been living off our welfare and we finally get sick of it, so you lose 5 measly pounds then come to us looking for more candy. No! Us needing to meet you halfway in this scenario is a complete non sequitor. You’re like a thief who steals forty dollars. I ask that you give it back. You give me five in return then say “Now what are YOU doing to meet me halfway?”

you know what, you’re right. Now that I think of myself as a 600 pound person or a thief, I can’t help but agree with you.

I can handle 40 kids. I can;t teach them as effectively as 34 or even 24, so if you want a less educated future for your town/state/country, let’s raise it to 40.

Pensions for teaching staff is self funded. We pay 8% mandatory into STRS for our entire career. Not sure how the admin is funded or if they are. Admin is not part of APT/CTA/NEA, but any cuts we take they take. I am hopeful this pay cut will encourage a few of the lingering admins to retire at the end of 09/10, we could use some new blood.
It’s interesting that so much of the perceived problem with education lies in the unions. The administration is not union protected and in all my years of teaching I have experienced more incompetence with that group than with teachers. Yet I never have seen any of them removed or penalized. I honestly don’t care one way or another about the union, take it or leave it. I just do my job and do it well, that’s how I was raised. I will give back 5% of my salary along with the thousands I spend in my own classroom. I know that the negativity on this blog represents so little of this great community. I am happy and proud to work with your kids and I am thankful to be able to live in Pleasanton so that my own kids can attend these awesome schools.

A reader, you don’t get that we have been thinking that the education system was bloated for DECADES!!! This recent recession just forced our hand. People will allow waste when there’s plenty of moolah. But when the sugar hits the fan they are forced to confront all wastefulness. Yes the bankers are scoundrels! Yes the fed is a POS!! Yes they are all corrupt and so are the unions!! To the taxpayer you appear to all be different tentacles of the same beast attempting to rob us and destroy the very fabric of our civilization.

I just want to add that I am disgusted by all the name calling and mudslinging on this blog. Let’s try to keep things civil.

Reader:
Public employee pensions are driving counties and the state towards insolvency. The liability associated with paying the pensions far exceeds the money that has been allocated, so yes unions are a huge part of the problem. Over 80% of CA state employees are union members versus about 7% of private sector employees. CalPers also engaged in speculation not just the investment banks.

“Public employee pensions are driving counties and the state towards insolvency. ”

Fine. That has nothing to do with the shortfall in the PUSD that we are currently experiencing. That is a myth. This is all coming from Washington and Wall Street. We would not have experienced this huge dip in money from taxes were it not for the credit crisis. The credit crisis directly resulted from the collapse of several large, interconnected financial institutions. California pension plans invested in mortgage backed securities, and that was speculation. But the very same institutions that sold them those securities were betting even more heavily against them using instruments like credit default swaps. Goldman Sachs was selling CalPers collateralized debt obligations as “safe” investment grade bonds while at the very same time betting against those bonds using derivatives. A transparent, properly regulated derivatives market would have COMPLETELY prevented this, and there would be no budget shortfall for PUSD.

People want to latch on to an easy explanations for problems. Do a little digging, and things don’t always look as they appeared at first glance.

“You call people dropouts and blatherers and a number of other things. Hypocrite.”

Um, it was an attempt at humor.

And I am not and never have been a teacher.

Oh so calling those who disagree with you childlike and incapable of thinking for themselves, was that just humor reader? You lacked civility there and you know it. But that’s okay. We need to all stop being so sensitive to how a message is put forth and focus merely on the message

parent: I agree (well maybe not the “pathetic” part) but there are some teachers who are probably past their prime. The tenure system is certainly something that needs to be reformed. Is it going to happen in the next year? No. I hope parents wouldn’t refuse to help the district because of those few teachers.

And thank you for your support of the rest of us:)

“but no layoffs”

I meant no layoffs to other staff that may be not as needed (too much staff is not unique to PUSD)

What is going on in Palo Alto shows us what all districts would have if they could get away with it: keep asking for more and more.

palo alto already has a 493 parcel tax, now they want more than than and we will see if they get away with it in May.

But they are not talking about laying off or trimming expenses where needed. Instead they go to the community crying about cancelling programs, increasing class size, their budget this year (no teacher pink slips) assumes the 1.8 million they will get when the community votes in May to increase the tax. Even then, they say they will have a deficit.

Long term, what all districts including PUSD and Palo Alto need to do is fix the broken system and stop the raises, the outrageous expenses. Taxes and fundraising only serve as temporary fixes.

And yes I agree with P-Town Dad (I think it was) who says the tenure system is broken.

There are not a lot of awful teachers in the district, but when your child has one, it is devastating. We need to get rid of teachers who aren’t performing (regardless of age, as that’s not always the factor) and keep the great ones. It’s heart breaking to see wonderful teachers get pink-slipped when others should be the ones to go.

I am a new resident to Pleasanton – moving here because I thought it was a welcoming community that supported teachers – schools and public education – After reading this I am ashamed of all of the negative comments toward the fantastic teachers that this district is lucky to have. Support your teachers through this challenging time – and please KEEP YOUR KIDS in school….Vacations can happen later – every day in school, brings more money to help!

At the last board meeting, it was suggested that elementary schools had too many cuts and if the cuts were spread around to middle and high schools, the parcel tax would pass.

WRONG! By having eliminated the 7 period day in high school, the board will have a difficult time enlisting support from those parents. Even those of us with kids in elementary but also kids in high school will say NO. We know that elementaries do not need counselors, or science specialists. We know that high school matters and cuts will affect greatly, a parcel tax when implemented will be too late for high school students to benefit.

So whoever said to spread the cuts to enlist support did not know understand the impact of said cuts in high school.

We know that now with the high school cuts, we have to give more money for extracurricular activities and will have to make up for cuts.

You won’t get money or parcel tax by having essentially eliminated by default high school programs.

They should have done a freeze to step and column.

One more note on this subject: We live and work near Silicon Valley. It’s a tough world, but one that gives us an abundant lifestyle. One of the downsides of technology is that the business model becomes outdated, fails economically and the business goes bust … pure and simple … most of us have had some direct dealings with this “otta here” phenomenon.

Now my point is: Administrators have to own up to the fact that schools are not in the business of keeping administrators in business but kids educated. When that fails adjust the business model, cut budgets, raise revenues. I really honestly believe the “false issue” is choosing between teachers and programs, when it should be choosing between teachers and administrators …. to me that’s an easy choice.

Ask yourselves this: “What do we face everyday in the rough and tumble world of the VALLEY? Why are school administrators exempt from the reality of their own circumstance. IF: a manager in the Valley failed to make his/her division profitable would they get small cut in their salary … OR???”

The days off were going to be forced by the district anyway. This is a dissapointing ploy to avoid any real cuts.

To PP,

” now the bubble has burst and so have the private sector compensations that were indirectly tied to it.”

I get your message, but “private sector” companies like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are paying out record bonuses this year. I say “private sector” because I don’t think these are really private companies, considering the bailout dollars they got from the government directly and indirectly (through AIG).

I agree that fixing the problem should be the focus.

If it isn’t a real cut, then please explain to me how after doing the math on my own paycheck for the rest of this year and for next, I will be making less money. Not a real cut??

I don’t really care what people are calling it. The proof is in my paycheck and in everything that will be brought back because of what we are giving up.

The district is facing an $8 million budget crisis and the teachers have agreed to pay for more than half of the deficit out of their salaries. But it seems some people aren’t satisfied with this solution because it’s not painful enough to teachers.

You can dress it up any way you like with false arguments about how pensions and unions (instead of a housing and credit crisis) have led to this, but the bottom line for some is simply, “I don’t like some teachers (or I’m jealous of their summers off) and I want to hurt them all.”

Nice.

Our educators deserve much, much better than this.

“Not the answer: You are quoting from articles, not from what is being presented to the PAUSD board. I believe staff is presenting the budget information realistically.”

What I quoted from the articles is just a nice, and accurate summary of page 3 of the PDF file (item 8 of the Board of Education, Palo Alto, obtained through the link you provided to PAUSD), so what is the problem? The article is just a nice summary.

Bottom line is that Palo Alto is counting on the 1.8 million from the parcel tax they hope to pass/renew/increase in May, 2.1 from the general fund and the rest from cuts to programs such as language learners (english tutors), reduce high school teaching periods, increase in class size, etc for instance.

No mention to freeze to step and column, or any other items that make sense.

Like other districts (Cupertino and San Ramon for example) Palo Alto is relying on the community to give more and more, while they continue to threaten to cut programs while keeping the nice salaries and raises and perks for employees.

You know, some in Palo Alto are just waking up, hopefully for that district’s sake the community will again throw money at the problem in May, but you may not want to count on that. Everyone has a limit and like I said, Palo Alto residents have not been immune to this economy.

Everyone should read this thread:

http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=4384

One post talks about how the “paycut” (3 days off without pay) just pay for the step and column, so the “paycut” is offset with the raise!

Any input?

Freezing S&C means that the certificated who would increase a step or column would pay for the “pay cut”. Since they are the benefactors of the step or column increase, they pay for their own costs.

Furlough days means that all certificated staff pay for the “pay cut” equally. The cost is being distributed amongst everyone instead of only amongst those who are getting increases.

Don’t compare one year of S&C increase ($1.6MM) to concessions of roughly $4.6MM over two years. That’s disingenuous.

“In a statement released Friday afternoon by the Association of Pleasanton Teachers, president Trevor Knaggs announced that teachers made a tentative agreement to take a 4.3-percent pay cut over the next two years.”

The 2009-10 budget shows that certificated salaries are $67MM. Over two years salaries will be at least twice this number, or $134MM. 4.3% of this number is $5.7MM, NOT the actual reduction of $4.6MM. Therefore, the reduction is actually 3.4%. (Is someone dyslexic?)

What kind of spin is Mr. Knaggs generating? Or is the PW publishing backward figures?

Furthermore, the PUSD web site only shows about $2.8MM over two years actually affecting most teachers due to furlough days.

Can the union president please present a simple but accurate analysis supporting his claim, whatever it may actually be?

“These concessions are a significant step, but they aren’t a permanent fix–unless you agree fewer instructional days or no staff development is a positive, permanent solution. Then you can say half the projected problem is resolved. ”

There is no permanent problem to be solved. There was a short term problem that was entirely the result of a very unusual global economic crisis. This will pass. It was not a problem with PUSD or California. I would hate to see people use the global credit crisis to push their personal agenda on our school system by casting this as a problem with the way we run and finance our schools.

Get the facts,

I’m not calling the concession anything other than a concession. Disingenuous is just your attempt at portraying a one year amount as comparable with a two year amount, not anything about the concession itself. The reason you can’t lump the amounts together is because FY09/10 budget is for FY09/10 and FY10/11 budget is for FY10/11. I’m merely putting the concession into perspective for the benefit of the general public who reads this.

My understanding is that people who are for freezing the step/column, don’t believe it should be “paid back” later on. Teachers simply won’t be advancing on the step/column for the time being. When it is unfrozen, they can continue to advance. But there will be no pay back.

Just as I told my fellow teachers before we voted on these concessions: The amount, no matter how large, will never, ever satisfy some in Pleasanton.

There are people in Pleasanton who want the teachers’ union dissolved, and in fact, are anti-union (all unions!) in principle.

Unfortunately, this is working out just as I predicted. The first cry after the announcement of these significant concessions is “More! We must have more!”

This from a community that offers not one additional cent in parcel taxes, a town whose residents are so impoverished that they can’t afford 64 cents a day for four years to support their schools during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Who knew that the Association of Pleasanton Teachers was responsible for the global economic crisis? President Obama needs to send us all to Guantanamo Bay.

“some of us do believe unions served a purpose at one point in our history, but are no longer needed…. Who else in the country gets a say as to whether they get a paycut or not?”

Anyone else who is in a union, that’s who. Unions are formed to improve the conditions of employment. Employers who announce paycuts or layoffs are definitely a threat to the conditions of employment. That’s why employees band together and form unions — to protect themselves against arbitrary or self-interested employers.

The anti-parcel-tax crowd argues that taxpayers should not have to take on any more of the district’s costs, because they believe that the district administrators are making bad decisions. Why should taxpayers be protected, but not employees?

VV parent: Normally I don’t respond to people who hide behind pseudonyms, but I must say that your vision of a disenfranchised, powerless work force is one I don’t share.

Why is democracy ok outside the workplace but not in it? Through the power of my union, I am able to have a say in my working conditions and, to some degree, my wages. Unions are nothing but the concept of democracy extended to the workplace. Unions are needed now more than ever to protect workers.

And my letter has “infuriated the masses”? You are their anointed (or self-appointed) spokesperson? No, it’s infuriated the people who were already rabidly anti-teacher and anti-union, and who never would’ve voted for a parcel tax under any circumstances. I’m still waiting for a mob wielding pitchforks and torches, but nobody seems to take the initiative to organize it.

If the power of my letter is so great that it can doom a future parcel tax, then why wasn’t it strong enough to sway a majority of teachers to my side? Unlike you, I don’t pretend to speak for the “masses”, only for myself.

A question:

Does anybody know if the teachers get paid for the week of Thanksgiving? PUSD students get the entire week off.

If they do get paid, wouldn’t it be better to make those 3 days that the students are already not in school, the 3 days without pay instead of the instructional days being proposed?

Frank’s right–these savings are not just from teacher salaries, but are cleverly devised to do away with select programs so as to minimize the impact on students.

For shame!

Like Frank, I want teachers to have to empty their piggy banks for our schools! Or, at the very least, have to ring a bell and shout “unclean!” as they pass through our town.

How dare they reach an agreement that doesn’t hurt them more! This is so unreasonable!!

“Unions are needed now more than ever to protect workers.”

Why, the private sector does not have unions, and workers do just fine, you know why? Because they rely on their skills, their hard work, how competent they are to stay employed.

Someone like you I am sad to say, would not, imo last very long in the real world (private sector). Maybe that is why you rely on the union, to protect your job whether you deserve to be employed or not.

a reader wrote: “There is no permanent problem to be solved. There was a short term problem that was entirely the result of a very unusual global economic crisis. This will pass. It was not a problem with PUSD or California. I would hate to see people use the global credit crisis to push their personal agenda on our school system by casting this as a problem with the way we run and finance our schools.”

Oh, but there is a permanent problem. There’s a Leonard Pitts’ column today in the Valley Times you might consider reading. http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_14435051?nclick_check=1 Try as you may to state otherwise, this is not solely because of state, national, global issues.

By your statement I infer that you believe it is okay to wait for California to get back on its feet, starting meting out COLAs to K-12 education, watch that possibly get negotiated away, and then run into this same problem in five years that we are having now. And we will, because we have in the past–90s, early 00s.

“Their salary is based on the number of contract days worked in the year, so it would be pro-rated down for each furlough day. ”

So why can’t the district just prorate the days without taking additional instructional days off?

The teachers aready get the entire week of thanksgiving off. That is 3 extra days that many districts do not get.

So no need for extra days off, just adjust the pay to include the fact that these teachers already get 3 days off at thanksgiving, so they should be witout pay.

“Because teachers’ salaries are based on days WORKED, not days off.”

But the teachers have said they are so generous that they are taking 3 days without pay… well, make those 3 thanksgiving days off without pay, problem solved. That would save the money and not affect the students

Of course, Frank is right, these “concessions” are just disguised as “the best interest of the students, poor us teachers” when in reality they are not.

Students already get 3 days off at thanksgiving (more than other districts and on top of the thanksgiving thurs and fri) so make them without pay, that would be a true concession.

Whether the “pay cut” is 4.3% or 2% really makes no difference on the question of generosity, whether it is “enough” or “never enough”. But a true understanding of the concession, how each amount is achieved (where the money is coming from), leads to an ability to gauge their true short and long-term effects on the district’s budget.

Work for free? Sounds like socialism!

“ow many days do you work for free each year?”

as many as neede to get the job done. Unlike teachers, I do not keep track of every minute I put extra. I work extra time, weekends, evenings if it is needed to meet deadlines.

Daniel, I’ll stand with VV Parent on the issue of unions. The raises negotiated in the recent past and the generous retirement packages are unsustainable. The unintended consequences of rolling benefits onto the salary schedule isn’t working either. And tenure has protected only the worst performers (a minority to be sure); the best are a known quantity and don’t need the protection. It’s also prevented a way to reward the best.

I’ve never been a union member, but my father worked in the trades, in Chicago, for 30 years. You don’t get more union than that (well, maybe Detroit, but that experiment proves my point too). And I’ve worked with private and public sector unions. Their time has passed.

Questions, The problem (reason?) is per diem calculations for retirement. Just cutting $ lowers that per diem calculation. Cutting days (and the requisite $) maintains the per diem rate. So, 180 days at $200 each or 175 days at $200 each–you lose 5 days @$200, but your calculation in the retirement formula stays $200 per day.

Get the facts wrote: “Would you want 4.6 pizzas or 1.6 (and you’d have to pay for the 1.6)?”

Caveat emptor. First I’d ask what kind of pizza this is because I know that the 4.6 pizzas is not the same as the 1.6 pizzas ($4.6MM over 2 years is not $1.6MM over 1 year). If the 4.6 pizzas were BBQ Chicken from California Pizza Kitchen, I might consider it. But if the 1.6 pizzas were a real New York pizza, I’d reconsider the offer. That’s just personal preference though. The point is that I’d not think of the two different pizza offers as the same or comparable because the pizzas are different!

APT is a public employees union. Not comparable with private trade unions in terms of economics.

THANK YOU TEACHERS!!!

The Barton reading program is not supported by all the schools, why does that have to stay? The reading specialists are supposed to still be in place, why can’t they reach these students. Does Barton work for all the students it touches or are we throwing money at a program that is not consistently successful? Show us the numbers Barton program, for all your students not just the few successes.

It’s so funny how teacher talks about how the thread started off with fawning adoration of the teachers then turned negative. Are you that naive? The beginning of the thread was stacked by unionist AstroTurf. Now you’re seeing the grassroots. It’s called critical thinking teacher. You should retake the SAT

Notice how “grateful parent” chimes in at the exact moment, the very minute the editor posted the article. Um hmmm

I appreciate parents that understand the sacrifices we as teachers are making. Teachers are now being asked to do even MORE work for less pay, and many of us have lost jobs, or have lost a percentage of their job. I hope the community will now meet us halfway. When are the higher-up administrators going to start taking responsibility and take the same cuts we take? How about all those retirement pensions that are being paid out? Why are the highest paid district employees guaranteed not to have a pay cut in the next three years while the rest of us suffer along with the kids?

@Thanks But…

High schools didn’t have feel many cuts or impact last year. It’s time to equalize things throughout the entire PUSD.

Amazing is Astroturf. Though he tried to hide it, you can tell how he writes as a third person about the parents. And don’t you dare tell us to leave an area we’ve lived in our whole lives. You get! Go on to Richmond if you don’t like what you’re dealing with here

@ hey,
I would guess you do not have high school students yet. There already was no class size reduction except in math and english in Freshman year, the counselling departments are overwelmed, custiodial servies are not able to keep up. Sports team funding was cut to save academics. It goes on and on. The high schools were always taking more than their fair share of the load so there was less that should have been cut to start with.
PE classes have 40-50 students per teacher, science classes have easily 30, What will your opinion be when your student takes Biology or physics with over 30 kids per class?

“My interpretation of the deal is that the teachers will basically be doing porportionally less work for the porportional less pay.”

Yes, this is correct, but most teachers will try to squeeze in all that they were planning to do even without those three days. So in most cases, it’s the same work at an accelerated pace.

“I only wish the days off were at the end of the school year”

I agree, but I am guessing they weren’t put there because of the potential outcry of it disrupting graduation events. The board has to agree to the dates, maybe they will choose to put them at the end of the year. (Possible, but unlikely.)

This is truly a sad day. Teachers are already underpaid, especially math and science teachers who could command larger salaries in industry. They put up with so much these days, including unruly students; students that don’t care; parents that are disengaged, insolent, overbearing and rude; incompetent administrators; and paying for critical supplies out of their own pockets. I know teachers that are working 100 hours/week.

I haven’t heard yet that the administrators are taking a pay cut; and since they have higher salaries they should take an even greater percentage cut than teachers.

It’s critical that we bounce most of the current members of the Legislature for prioritizing social programs over education, running businesses out of California, incredibly poor fiscal management, and conducting themselves like pigs at the slop trough.

“Since the reduction in pay is pro-rated, higher salaried people will have a proportionally higher (gross) reduction in pay.”

Actually, if the management team takes the eight furlough days, since they work more days each year(with only one exception, management works 197-222 days each year, compared to the 185 teachers work), then they will take LESS of a % hit (although higher in dollars, because they make more). To make it an equal hit, management should be taking 9-10 days for an equal % hit.

Kathleen’s posts call PAUSD’s situation healthy, while working tirelessly to discredit Pleasanton Schools problems as mismanagement.

I find this opinion hypocritical considering:

– Last year, PAUSD teachers received a 2.5% increase, this year; they received an increase to their benefits to offset rising costs. Yet when PUSD did this 5 years ago, it was deemed mismanagement. How is giving unsustainable raises in PAUSD while asking the community to raise their parcel tax to over $500 healthy? How is this better management than PUSD, who hasn’t had an increase in the last three years during the crash in the economy, and have agreed to a pay cut! http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=14501

-When questioned about an article summarizing PAUSD’s budget information, Kathleen said that it is not clear in the provided written material, yet it is clear when the staff presents the information, then claim the opposite about PUSD “That the details are not posted with the packet is a disservice to the public.” It is very clear when you speak with our staff at the multiple meetings they have held over the past months. Again, ok for PAUSD, but not for Pleasanton Unified.

-Kathleen said- “There are nearly $4 million in cuts on the list, a healthy reserve they will rely on, and the hope for an increase to the parcel tax.” So using the reserve in PAUSD is healthy planning, yet when Pleasanton did the same years ago before asking the community for a parcel tax, you repeatedly tell this community that this was mismanagement!

Tell me what pay cut has PAUSD staff taken? And you use it as an example of a healthy, well-managed district. I find your logic hypocritical, and only a calculated effort to get this community to think poorly of Pleasanton Schools. Your name is very well known in the schools and this is how many see your “support” of our schools in everything you post.

Bottom line, whether you agree with the details of the concession or not, our current deficit is $8 million for this year and next. PUSD teachers will cover over half of that deficit, beginning this year and continuing next year. This does not include the fact that the rest still will be covered primarily on the backs of the elementary schools (see the board packet). Teachers will still be feeling the “pain” that so many here are craving. They will be doing an enormous amount more while being paid less.

To “GetEducated,”

Well said! Kathleen has become a sort of Madame DeFarge, and Pleasanton teachers are well aware of her hypocritical agenda against them. Thanks for exposing the facts so clearly!

Get the facts,

Really, what do you want? You want me to validate your assumptions about me? Honestly, how can I criticize the fact that concessions were made without strings attached like being dependent upon a parcel tax passing? That’s not what I’m doing at all. All I’m looking for is an understanding of how these concessions impact the district’s budget and long-term fiscal solvency. Comparing a two-year dollar amount with a single-year dollar amount doesn’t lead to that understanding.

Incidentally, I agree with you that the other employees should be taking the same deal.

Stacey, it sounds like we agree more than we disagree. I was just hoping that you would agree that 8 days equalling 4.6 million is better than one year freeze equalling 1.6 mil. And on top of that, let me make a prediction that next year the teachers will be negotiating another one-year deal for 2011-12 of a 4-5 day pay cut/furlough days.

Looks like Palo Alto, as a city, is finally getting a clue:

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=10708

My acquaintance in Palo Alto said the same is going on about schools. Some people are finally starting to say wait a minute, more taxes? higher? where are the cuts? Kathleen is quite hypocritical in what she says about PUSD and Palo Alto Schools (although I disagree with parcel taxes no matter where because of the waste)

I asked my acquaintance to look in here and tell me his thoughts about what it has been said about Palo Alto.

Get the facts wrote: “I was just hoping that you would agree that 8 days equalling 4.6 million is better than one year freeze equalling 1.6 mil.”

Ok, let me put it this way. $4.6MM is better than $1.6MM because it is a larger amount and only because of that. I also wouldn’t characterize 8 days as $4.6MM. What’s been reported so far is that 8 days is $2.88MM and the difference from $4.6MM is made up by other than furlough days.

How does it impact individual employees? Furlough days cuts into everyone’s pay check equally (as opposed to an S&C freeze which only means those expecting an increase would see none and those not expecting an increase would not see a decrease). How do the other changes impact individuals?

“Community fundraising supported elementary music last year”

At a board meeting this month, both parents of music students, as well as a music teacher from high school said that they were concerned about the elimination of the 7th period because of its impact on enrollment in music.

It is true. My neighbor’s child participates this year but won’t next year. Therefore, we will not donate again to music as we did last year because we only did it to support our neighbor. We do feel that without the 7th period, there will be very little enrollment, so the classes can be there, let’s see if they keep them if the enrollment is too low.

No student will sacrifice a core class or required class in order to do music. Many people from what I hear are already looking at programs outside of school to substitute the music they will no longer be a part of in school.

As a teacher I felt it was best not to read what’s been written on this blog until now. I’m encouraged by the support from some community memebers and discouraged by the the insults from others. It appears that those throwing the insults really don’t know what a teacher does. My official work day is 7 hours. Do I work that? I get there an hour early to set up and stay after to help students. I grade papers or prepare almost every night and always on weekends. With 175 students, if I collect one assignment and take two minutes for each student, I’ve now added almost 6 hours to my week. That’s assuming I give them ONLY 2 minutes and collect ONLY one assignment a week. I still need to talk to parents and plan lessons. As professionals, we take classes and attend workshops on weekends and in the summer.

Our class sizes at high school will be increased, our classroom budgets will be cut even more, and health insurance costs will surely go up again. I realize that health insurance has increased for everyone, but how many people pay $750 a MONTH out of pocket for their insurance?

What you have to understand teacher is that the insults were first flung at parents by the unions. We weren’t so angry at first. We merely disagreed on some things. But unions accused us of being cheapskates who didn’t care about our kids future. If the unions will stop being sensationalist, I assure you we will too

“But unions accused us of being cheapskates who didn’t care about our kids future.”

Please show me where this had been said (by anyone other than Dan Bradford, who is alone on his island).

Please show me where we have said this, because we haven’t. What we heard last year was a “shared sacrifice”. So we offered up a pay cut that would take away no student days, and would amount to more from each teacher than the parcel tax would from any homeowner. We did our part, but the parcel tax went down in defeat. Now, we are continuing to hear “shared sacrifice”, so we upped our sacrifice 400% to 8 days, not attached to the passing of a parcel tax this time, so there is no guarantee that the community will pass a parcel tax to hold up their end of the “shared sacrifice” (not a term we coined, by the way).

So please show me where we have accused anybody of anything. It hasn’t happened. The community has come to us asking for a “shared sacrifice”, I believe we are holding up our end of the bargain.

Thank you teachers! However on the efforts of our teachers giving making their concessions to help the district out,why is Barton still being supported and one that will be brought back? It only supports maybe 100+ students. We have thousands of students and our reading specialists are wonderful!! Again why is Barton being supported so highly for the few? That money could be used for other items that will be cut that do affect all the students, not the few elite. Barton tutors are out there in force and can still do their job without having district shelling out money for it. There is no room for “fluff.”

“Get the facts. You need to get the facts”

Funny, but I was asking for you to name your quote, which you didn’t do. Don’t post unless you can back it up. Tell me when you heard the teachers accuse anybody of anything. Don’t tell me I need to get the facts when I am asking for YOU to back up YOUR statement. I have posted nothing false.

Isn’t it time for the School Board to eliminate the car allowances and switch to a reimbursement program?
And what about administrator expense reports? Those lunches Casey and others enjoy in Pleasanton on the taxpayers’ nickel should also be stopped.
When others in the district are taking home less pay, it is insulting that administrators continue to enjoy perks.

Get the facts, shall I provide you quotes that show conservatives want tax cuts, that the earth revolves around the sun, and that tiger woods likes white chicks? I’ll look it up in my cabinet, filed under mindnumbingly obvious facts. Are you really serious? Where’ve you been?

There’s only you and me and we just disagree.

Mr Bradford,

“the community isn’t promising to try and pass another one in the foreseeable future”

Were you not at the board meeting where a LARGE group of concerned parents presented a statement to the board asking that they begin discussions about a future parcel tax? I guess you are also unaware of the MANY schools that have individually been holding meetings about the current/future state of the budget, which has included discussions about a parcel tax?

To the teacher who complains they pay $825/month in health insurance. Is that for yourself or your entire family? If it is just for yourself, then you are right, that is highway robbery. You could get individual coverage through Kaiser for less than $300 (maybe less than $200/month). But your mighty and powerful UNION won’t let you, right?
If the $850/month is for your whole family, then I would say it’s a bargain, because I pay $1200/month out of pocket for my family of 5 through Kaiser.

“My interpretation of the deal is that the teachers will basically be doing porportionally less work for the porportional less pay.”

That statement is completely false. Students still have to graduate & pass the CA High School Exit Exam, so teachers still have to do the same amount of work in less time and for less pay.

Get the facts, your new moniker should be Sarah Palin, due to your inability to remember the fundamental positions spouted by your group. When I saw that Sarah Palin had to write “tax cuts” on her hand I was like, “really? That’s a fundamental conservative talking point!” But maybe if she forgot to write that on her hand she wouldve found herself in the embarassing situation of saying “who says conservatives want tax cuts?! I demand you show me proof of such a stance!”

Get the facts, I knew you were a union member from the start, but that wasn’t completely confirmed until your last couple posts were you admitted it. But it’s not lime you unionists post as unionist 1, unionist lover, I’m a union member, and the like. So, when I quote you “typical Pleasanton resident,” or “observer,” or “parent,” you can say “well they’re not unionists.”. Oh but they are.

But the people are discerning. We know a wolf in sheeps clothing when we see it. And you just come across as naive, for the readers have long seen your sides talking points over the year and years. I’ll admit you were far more brazen last year. Our backlash has prevented unions from getting on their high horse and talking crap about us as much. But nonetheless, your talking points are still pervasive. Those who disagree with you must not care about the quality of the schools, are so cheap that they would not sacrifice the cost of a night out on the town for the benfit of their childrens education, and that we’re often just a bunch of selfish old people who don’t want to put into a system that they took and gained from, blah blah balh

Never once do you concede that maybe your opponents just disagree on what’s a good education, how to create a better system, and how to best benefit the kids. If your side will concede that we care about the kids and that we do want to give them the best education possible, then we’ll concede that you’re not just selfish usurpers who always want more money for themselves. Basically, we need to come to a place where both sides are recogized as equally caring for the kids. We just have differing views as how to best care for them

“But come on, don’t tell me that a kindergarten teacher has this kind of work. Elementary school teachers do not need to spend extra time grading papers, most of the grading is done by parent volunteers (I have been one of them) during school hours… For elementary teachers, days off are truly off, and the job is truly part time.”

I’m a spouse of an elementary teacher and I assure you my spouse does school work on days off! Plus, she is there until almost 5pm Mon-Fri and usually 2-4 hours on Sundays to prepare the room and lesson plans for the week.

“I’m a spouse of an elementary teacher and I assure you my spouse does school work on days off! Plus, she is there until almost 5pm Mon-Fri and usually 2-4 hours on Sundays to prepare the room and lesson plans for the week.”

What lesson plans? A teacher keeps teaching the same grade over and over, the lesson plans are the same year after year. I have kids and the curriculum and lesson plans were the same. The teacher just photocopied and reused. I am sorry if your spouse has to work so hard to get such an easy job done.

Longtime resident, I disagree with your assertion that you can’t focus on five kids while the rest sit quietly doing their work. That’s what we did in school, when there were more than 32 kids a class. Why do you suppose, as the generations go by, we expect less and less discipline from our kids? Do you think that’s a good thing for their futures in the real world?

And what simple solutions could we provide to attain greAter discipline?

I’ll give ya a hint: exercise and nutrition

Do you think those parts of the system are adequate? Because I sure don’t.

And please stop assuming people don’t know what a teacher does, or what it entails to take care of kids. You teachers have that as your final copout. Listen, we don’t have to work for the oil companies to have a valid opinion against offshore drilling

With the cost of one less teacher we can afford to pay for four hundred students to have proper nutrition, which is the root of lack of discipline. You all need to do your research on health and children. Kids don’t need Ritalin. They require proper nutrition. And the school system does not provide it! Their nutrient-deprived, undercooked, grade F garbage does not help the kids bodies and minds. Kids naturally like to learn, to obey. It’s a farce that they’re hard to teach, as long as they’ve received proper nutrition and exercise. Anyone seen kindergarten cop? Remember how Arnold gets them disciplined? By making them do ample physical activity. This is a fact. Add with that proper nutrition and you can have a teacher at the helm of 40 kids. We need to spend more in these areas, and it will save us a fortune on uselessly small class sizes

For those thanking the teachers, you may want to read this thread:

http://www.PleasantonWeekly.com/news/show_story.php?id=3557#add_comments

Funny facts and numbers the union is using to show how “generous” they are and all of that are explained in some posts.

I hope we can keep up our quality of education with all of these cut backs. Teachers are frustrated, kids are frustrated….it all stinks!

Thank you teachers! You are far too generous. I am grateful for all the work you are doing for our children and the sacrifice you offer.

Dear Questions about days off:
You commented that as a high school teacher it can be expected to spend hours grading. I never said I was a high school teacher. In fact, I am an elementary school teacher, and have taught the same grade for 6 years over my teaching career. Clearly you have not been in an elementary classroom for quite a while. While high school teachers specialize in one area, elementary is expected to know all concepts. We are not only teachers, but nurses, counselors, police officers, and at times, parents. Each year we are blessed with a new group of children with very diverse needs.I would love to meet this “problem-free” class you mention. I have never met one that is free of problems. I have never had a single year’s worth of students I could treat in exactly the same way. Beyond grading and planning, we have prepping for all activities. The younger the child, the more prep is necessary. If you figure I have 25 students, to whom I teach math, writing, reading, science, and social studies to daily, you can consider that 125 students or assignments I’m working with daily. I work after school to tutor students that are struggling – for free – to ensure they are making the grade.

With regard to your discussion about report cards – have you seen our report card lately? I have 28 standards to assess and comment on this trimester alone. First trimester, I have 25 different standards, and third trimester I have around the same – PER CHILD. Each of these requires an assessment to document for the parents in case there is any disagreement about the grades. With 25 kids, if I meet with parents for 30 minutes (which is pushing it to review all standards and expectations of the grade), I’m usually conferencing from 12:30 – 4, after teaching that morning, and then staying until 5:00 or 6:00 to prep for the following day. I still conference on Friday for the remaining conferences and then stay to prep for the following week.

I am not saying any of this for a pity party. I love what I do and I would not change my career, despite the mud slinging or pay cuts. However, you are asking the people on this post to get their facts straight before accepting the concessions that have been made. I am asking you to do the same. Please do not make generalizations about a career you obviously have no understanding of and do not belittle those of us that work very hard with your generalizations.