Re “Now About This Name-calling”
Dear Ms. Morneau:
You seem to have quite an axe to grind with David Mielke, and I am perplexed as to why. In the two letters that you have written to thefrontpageonline.com, you have impugned the integrity of the Teachers Union President for a statement he made regarding the hiring of two administrators to replace one, and you have been unwilling to give him credit for his retraction, which brings to mind one of my favorite Yiddish expressions:
“It is easier to be a critic than an author.”
I would like to further explain the events leading up to Mr. Mielke’s statement so that you may have an additional perspective to consider.
This may help you to better understand the concerns that both unions shared regarding this issue.
The Pupil Personnel Services Dept. of the School District office had always been manned by a single administrator. While it is true that the scope of that department has more than likely increased in the last few years, I am sure that you and I could agree that when making hiring decisions, the overall financial health of the District must be taken into consideration.
The District has been struggling with a severe financial crisis for at least the last five years. So it was perplexing to the employees of the District when a new administrative position was created to assist the previous director two years prior to her retirement.
Considering that before the director’s retirement the District had announced instituting a hiring freeze as a result of the budget shortfall, employees of the District assumed that the department would go back to being manned by a single administrator as a cost-saving measure.
Instead, the assistant director was promoted to the director’s position (at a higher salary than his predecessor, according to documentation my union received from the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services) and a new administrator was hired to assist him in the department.
So, yes, School Board President Scott Zeidman may have been correct when he said the number of supervisory employees remained the same, but the real question is: Should it have remained the same?
It was the mistake of both unions, the teachers and classified employees, to make the assumption that in light of the severe fiscal crisis in which the District found itself, they would exercise a conservative approach to hiring any new employees — which brings to mind yet another Yiddish saying:
“To assume is to be deceived.”
Now let’s fast forward to more current events. At a School Board meeting not long ago, a list of “forty” administrative positions that had been cut in the last three years was read out to the audience by one of the Board members.
I have worked for the District for the last fifteen years. I could not believe that was even close to being accurate, so I asked the Human Resources Dept. for a complete list of those cuts. I was given a list of nine positions—yes, you read that correctly, nine.
One of the nine was a position that had remained unfilled following a resignation in 2003 — hardly a recent elimination by any stretch of the imagination. Three of the nine were actually the same position, but because the title of the position had changed with each successor, the eliminated titles were listed as separate cuts. One of the nine was an unfilled vacancy that followed a resignation.
But what the Board member did not clarify was that the District had hired TWO people to do the work of the person who had previously held that position while leaving the vacancy unfilled.
I would say that the board was being just a bit disingenuous, wouldn’t you?
To use the Yiddish proverb you quoted in your most recent letter:
“A half truth is a whole lie.”
And it applies here.
I haven’t, however, read any letters from you that point out the inconsistencies in the information that the District or School Board put forth.
I don’t believe that Mr. Mielke is a liar, dishonest, a deceiver, a bamboozler, a beguiler, a hoodwinker, a misguider, a misrepresenter, a deluder or a dissimulator.
I doubt that you are close enough to him to have formed such a strong opinion.
I do think that as we struggle through a very difficult financial crisis, it is easy to become frustrated and overly critical of others, especially those who hold an opinion that is contrary to our own.
Personal attacks and name-calling accomplish nothing. They are counterproductive and make it even harder to work together to find common ground.
Because you are on the periphery of those of us who are active players, Ms. Morneau, I would ask that you keep in mind this one last Yiddish proverb:
“The scholar knows what she lacks knowledge of.”
Ms. Hamme, President of the Assn.
of Classified Employees — Culver City, may be contacted at antiquer01@aol.com
