It's all about the students, isn't it?
Every teacher, every administrator, every staff member and indeed every School Board member knows that the School District is all about students. There are three certainties in life: death, taxes and at schools, “It's all about the students.” So I thought.
I’m pretty certain about the death and taxes part, but having read the quotes attributed yesterday to longtime District employee/Assn. of Classified Employees (ACE) president, Debbie Hamme in “District Says ‘No’ to ACE, and Union Ready to Prepare Grievance,” I’m not certain about the “It’s all about the students” portion anymore. I was so surprised by the comments attributed to Ms. Hamme that I took the unorthodox step of contacting this newspaper to confirm that Ms. Hamme actually made those statements. Alas, my fears were confirmed.
Outside of her ACE activities, Debbie Hamme is a wonderful, caring person, one of those employees who certainly will put the students first. However, it now appears as if Ms. Hamme’s union position has clouded her judgment, or at least her understanding of how to implement the, “It’s all about the students” part. The parent-funded adjuncts have been at El Marino Language School for more than a quarter of a century, serving the students (the same students who we are supposed to be putting first). Seemingly out of nowhere, 26 years after the parent-funded adjuncts began, ACE demurred and ultimately demanded that the District negotiate whether these parent-funded adjunct positions were required to become union positions.
Apparently upon the advice of legal counsel, the District determined that ACE does not have a legal right to demand that these positions be forced to be part of the ACE union. Further, legal counsel apparently advised that the District has no control over the parent-funded adjuncts’ compensation or terms of employment. Simply put, the parent-funded adjuncts are not District employees.
You might think that this would be good news, as the Parent-Funded Adjuncts could remain and could continue to enhance the students learning experience. After all, remember, “It’s all about the students.”
If you thought that, then you aren’t the President of ACE. In response to the District’s legally-based determination, Ms. Hamme is disappointed, blaming the District for taking her baseless claim to the next level. Ms. Hamme further explains away her meritless claim, speculating that “the District doesn’t want to be the bad guy.” If following the advice of legal counsel and at the same time putting the students first makes you the bad guy, please let me know where I can sign up.
Ms. Hamme threatens that her next step is to file a grievance and, if unsuccessful there, file a claim with the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). Ms. Hamme laments the fact that it will take months for PERB to make a decision. She reasons that this is bad, because it will prolong the divisiveness and keep the community in agony. Of course, before ACE tried to mandate that the parent-funded adjuncts had to become members of their union, there was no such divisiveness or agony.
Ms. Hamme again misses the point. While ACE is causing the District to spend thousands of dollars defending what appears to be a meritless claim, the parent-funded adjuncts will be there, every day, enhancing the students’ experience.
It is, after all, all about the students.
Mr. Zeidman, a former member of the School Board, may be contacted at scott.zeidman@laslots.com
