[Editor’s Note: A message from the President of the Teachers Union to members and the wider community.]
Hello again —
Thanks to all who have been writing to our School Board members (boardmembers@ccusd.org), encouraging them to direct the management team to return to the bargaining table and respond to our issues:
Elementary prep time and combination classes, evaluation procedures, and class size and caseload limits for Special Ed teachers and specialists.
Also, they need to hear again that this ongoing furlough day discussion can be wrapped up if they simply ask their management employees (many of whom work 11- and 12-month contracts) to take just three more furlough days during the summer months. We've proposed that management take 8 unpaid days, teachers take 5 and classified take 3 days.
Doesn't it make sense that employees working 220 days take more unpaid days than those working 184?
Culver City Unified School District management did propose a graduated furlough plan of their own, but it is fatally flawed. First, it assigns increasing unpaid days for employees earning “less than $40,000” up to employees earning “more than $90,000.”
In reality, we have employees making less than $15,000 and the Superintendent's compensation package is in the $200,000 range. If CCUSD wants to create a graduated furlough structure based on what people actually earn, the Superintendent and her assistants would have to take several weeks off.
More importantly, their proposal misses the point. Savings occur when schools are entirely shut down. Having some teachers take more furlough days than others doesn't do that. Also, does CCUSD really want to increase the number of days we are out of our classrooms?
Most districts are trying to minimize the number of days teachers are out.
Three days. That's it. If we can get 11- and 12-month management employees to agree to just three additional days off in July or August, we can wrap up this furlough discussion and move on to other concerns. Thanks again for getting those notes out.
Dave Mielke, Culver City Federation of Teachers/AFT
Mr. Mielke may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
