[Editor’s Note: Mr. Mielke is President of the Teachers Union, presently in yearly negotiations with the School District.]
Friends —
First, many of you are aware that students and parents have mobilized in support of Culver City High School drama teacher Sheila Silver, who was not recommended for re-hire.
Students made local television news on Friday as they picketed in front of CCHS, and concerned parents are mobilizing as well. They met Thursday with CCHS Principal Pam Magee and Human Resources Director, Leslie Lockhart, and are certain to address the School Board at its next meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 22.
Many of you have asked what the Teachers Union can do.
We have done, and will continue to do, as much as we can to support our colleague Sheila. We have met with both site and District administrators. We have requested that the Board meet with us to discuss irregularities in the evaluation process that may have led to the decision not to rehire this teacher.
I think that during our first two years at a school district, we are probationary employees. During those two years, we can have great evaluations, students who grow and achieve, and parents who think we're the greatest. But, according to state law, management can choose not to give us permanent status (which we achieve on the first day of our third year) without having to give a reason.
Over the years, I have seen this many times when teachers think they're doing fine and are then surprised to find they are not being invited back.
My understanding is that the Board voted 3 to 2 to uphold the administrators’ decision. Usually, these are unanimous votes. When a Board itself is divided —clearly, there is more to be done. We'll keep you posted.
About Our Bargaining
Second, last spring in our settlement with CCUSD, we agreed to take 5 unpaid furlough days to help CCUSD through these hard times. In return, we received a number of duty-free Wednesdays so that elementary teachers could have a little more prep time.
We bargained that CCUSD would complete an analysis of retirement incentive programs. Most public agencies do this on their own in hard times, knowing that money can be saved if more expensive employees can be encouraged to retire and then are replaced by less expensive new hires.
CCUSD wasn't doing this, though, so we decided to include it as a bargaining issue. CCUSD agreed. The deadline for the report was Jan. 15. What we got then was almost worthless.
As I wrote at the time, had a student handed in that report, I would have given it back and asked for it to be redone.
Well, CCUSD has redone the report .
They handed it in on Friday — and it's still an F. Their “analysis” shows the first year cost of the program but not the multi-year savings!
We all know that these programs cost money at the beginning because some of the savings are shared initially with the retirees. The savings show up over the next few years — as the district's “teacher bill” goes down. This is not rocket science.
New Accusation
We may file another “unfair labor practice” charge with PERB, the Public Employee Relations Board.
CCUSD will argue, of course, that we bargained for a report and we got a report. What is unfortunate for all, though, is that no one knows whether this kind of program could save CCUSD money and help us avoid cuts in the future. Shouldn't we know this before we make any more cuts to our schools?
Finally, CCUSD complained to us that this kind of study is expensive. First, when you agree to do something in the bargaining arena, you must follow through on that promise. Second, CCUSD has spent money in recent years to explore bond issues, a parcel tax and most recently a superintendent search.
As we have said before, we will do our part to help CCUSD through these tough times.
But CCUSD: If you want to have any discussions with us about furlough days or other concessions, this must be done first.
Dave
Mr. Mielke may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
