Comments on: Strike Day vandalism at American Indian school

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:34:50 +0000

One question, if they increased pay for the bottom tier of teachers(the new ones, who are definitely underpaid)would all the rest of the teachers accept that? It would raise the average salary, but I still don’t think that is what the real unspoken truth is here. The older teachers would “NEVER” go for it. That truly would be a stand on principle.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:28:54 +0000

look, in many communities they are dealing with a forced exodus(RIFs) of young highly talented, and energetic teachers, these are the times that we live in. No one cared to have the foresight to prevent huge payouts via the absurd pension system. Well now the bill has come due and payable. Everyone was into instant gratification, and didn’t care about the future, well not the kids will be paying the bill too.

By: harold

harold — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:18:09 +0000

more pay will retain the good Teachers. low pay will lead to high turnover. Too many bright, energetic, young Teachers, do their two years and bail to the surrounding districts. We need to stop the exodus.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:26:00 +0000

Our children future is important(and they need to embrace that), and speaking of that why has the majority Oakland’s flatland schools been low on API benchmarks? Does more money = better results?

you get what you pay for. Pay crap wages and guess what you will get?

Do you mean to tell me that the kids will get instantaneously better if we pay you teachers more? Or are you finally going to dump the bad teachers if we pay you more, or you are just going to try harder?

How are you going to get better results than we have been seeing for the past two decades? It’s sound as though you are more concerned about money than the children’s future, now we see the truth.

By: harold

harold — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:59:42 +0000

“too big to fail” should apply to our children (our future)!

@J.R. – you get what you pay for. Pay crap wages and guess what you will get?

… and yes, i pay property taxes in Oakland.

… did you notice how fast they turned on those printing presses when Paulson and Geithner went in and basically bullied Congress into bailing them out?

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:36:16 +0000

Imposing a contract on underpaid Teachers, is not “polite”!

“out here” In the real world we “make it”, or “break it” we are not mandated a guaranteed revenue stream via contract, just thank GOD that you do have that revenue stream.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:28:21 +0000

thankfully, all the anti-Teacher, right-wing, comments on this blog, do not represent the greater -Oakland community.

We are not necessarily right wing, but we are, productive tax paying citizens(whom you supposedly work for), and before you state “I am a taxpayer too”, think about where your taxable income comes from, will you? Another thing to think about, you have “wealth makers” and then you have “wealth takers”, and all the “wealth takers” agree with you.

By: harold

harold — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:03:42 +0000

@Sarah – wake up and smell the coffee. The district “threatened” classified employees. Katy, has reported on this. I can understand anyone’s anxiety over all of this labor strife, but get your facts straight.

Imposing a contract on underpaid Teachers, is not “polite”!

By: Cheuy_Leuy

Cheuy_Leuy — Wed, 05 May 2010 06:26:19 +0000

For Sarah: Where in history did a union stiker every behave “politely”? I hope you are not one of the teachers all of the teacher bashers are referring to exactly.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:55:00 +0000

@Harold

That may be the case, but the strike was voted on months before the district imposed. And while the district isn’t perfect by any means, but they are at least behaving politely. I have yet to hear of any district person or non-striking worker behaving inappropriately (correct me if I’m wrong!), but we cannot say the same of the striking OEA members.