Comments on: Mt. Diablo teachers’ union reaches tentative agreement

By: Glen Boscacci

Glen Boscacci — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:50:07 +0000

Free association- Herein lies the problem, from one point-of-view: The district seems to have $$ for Curriculum Associates,a new payroll manager, Lexia, and curriculum specialists. There is no curriculum in this district, as all we do is teach to the test; therefore we no longer need curriculum specialists. Our union had already agreed to three furlough days in may, before its members had voted on the tentative contract. Why is the STAR test relevant any longer, as we are eventually going to switch over to national standards? Does anyone, (either parent or administrator) realize MDUSD employess are completely demoralized? This district is a mess and as far as I’m concerned, a state takeover couldn’t possibly be any worse than the current administrators.

By: Susan

Susan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:09:26 +0000

Sue Berg – I never compared teachers with other district employees. Read my post more clearly please. I respect the other units; Local 1 CST, M & O and CSEA. I know they work incredibly hard and that is why I feel teachers should vote NO on this tentative agreement and support them, as they are at impasse with MDUSD. I do not think any person working in MDUSD should be paid $250,000 though, and I maintain that if no employee in the district earned more than the highest teacher salary, there would not be a need for furlough days which hurt students and teachers alike.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 16:51:47 +0000

Sue, the hardship has been borne mostly by the support staff — and now by young teachers. Furlough days impact the lower paid employees more because one day’s pay is much more on their take home pay. I would rather have seen all employee earning over $150,000 taking a 20% cut and those earning over $100,000 taking a 15% cut.

By: Sue Berg

Sue Berg — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 03:54:32 +0000

Dr. J, My point is simply that employees in all areas of the district, including many “at the top,” have seen their job eliminated or their hours (and, thus, salaries) reduced. No one employee group has corned the market on hardship.

I’ve heard that Dr. Lawrence is earning more than his two predecessors, but that’s a different issue than the one I responded to. I know there are fewer senior and other district-level administrators than there were two years ago, so cuts have been made at the Dent Center. I do not know if any of the savings from those cuts have gone into raises for the current leadership team.

At this point it’s hard to know how much has been cut and where, though perhaps there’s an accounting I’ve just not seen. My comment was only to point out that the cuts and hardship have been across the district.

By: Doctor J

Doctor J — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 02:42:53 +0000

@Sue, please don’t forget that Supt Lawrence is getting about $50,000 more than the previous Supt Dick Nichol, plus a $75,000 signing bonus. yes, I know that Dick was just “interim” but he served more than one year ! I would also call that a ‘raise’.

By: Sue Berg

Sue Berg — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 21:03:52 +0000

Susan Townsend, I applaud your advocating for MDUSD teachers. I’m just sorry that you seem to think other district employees do not work as hard or as long, do not contribute to family medical benefits, have not suffered any cutbacks or hardships, and have a variety of perks teachers do not.

These budget cuts have hit everyone in the district; only those who are still working through the step-and-column salary grid have had any salary increase (OK, Dr. J’s “Gang of 5″ excepted). As one school office manager pointed out, support staff at the sites have had their work day and year (and thus their salary) decreased–and this without the furlough days the district is asking of them. Everyone in the district’s management group (district administrators, principals, and all other administrators at the school sites) started taking furlough days (and thus pay cuts) last school year.

At the Dent Center both management and support positions have been eliminated, with more being proposed. The associate superintendent position (overseeing the district’s education programs) and one assistant superintendent (overseeing district operations) position have been cut, with Asst. Supt. Rose Lock taking on the ed. programs and General Counsel Greg Rolen adding oversight of maintenance and facilities. Off the top of my head, I count six fewer director positions: purchasing, M&O, special education, research & evaluation, alternative ed, one of the two in Personnel, and the internal auditor. Mine and other positions supporting district administrators are also gone. I believe at least one director position was cut in fiscal services when Brian Richards was promoted to CFO. The legal department has expanded, but we’ve been told there are still savings being made. I can’t speak to that.

Sam Munck, teachers and all employee units received a 10 percent increase during the heady dot-com days you mention. Then came the crash that hurt us all. As for the benefits-on-the-salary-schedule issue, that was an initiative CTA was promoting in districts throughout the state at the time. I worked in Hayward USD then and came to MDUSD soon after. Hayward’s teachers union negotiated the change and all the other units there followed suit. (Not so, as you know, in MDUSD.) The change increased the salary on which retirement benefits are based, which made it attractive to veteran teachers. MDUSD Board members and senior administrators publicly and privately expressed concern about how the change would affect young teachers but they could not reject it because a majority of MDEA members had voted to include it in the agreement that their team had negotiated.

Susan, Sam, and Glen Boscacci, it’s good to see your support for teachers. I just need to point out that other district employees (and former employees) have made sacrifices, too. Are there solutions to the budget crisis that will allow the employees who are left after all these cuts to keep their jobs?

By: Susan Townsend

Susan Townsend — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:34:12 +0000

Anon,
Interesting that because I’m advocating for MDUSD teachers you assumed I am one. You are wrong. I use my real name and I was a student in MDUSD, own a home in the district, and my child now attends Northgate High School. Every teacher I ever had, or my children ever had, in MDUSD has been an inspiration. They work 60 hour weeks, attend professional development in the summers, grade papers at soccer games for their own children, pay for their family’s medical benefits out of their paychecks, have no social security benefits, no perks, no bonuses, no company vehicles, no expense accounts, no paid time off, no personal days, and only 30 minute lunch breaks. They prepare their classrooms for weeks in August (unpaid), spend hundreds of dollars on their classrooms, call parents, grade papers and plan lessons at home. I respect teachers and realize that if they used their level of education in any other field they would earn double the salary they earn. I also want our children to be taught by people with self respect which is why I understand teachers who are standing up for the teaching profession and themselves by voting NO on this tentative agreement full concessions that will impact children for years and years to come. Who will teach, when teachers are not respected and valued by society?
MDUSD has not cut money spent at the top, on consultants, lawyers, administrators, or any of the 6-digit positions. This needs to happen first, before asking teachers to give AGAIN.

By: Exhausted Parent

Exhausted Parent — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:47:40 +0000

You want me to cut a check, Sam, when I’ve already “paid” by having a month cut from my time? I wasn’t among the people who voted away benefits. My union understood that a bit smaller paycheck meant keeping decent benefits. Why should I pay for other people’s short-sighted behavior? Teachers got what they voted for – that’s not my fault. No one has received COLA or a raise, it’s not just the teachers. The martyr card just won’t play at this card game.

By: sam munck

sam munck — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:29:26 +0000

I read several of the entries and find all of you intelligent and sincerely dedicated. I think it is important to remember the history of our journey. Endless effort has been contributed to the understanding that intelligent and informed voters are the basis of a strong and righteous civilization. The education of our children is not just a luxury but a necesssity. Our very existence depends on the creation of a population that matures and guides themselves in a responsible manner.

As Sue Berg mentioned above, the grand citizens of the MDUSD have short-sightedly voted to save their $98 and either hoped the problem would go away or see no value in education. It’s a good deal for them, but a bad deal for the teachers, students, and related staff. They saved $98, and the district in turn intends to unfairly tax the teachers and staff $1,500 each. The families of MDUSD, numbering in the mid-twenty thousands, pay nothing while the 1,600 teachers and their families write a check for the total.

When times were flush and 25 yr olds were making millions, the teachers of the MDUSD were busy giving away their benefits, with zealous and crafted betrail by the District. The teachers of MDUSD never saw a raise or received their hard-earned COLA’s during this grand golden era. Teacher have been notoriously underpaid. Now that times have become stressful, who does everybody expect to dig even deeper? The Teachers. Sorry, Teachers are all dapped out. If everyone wanted the Teachers to bail them out after their run at speculation….they should have paid them better.

The District has a responsibility to show good faith. I feel that one of the previous writers has a good idea. With the districts earnest “search for fiscal stability” … Let’s chop from the top. Let’s put our money where our mouth is. If the community is serious about improving things, then they must go to the polls and support the process.

The exhausted parent in #53 should cut a check too.

TEACHERS WILL AND CAN NOT GIVE ANYMORE!!!!! WE ALREADY GAVE AT THE OFFICE.

By: Glen Boscacci

Glen Boscacci — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 02:05:31 +0000

I find it fascinating that some comment on a teachers salary with no knowledge. I believe this constitutes at least some form of ignorance. It has been years since we have had any sort of raise and in the meantime inflation has eaten up my paycheck to the tune of 20%. This district has never bargained in good faith and hires more people for the Dent Center even as they close schools and ask for furlough days.In my 23 years as a teacher, the administration of MDUSD has alway been on the verge of ineptness. We are rapidly becoming Texas as we only teach to the test. We can find money to purchase Curriculum Associates and Lexia programs for reading, even as we whittle down the school year. I gaurantee you this: MDUSD teacher will be asked to to do even more… One last comment: I work approx. 60 hours per week, and my wife works another 20 hours per week in my room for nada…