2009 SAUSD Thread Part 2

I sent a letter to Susan Mercer this morning. I am posting it here.

Hi Susan…

We need your support.
1. Can you PLEASE make sure that Murrey provides the board members the cost of csr at each grade and for 20:1, 23:1, etc. ASAP or at the next board meeting? We need your word (SAEA) on this one. Murrey has been getting away with not providing this info. I have spoken with Mr. Palacio and he has requested this several times, but our Union has not pressed the issue therefore it is not being shown to the Board. Thanks! We need you to help on this one!

2. We would like the answer publicly to this question from SAEA…..

Why was the district allowed to pay for the AP’s (Assistant Principals) who were supposed to be 1/2 AP and 1/2 BRT (Bilingual Resource Teacher) to be paid their “FULL” AP salary even though they were halftime teachers 2008-2009?

3. Can the SAEA find out why Olsky doesn’t know the answer to the 20:1 QEIA question and what our district plans to do (and have you get back to us on this one)? Can we please have your support (SAEA) to fight for 20:1? We would really like for you (as President) to call the district tomorrow and report back back to the laid off teachers on this one. This has nothing to do with the budget….this is a simple answer from Olsky and the OC Dept of Ed…can the SAUSD go up with QEIA instead of down? Our Union should be finding this out …don’t you think? Thanks!

4. Bunky and Robert + the rest of the folks would like to know why the pay is going backwards and the benefits? What is being done to stop this and where is this money going?

5. Can you find out why the district wasted $1 million in school construction costs to move walls etc for the new school year? Don’t you think they were presumptuous with making this decision before the state even had a budget? As Union President, we are hoping you can find out why they did this so soon.

6. If the district is planning “new staffing” aren’t you asking them why now? The board is still going to meet in August. Don’t you find that the district is making another hasty decision or do you know something that we don’t know?

7. Lastly, we are asking you to respond to this message with the answers since the last time that I asked you some questions….you just ignored them.

Let’s hope that you don’t ignore these as I am putting them out to the rest of the rif(ed) teachers who are waiting for your answers. You wouldn’t be just ignoring me…you’d be ignoring 251 others who are reading this and waiting.

I am not trying to put you on the spot…these are tasks that SHOULD BE done as the president who is trying to fight for the 252 people who need YOU! We look forward to your response. I hope that we can work together on this one, Susan!
_____________________________________

Now….I will just wait for her response.

#646

If you seek information from SAUSD it’s important to invoke the CA Public Records Act. I strongly suggest you take this approach since the district is legally held accountable by the CA Public Records Act.

District admins will stall and may engage the district’s attorney to scare you, but it’s worth the dance.

Check out: http://www.thefirstamendment.org/publicrecordsact.pdf

It seems that our district cannot and will not follow protocol for anything and SAEA isn’t much help either. I have a teacher friend that was removed from his school site until the district could do an investigation into something. They did their investigation, talked to and deposed many people and found nothing to proceed and had to drop the case. The teacher has not been placed back at the school site even though the teacher has asked to go back. The grievance went to the point that Ms. Russo, Mr. Hammitt and Mr. Lopez were involved. They are suppose to reply within 15 days. They are 4 weeks overdue on this and SAEA isn’t pushing to resolve this situation. There are those who district personnel and SAEA board members that would want a quick and fair resolution if they were the person involved. This has been going on for over a year with much expense to the district in attorney fees. One would think that a district that is laying off certificated and classified staff members and cutting their hours, would be a little more careful with their money.

Here’s yet another idea for how to fund Class Size Reduction at 20:1.

Professional/Consulting Services and Operating Expenditures are increasing from $18 million (projected) for 08/09 to $30 million for 09/10. That $12 million dollar difference is more than enough to cover the $6.7 million in CSR money the District expected to receive without even implementing the program plus more than the cost to the District (after CSR funding from the state) to cover the cost of the teachers needed.

The District wouldn’t even have to use any of the QEIA money received for students in grades K-3 ($2.3 million) or CSR money for Kinder students ($2.5 million).

Correction, post was 658 by Red Vixen