Earlier today I spoke CUSD Board of Trustees member Ken Maddox regarding today’s letter from Christine Balentine, CUEA Executive Director to Board President Bryson.
CUEA, the Capistrano Unified Education Association, is currently in negotiations with the Capistrano Unified School District,and threatening to strike, that has resulted in parents keeping their children out of the District’s public schools. Nice. Use our children as pawns in this fight. These tactics are in direct conflict with Ballot Measures supported by teachers unions that say “its for the children” but I digress.
The CUEA letter, That I obtained from the Capistrano Insider blog post, reads:
CUEA Proposal to the CUSD
“The District agrees that the salary and benefit cuts imposed on teachers will be temporary and expire on June 30, 2011. The District further agrees to restore salary, unpaid work days and benefit cuts in the event any additional funds are received that were unforeseen at the time this agreement was reached during the term of the agreement. The District further agrees to implement already jointly agreed to contract language as stipulated in the Fact Finding Hearing.
In order to expedite this process and avert a strike, the District has until Tuesday, April 20th at 5:P.M. to confirm to CUEA in writing that this proposal is acceptable. If the District fails to respond, or fails to accept this simple and straightforward proposal, it will understood by CUEA as a rejection and as a refusal to return to the bargaining table.
The CUEA Bargaining team is ready, willing, and prepared to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday, April 20 through Friday, April 23 in order to reach a settlement with CUSD.”
The letter was sent to John Rajcic, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo with copies to Jodee Brentlinger, Assistant Superintendent, Personnel Services; Anna Bryson, CUSD Board of Trustees, President; and Vickie Soderberg, CUEA President.
This proposal was in response to statements made by School Board President Bryson and interim Superintendent Mahler that the District was prepared to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding with the teachers union to make the salary and benefit cuts temporary.”
In our discussion Ken said that their responsibility is to make sure that our children get the best education possible with the funds available. What the general public is not aware of is that School Districts, by state law, must maintain a minimum reserve in their budget.
Ken pointed out how well CUSD students have performed in recent testing which he attributes to the combined dedication of the students, parents and teachers.
Let me add that the $50 million Taj Mahal CUSD HQ was not authorized or constructed on the watch of any of the present Board Members.
Furthermore, they have no control of our state Legislature reductions in funding that impacts every District in the state.
To see how well CUSD has performed in the CA Standard Tests and CA High School Exit Exams simply go to :
http://www.greatschools.org/cgi-bin/ca/district-profile/467#CSTResults
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The negotiations are over, and the union can accept the offer or it can decide to strike and then accept the offer. I’m proud of the trustees for having the guts to stand up to the union thugs.
If the teachers strike, it will show the community what they really are and what they care about, which is not the students.
Wright On,
Union Thugs? Seriously. Do you even know the people who are running CUEA? They are fair, honest people.
The thugs are the BOT. They run on a platform of intimidation and unlawful activities.
How can you make a judgement like that about the teachers? Statements like those begin to pin the children in the middle of this which is unfair. Try talking to a teacher face to face and determine if they truly care about their job. Their passion runs deep, which is why none of them want this strike to happen.
After all is said and done…and I hope it will be said and done quite soon, it will be the parents and student (who are unrepresented in these negotiations)left on their own to restore their confidence in CUSD – which includes the BOT, district administration and sadly, the teachers (who to my dismay have showed how bullish they can be – supporting a student “sick out”. How throughly disappointing). I don’t think I will be quite as willing to rave about any of them any day soon – not an emotion I expected to have.
Yeah, the union sounds like real thugs here:
http://www.ocregister.com/news/union-244812-board-cut.html
Good for those teacher-thugs! Using all that thuggary to propose a compromise. What thugs.
When the union THUGS went to the homes of trustees to act as a mob, they defined themselves. They are disgusting, menacing, threatening goons. They intended to scare the trustees, their families and their young children.
I wouldn’t waste my time talking to union members. What an awful display from the so-called profession of teaching. Teachers have no entitlement to immunity from a bad economy, and their throwing a little fit with a strike is only costly to everyone.
By the way, WOW, you say the teachers don’t want a strike, but the large majority of them voted to allow the union to do just that.
“Teachers have no entitlement to immunity from a bad economy.”
No, only trustees have this, and administrators. Here is a list of the top pensions from CalSTER for CUSD. How many teacher do you see there? (Hint, none)
ANDERSON, LOIS $8,760.55 $105,126.60 CAPISTRANO
BUFFUM, AUSTIN $9,216.86 $110,602.32 CAPISTRANO
CAMPBELL, RICHARD $8,822.14 $105,865.68 CAPISTRANO
DEMPSEY, RONALD $8,641.96 $103,703.52 CAPISTRANO
FERRUZZO, ANTHONY $9,631.43 $115,577.16 CAPISTRANO
FLEMING, JAMES $11,777.62 $141,331.44 CAPISTRANO
GORDON, GERALDINE $9,941.81 $119,301.72 CAPISTRANO
HART, ELAINE $9,434.09 $113,209.08 CAPISTRANO
HARTMAN, SUNDRA $16,167.97 $194,015.64 CAPISTRANO
HOPKINS, JOHN $8,381.99 $100,583.88 CAPISTRANO
HUBERT, STELLA $10,797.64 $129,571.68 CAPISTRANO
JOHNSON, RICHARD $9,760.70 $117,128.40 CAPISTRANO
LEVENS, PATRICK $9,373.53 $112,482.36 CAPISTRANO
MACCONAGHY, SUSAN $9,285.49 $111,425.88 CAPISTRANO
SCHLESINGER, DAVID $8,499.71 $101,996.52 CAPISTRANO
WALSHE, JAMES $9,187.92 $110,255.04 CAPISTRANO
If teachers – who are working people, should be made to sacrifice during bad times, when what about administrators and trustees? If teachers, whose pay HAS NOT INCREASED even to keep up with inflation during the “good times” should have to sacrifice now, then why aren’t you just as busy asking administrators and trustees to sacrifice?
ww, are you aware that the CUSD administrators already took a 10 percent paycut? Trustees also took a pay cut to their meager stipend.
Again: Teachers have no entitlement to immunity from a bad economy.
As for the list above, do you think the CUSD trustees can do anything about the pensions? If all elected officials were as responsible as the CUSD trustees in balancing the budget, the state would not be in the mess it’s in.
Trustees in the Fleming regime wasted so much money (Taj Mahal admin. center and the $150M high school) that the current board got the bills and dwindling funds to pay them. Finally, we have responsible elected officials in CUSD, and they did not cause the financial meltdown.
Wright On.
So let’s look at another changed administration.
It’s OK for the Obama crowd to blame Bush 43 for everything but the CUSD Trustees get blamed for the misdeeds of their predecessors.
And to all of the pro teacher/pro union readers. Can we have an equal playing field?
As stated by Wright On. The current CUSD Board inherited the high school across the street from the OC landfill and the $50 million Taj Mahal HQ.
Knowing some of the current Board I don’t think they every would have built a palace for themselves when some schools in the district are in need of repairs.
I really hope the teachers strike…you know there are thousands of qualified teachers in orange county who would work for half of what most of those teachers make today. There have to be hundreds of teachers making between $60,000 and $80,000. I’d work for $35,000 or $40,000 right now, imagine the savings CSUD would make. I actually know of 10 to 15 laid off teachers who would work for $35,000 or $40,000. I could only imagine that there are probably a few thousand who would work for that much.
The unions during this recession have sprouted their ugly heads and have shown that they are not flexible and not willing to “survive” this recession. They have shown that they don’t care if the education falls to pieces
I am encouraging the CUSD trustees to hold their ground. Do not cave in to union threats and demands.
No one would consider striking at the risk of financial ruin unless it were warranted. Over 1600 hundred teachers voted to strike. I would think they must have a good reason. These are not stupid people nor are they greedy.
Very good points, Larry.
Comment No. 10. The teachers have been whipped into a frenzy by the union bosses. They’ve been lied to, and the trustees have been demonized. I have seen the union’s flyers, and they are horrendous. I am tired of the union’s nasty games.
The union has lied that students will all sit in a gym if the teachers strike. To the contrary, the district has substitute teachers ready to go. If the strike happens, everyone will see what liars the union bosses are, and the community will turn against the teachers as well for doing such a deplorable thing.
The studetns who stayed home did not stay home because of the teacher’s threat to strike, they had not even authorized it when we did. We stayed home to prtoest the DISTRICT’S imposing the pay vut on the teachers. The paycut most of the teachers accept its the fact that one the district imposed the cut and two they will not be raised when our econmic situation becomes better. The district’s main goal is to dissolve its self and push creationism and creat a voucher system. The district is stomping out our rights as an American by denying us a free education.
The district’s main goal is to dissolve its self and push creationism and creat a voucher system. The district is stomping out our rights as an American by denying us a free education.
This is true, Annoyed Student? Now you’ve got MY attention! Dissolve itself huh? Sounds like the OC Fair Board but with knuckle-dragging “religious” ideology thrown in. Please send me more info chezvern@aol.com