Sweetwater Education Association

May 7^th Board Firings

• Sweetwater Teachers Furious With Meeting Accomodations
• Sweetwater Approves Teacher Layoffs
• KUSI report
• Nearly 200 Teachers to Receive Pink Slips
• Sweetwater Trustees Vote to Lay Off Nearly 200 Teachers
• Sweetwater Approves Nearly 197 Pink Slips
• Anger and Police at Sweetwater Union HS Meeting
• Parents, Teachers Speak Out Against SUHSD Board
• Nearly 200 Teachers to Receive Pink Slips, FOX News
• Sweetwater Board Member Gets TRO to Protect Him Against Parent

Latest Negotiations Updates

• SEA Proposal (May 10 2012)
• Bargaining Update #3 (May 10 2012)
• Bargaining Update #2 (March 15 2012)
• SUHSD Proposed RIF FTEs (March 9 2012)
• Bargaining Update #1 (March 9 2012)
• SEA's Opening Proposal (March 9 2012)
• SUHSD's Opening Proposal (March 9 2012)

For complete documentation, use the BARGAINING link above.

SUHSD in the News

 

Dear SEA Members,

Since the School Board approved the issuing of pink slips on March 12 on a vote of 3-2 (Cartmill, McCann and Ricasa voting YES), preparation for representing our members for the RIF hearings has been our focus. The RIF hearings are scheduled to take place at Southwest Middle School on Friday, April 27th and Monday, April 30th.

In February, a special Board meeting was called to provide our Board with ethics training. What I hoped was to be explained to the Board is that honoring an existing agreement is the ethical thing to do. Unfortunately, this topic was not covered. (The training occurred so that Board members could plead ignorance to charges they are facing.) Our Memorandum of Understanding on staffing ratio and student contacts does not expire for another two school years. Master schedules should be constructed at a ratio of 31:1 instead of 34:1. Some sites do not plan on offering courses with less than 40 students enrolled. This is the exact same tactic that our former superintendent convinced the School Board was the appropriate course of action last year.

The School Board approved issuing pink slips to teachers in the following areas:

• Art 13.0 FTE
• Biological Science 17.0 FTE
• Chemistry 8.0 FTE
• English 34.0 FTE
• General Science 17.0 FTE
• Geoscience 5.0 FTE
• Health Science 4.0 FTE
• Industrial Technology 1.0 FTE
• **Librarian 12.0 FTE
• Math 25.0 FTE
• Physical Education 10.0 FTE
• Physics 4.0 FTE
• Social Science 25.0 FTE
• Spanish 7.0 FTE

FTEs are full time teaching equivalents, better known as 1.0 teaching assignments. However, these are people-not numbers. I am sure that each of you personally knows several people on the list. For me, it is a family member, former students, a former student teacher, a SEA officer, SEA reps, and many friends.

We need to raise community awareness of what is happening to Sweetwater teachers as the result of a corrupt School Board not honoring an agreement. (As an example, Olympian High School teachers dyed their white CST shirts pink.) We have prepared buttons that I am requesting that each of us wear until we resolve this matter. The buttons show support for our RIFed teachers while raising community awareness. Site reps will be distributing the buttons this week. Flyers to distribute to parents have been created by our organizing team. Several sites have already begun distributing the flyers.

It was announced at last week's School Board meeting that the May School Board meeting will be moved from May 14th to May 7th. The purpose for the move is so that District can issue final layoff notices by the May 15th deadline. I am requesting your presence at the May 7th meeting. We had a large turn out when Jesus Gandara was released. We had a large turn out when the School Board was set to pay 1 million dollars for their legal problems in January. The School Board behaves differently when they are being observed by lots and lots of people. Please reserve the evening of May 7th to attend the School Board meeting.

I know that there are many issues that are important to our membership that we need to address. Reviewing seniority lists and credential information has been a time consuming task on our part. I am requesting your understanding for a few more days as we prepare for the RIF hearings. I look forward to seeing you on May 7th, the night that the School Board will act on the issuing of layoff notices.

**On a positive note, at last week's School Board meeting, it was announced that our library media teachers will have their RIFs rescinded. This occurred after SEA pointed out an error in the sequence in which pink slips were issued to library media teachers.

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Alex Anguiano   SEA President

SUHSD in the News

 

Dear SEA Members,

Our first bargaining date for a successor contract is scheduled for this Friday, March 9. Negotiations will begin at 8:30 a.m. I am requesting your presence at the School Board meeting on Monday, March 12 at Sweetwater High School to support our bargaining team and our colleagues that may be issued a RIF notice. At that meeting the District will approve or disapprove of Reduction in Force (RIF) notices.

Once again, the District intends on issuing RIF notices as a bargaining tactic. I have been told to expect 200 to 300 notices. I am disappointed in the District's methods as they are reflective of our former superintendent's style. I suppose that I should not be surprised, since the same people who cooked the books and tried to mislead our bargaining unit and the public hold their same positions. The battle to rid our District of corruption has not ended.

The District forgets that last year, we reached an agreement that included furlough day language. However, our bargaining team did not agree to furlough days without conditions. A formula was created based upon a potential Base Revenue Limit (BRL) decline. The District was expecting a dramatic drop in the BRL. The end result was that the formula produced no furlough days. Our bargaining team has been reasonable during these economic times. The issuing of RIF notices is an unnecessary tactic. Perhaps our District should consider as a starting point being fiscally responsible with the money that we do have.

I have been thinking of a new Delta for the District. The current one is a false Delta. TRANSPARENCY will be at the bottom of the Delta that I will be suggesting. Transparency is a difficult concept for the District; however, it is a worthwhile goal. On that front, the District failed miserably last Monday. A special School Board meeting was called for the public to provide input to the District's initial bargaining proposal before it was approved. Unless the public monitored the District's website over the weekend, they would have never known of the special School Board meeting.

Another leg of the Delta that I am proposing is HONESTY. Our District has trouble in that area also. I would like for the District to honestly answer the following: Is it the intent of the District to violate the memorandum of understanding on staffing ratio and class size that is in place for the upcoming school year? If not, explain exactly how our schools will be staffed properly by issuing pink slips while honoring the agreement.

I need another leg for our District's new Delta. Please share your thoughts with me on March 12 at Sweetwater High School when we support our bargaining team and each other as the District considers the issuing of RIF notices.

I hope to see you there,

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Alex Anguiano   SEA President

SUHSD in the News

 

Greetings SEA Members,

These are very difficult fiscal times for school districts and the state of California as a whole. SEA will enter negotiations with that knowledge and recognition. However, the District's public rhetoric warning of a $27 million shortfall in less than 5 months strains credulity. SUHSD has never submitted a "qualified" or "negative" budget to the county (a budget which demonstrates an inability to remain fiscally solvent in the current or a subsequent budget year). That contrasts sharply with its 'budget update' which warns of a deficit which would equate to a 22 - day reduction in the school year, or firing 365 teachers, or a nearly 20% salary cut. A fiscally sound SUHSD is in everyone's best interest. However, in order to properly represent our bargaining unit, we will negotiate based upon hard data, and not worst-case scenario projections.

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Alex Anguiano   SEA President