By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
- Teachers Rally for New Contract
- Board Considers Paraprofessional Layoffs
- Update on Proposition H Debate
- New Programs Open to Serve Hearing-Impaired
- Bus Drivers Honored
Teachers Rally for New Contract
Some 300 teachers and school employees gathered before Tuesday night's meeting to turn up the heat on contract negotiations with the district. The teachers hope to have the contract decided by the end of the school year. So far, however, union representatives say there has been little discussion on key issues, namely across-the-board pay increases and increased benefits for paraprofessionals.
United Educators of San Francisco, the teachers union, is calling for 6 percent raises for its members. The figure, according to union President Dennis Kelly, represents a 4 percent cost of living increase — the same amount given from the state to the district — and the growing costs employees are paying for health insurance. The union is also calling for contract changes that would give paraprofessionals, the assistants who support teachers in the classroom, the same rights as teachers, including bereavement leave, paid time off for jury duty, full binding arbitration for disputes and enhanced retirement benefits.
In spite of the spirited rally, Kelly said the feeling about the negotiations was "much different" this time than two years ago, when a tense relationship with district leadership helped push the teachers to the brink of a strike. This board has generally been more supportive of the unions, including setting up a special committee to deal with personnel and labor issues at the behest of board President Mark Sanchez.
Board Considers Paraprofessional Layoffs
Later in the meeting, the board took up the issue of whether to lay off 16 paraprofessionals. The school site councils have turned in their budgets, and several have identified paraprofessional jobs as an area that could be cut. Employee groups, however, took umbrage at the proposed job cuts. Public school activist Kim Knox pointed out that the board is also deciding on whether to hire three new administrators, at salary and benefit costs of about $100,000 each. One of the paraprofessionals up for a layoff has been working for the district since 1982.
Chief of Policy and Planning Myong Leigh also observed that as the number of students in the district continues to drop, the number of adults serving those children will also decline. Union leaders asked if temporary paraprofessionals, of which their are 450 in the district, could be laid off instead.
The schools at which the paraprofessional position would be eliminated are: Bessie Carmichael (3), Filipino Education Center (1), Daniel Webster Child Development Center (1), Cobb Child Development Center (1), Gloria R. Davis Academy, now at Thurgood Marshall (1).
The board decided to reconvene after Thursday's Personnel Committee meeting for a vote on the issue. If the paraprofessionals are to be laid off, notices must be sent out by Friday to go into effect at the end of the school year, according to a state law requiring 45 days' notice.
Update on Proposition H Debate
Briefing the public on discussions with the Board of Supervisors, Commissioner Jane Kim said the two bodies had reached an agreement on how to define so called in-kind services, those that the city will give the district instead of cash under Proposition H. They agreed on several things, according to Kim:
- In-kind services will cover only new services to the district, not thing the city already provides.
- A committee will be developed comprising members of the Proposition H Citizens Advisory Committee; the city's Department of Children, Youth and Families; district staff; and the city controller's office. That committee will develop a list of potential in-kind services.
- There is no need for the district to put a minimum dollar amount on the use of in-kind services in the next year.
Board members asked what to do about a pending resolution that called for including at least $2.5 million in in-kind services in the next year's Prop. H plan. The resolution was controversial as it represented a large increase over this year's use in-kind services, valued at $250,000. Sanchez, the author of the resolution, has the authority to hold off on the measure. "I don't plan on bringing it before the board any time soon," he said.
Opponents have said using in-kind services limits the district's ability to employ Prop. H funds and robs it of cash to start new programs.
New Programs Open to Serve Hearing-Impaired
Staff working on a program started in 2005 to serve deaf and hearing-impaired students gave the district an update on it progress. In the past two years, the program has hired an administrator and developed a structure. Now it is involved in actually establishing programs in the schools.
This year, the program has opened a learning center for 18- to 36-month-olds at Tule Elk Child Development Center, which uses both sign language and spoken communication. It has opened a K-2 speech-based program at Cesar Chavez Elementary. Magnet programs with special services for deaf and hearing-impaired students have been established at Claire Lilienthal Elementary, Lilienthal and Aptos middle schools and John O'Connell High School. A pre-K program including both speech and sign language is scheduled for completion in October.
Bus Drivers Honored
The district presented an award of commendation to the San Francisco bus drivers, who not only have an excellent safety record but have also pitched in countless hours to support children and the district in their off-duty time, according to board members. The San Francisco bus drivers have never had a fatality, either on board or with students crossing the street to get on and off. Bus driver Brock Estes applauded the efforts of drivers like Jose Perez, who has saved the lives of at least two people in his duties by calling 911 and administering first aid.
The Sanchez reso on Prop. H is also controversial because it omits the word "new" before "in-kind services." So between that and the high dollar amount of in-kind services it specifies, it has alarmed parents and children's advocates.
Posted by: Caroline | April 25, 2007 at 01:16 PM