Burbank teachers call for better wages, working conditions
Clad in black, nearly two dozen Burbank Unified teachers and their families stood in front of City Hall Thursday evening with signs calling for better wages and working conditions.
The protest was held as contract negotiations continue between the Burbank Teachers Assn. and the Burbank Unified School District for the 2016-17 school year. It was also held 30 minutes prior to a school board meeting.
Several teachers spoke during the meeting, urging the board and district to approve a 2% raise as educators face the combined rise in cost-of-living and healthcare expenditures.
Nicole Drabecki, a physical education teacher at Jefferson and Edison elementary schools, said during the board meeting’s public-comment period the salary hike would help alleviate some of the pressure placed on teachers.
“Being a teacher is challenging and hard; it takes a lot of work to educate today’s students,” she said. “The workload that you give us is overwhelming and stressful.”
In addition to being overworked, she said many teachers have spent hundreds of dollars of their own money to buy school supplies for their students. Drabecki said she spent $900 this year alone on sunscreen for her students.
Lori Adams, a math teacher at Burbank High School, told board members that growing classroom sizes have also been difficult on teachers. She said language in the teachers’ contract regarding the size of a class needs to be reexamined by the district.
“There’s one word we want in there, that our class-size average should be based on the site, not the districtwide average,” she said.
Because schools have different numbers of students, setting the average size of a class tailored to each campus instead of using a districtwide standard would create better parity, Adams said.
According to the California Department of Education, the average class size for Burbank is 28.3 students per one teacher. Meanwhile, the state average is 25.4, and the county average is 25.7.
Diana Abasta, the teachers union president, called on the district to reexamine its approach toward the budget. She said the current numbers are based on a “worst-case scenario” for the district, causing any potential raises to be stymied.
Abasta asked for the district to bring in teachers to help with the budgeting process.
“Do not let fear continue to shape the vision of our students’ education,” she said.
Burbank Unified Supt. Matt Hill said he’s open to sitting down with teachers and discussing the budget, saying he doesn’t want to fight every single year over contract negotiations. He said it’s clear teachers don’t think the process has been collaborative with the district, and he wants that to change.
“I think it’s important for us to work together, sit down and look at the budget,” he said.
Hill brought up the possibility of opening up the district’s books and holding town hall meetings to discuss the budget and take a look at how money is allocated.
Board member Charlene Tabet echoed Hill’s sentiments, saying both groups should come together to discuss the budget more in-depth. She said she wants to see suggestions the union may have for budget allocations the district may have overlooked.
“If it’s going to help matters … I would be in favor of that,” she said.
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
