School Salaries

Board President Roberta Weintraub says that the negotiation “process has been so successful” that there is no need to use any other approach (Metro, Nov. 12). She obviously has no clue as to the state of morale among the teaching staff in the district. Even with fair settlements I don’t think either side can call the last few years’ negotiations successful. She alludes to never having had a year without a contract. That may be technically true, but the settlement arrived at on June 1, 1987, took 11 months. At that time teachers agreed to a 10% raise when there would have been great pressure to settle the contract if 8% had been offered in October, 1986.

Teachers always wonder why a professional negotiator hired by the Board of Education (for hundreds of thousands of dollars) would want a quick settlement; if it happened too often board members might find that they wouldn’t need that negotiator any longer.

We as teachers have always been made to feel that we are the enemy. A lot of lip service is done to “collegiality” and working together, but when every school year begins with charges of “bad-faith” negotiating, and is followed by declaring “impasse” which hasn’t produced a settlement, then on to the “fact-finding” process, and along the way job actions of various types, why should we expect any settlement before June? If other board members feel as Weintraub does, it’s no wonder teacher morale is at an all-time low.

Teachers are tired of being treated like badly behaved children who must prove their worth every year by one-day strikes and job actions.

Board members Julie Korenstein and Warren Furutani are proposing an idea whose time has come. I certainly hope they can get the needed support on the board. If they are able to implement the “win-win” bargaining method, maybe we can make ignorance the enemy and all have a feeling of mutual respect.

TOM PARKER

Glendale