Camarillo Teachers Remove Decorations in Contract Protest

Camarillo teachers, who have been picketing for four months to protest a stalemate in contract negotiations, have stripped some of the decorations from their classrooms.

The removal of bulletin board and wall decorations in many classrooms in the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District began several weeks ago. It is the latest effort by teachers to bring attention to an impasse between the district and the 248-member Pleasant Valley Education Assn.

Most teachers took down only items that they made or bought themselves, including borders, murals, lettering and posters, and some have since returned them to the walls, said Ina Lea Parker, association president.

“Anything they had to use for teaching--calendars, murals--they left those up,” Parker said. Many teachers left up artwork by the children, she said.

Parker said she did not know how many teachers in the 6,500-student school district took part in the protest, and several principals said the decoration protest had not affected their schools.

“This was just a way to make a point,” Parker said. “The teachers did this to let the district know how much of their own money they are spending.” One teacher spent $500 to spruce up her classroom last school year, she said.

Supt. Shirley F. Carpenter said the district provides $39 per student in kindergarten through sixth grade, and $44 per student in the seventh and eighth grades, for supplemental books and supplies, including decorations. How that money is spent is determined by principals and teachers at individual schools, Carpenter said.

Jean Scott, a kindergarten teacher at Bedford Open Elementary School, said she took down dinosaur decorations that she had purchased herself, but replaced them with student artwork and school-purchased decorations from a math program.

A teacher at Santa Rosa Elementary, who asked not to be identified, said many of the school’s walls and bulletin boards were barren for several days.

Some teachers returned items to their walls and added decorations when the district’s annual spring open houses for parents began last week.

Parker said some principals intimidated teachers into returning decorations to their rooms by issuing memos reminding them that the lack of decorations could appear on their evaluations.

Carpenter agreed that classroom appearances are evaluated, but disagreed that teachers needed to buy their own decorations. “What came to my attention is that teachers were taking down things that were their own personal items, with the idea that the district does not provide adequate supplies. I happen to know we do have ample supplies.”

After the decorations were removed, principals and district officials received some complaints from parents, Carpenter said.

But some parents said they support the teachers and believe education at the schools has not been affected by the protests.

“We would much rather they instruct than put up bulletin boards” during the school day, said Felicia Davis, PTA president at El Descanso Elementary School. “That’s not a priority with us.”

“I’m 100% for the teachers,” said parent Yolanda Solway as she waited for her daughter in front of Los Primeros Elementary School on Tuesday.

“I know the type of education we get here,” Solway said. “The teachers care so much about what they teach. They’re working to give 150% to the students, regardless of what’s going on in the district.”

e teachers’ contract expired in December, and negotiations reached an impasse that month. District officials and teachers’ representatives have met three times with a state-appointed mediator in an attempt to reach agreement.

The major issue separating the two sides since the most recent meeting in March is health benefits, union and district officials said.

Teachers have complained that they are among the lowest paid in the county and that they have to pay as much as $400 a month of their own money to help cover medical benefits under a health plan that many say is the best available to them.

But district officials say they are offering another medical plan that would give the teachers full family coverage.

Teachers have picketed at board meetings since last spring, and this school year began picketing daily in front of schools. Many teachers have also stopped working beyond the school’s regular 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. hours, curtailing many after-school activities.