Orange Unified Teachers’ Contract Dispute

The new teachers and senior teachers of Orange Unified School District are united in our protest of the process the board members chose to change the recent salary schedule and to take away financial support for health benefits.

The board’s lack of moral values and disregard for legal rights undermines the principles of respect, fairness and caring. I am dedicated to teaching my class of 35 boys and girls academic excellence as well as ethical behavior. The board’s detrimental use of power is not setting a good example for our children.

We have never fully been compensated for a 2% cut in salary when the district asked us to sacrifice. In perspective, if I teach in Orange Unified until I am 67 years old, with 24 1/2 years’ experience, my retirement will be under $2,000 a month with no Social Security income. Senior teachers do not pay into Social Security. I cannot afford to stay in Orange, where I was born and raised. I cannot have the privilege of being an active member of my son’s family and watch my precious granddaughter grow up.

KAY SANDELL

Trabuco Canyon

I have attended nearly all of the Orange Unified school board meetings for the past 18 months. At each meeting information regarding the unfunded liability of the district teachers’ trust fund was requested either by a concerned citizen or a trustee.

The teachers’ union representatives would not discuss this issue, but it became apparent from other testimony that the projected shortfall was huge, due to a previous board granting lifetime health benefits to retirees, a decision that proved to be foolish.

The teachers’ union is not willing to accept a contract that includes an immediate salary increase but excludes lifetime health benefits, yet, that is exactly the contract teachers sign when they leave this district.

DALE DIELEMAN

Orange

In your articles you pointed out that the teachers in Orange Unified have the lowest wage in the county but a most generous benefit package. What was not mentioned is that the teachers were told by the district for years that by being paid less than other districts (which amounts to $6,000 to $10,000 per year), the teachers would have lifetime medical benefits.

The district now claims it doesn’t have the money and these lifetime benefits could possibly (and the key word is “possibly”) lead to district bankruptcy.

The question which the district school board and administrators have to answer is, “What did the district do with the millions of dollars that was to be used for teachers’ lifetime medical benefits?”

PAUL PRUSS

Lake Forest