R&R; Is a Hot Button for Portland Teachers

Carolyn Young-Nicola has a free year ahead of her. She hopes to read a decade’s worth of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, get in a few workouts at the gym, visit relatives and spend weekends at the beach.

The 52-year-old English teacher is not a lottery winner. She’s a beneficiary of an embattled Portland School Board policy that allows her to take a year off to rest and rejuvenate--while still pulling down $36,000.

“I just needed the break to be the great teacher I’ve always been,” Young-Nicola said. “You get your whole soul involved mentally, emotionally and physically in your class. . . . I feel I’ve earned the comp time.”

She’s one of 21 Portland teachers this year who are drawing two-thirds salary and aren’t required to do any work. In fact, the whole point of their sabbaticals is to get away from it all and just take it easy.

The practice, which has been going on in the district for decades, has only recently come under attack and has emerged as an issue in contract negotiations.

“It’s getting harder and harder to get taxpayers to understand why we should pay teachers for a year off,” said board member Joseph Tam. “I do not deny that stress is part of teachers’ job, but stress is part of any job.”

For Young-Nicola, a 27-year veteran of Portland’s Roosevelt High School, getting a little R&R; is a necessity, not a luxury, in an era of crowded classes, shootings and gang activity.

“Come and spend a few days in my classroom,” she said. “It’s a difficult job. . . . It’s becoming more dangerous.”

Sabbaticals have long been staples for many professionals, including doctors, lawyers and college professors. They take time off to pursue advanced degrees, attend training seminars or work toward special licensing.

Portland schools also provide this kind of time off--three teachers will travel this year, and seven more will work on graduate degrees

But the 21 teachers on the “rest and rejuvenation sabbatical” have no obligations other than simply combating burnout and recharging their batteries.

“I don’t think you’ll have anyone objecting to sabbaticals based on training, but I think you’ll have significant objection to sabbaticals based on R&R;,” said Lew Frederick, a spokesman for the Portland School District.

“The worst-case scenario was that teachers wouldn’t be doing anything but sitting back and relaxing somewhere,” he said.

Over Larry Betten’s three-year tenure as the district’s director of personnel and overseer of sabbaticals, he’s never seen a teacher turned down for R&R.;

There have always been more openings than applicants, and the district has been required to accept any qualified teacher with 12 years’ experience and a complete application form. There’s no interview, essay or competition.

But special education teacher Dar Krambule doesn’t begrudge teachers on R&R;, even though he’s shelling out nearly $9,000 of his own money to work on a master’s degree on a study sabbatical.

“I think people who apply for R&R; feel they really need to rest and relax with the thought they can go back to be better teachers for it,” Krambule said. “They’re doing something, and that something is revitalizing themselves. I can’t say study sabbaticals are more important than rest and rejuvenation.”

Still, Krambule added that rest and rejuvenation sabbaticals will probably be the first to go when the school board starts looking to cut costs.

The district is trying to wipe out all sabbaticals. Portland teachers have worked without a contract since June 30, and study, travel and R&R; opportunities have emerged as one of the sticking points.

The teachers’ union maintains that sabbaticals are a long-standing practice that gives Portland schools an added edge by keeping teachers fresh and sharp.

Portland Association of Teachers president Richard Garrett said cutting out sabbaticals treats teachers as second-class professionals and is an attempt to get public service on the cheap.

“In the long run,” he said, “you get what you pay for.”