Orange District: a Rotting Fish

* Re “Orange Unified’s Latest Spectacle,” April 30 editorial:

Education is suffering in this district. The school board has chosen to hide behind the cloak of fiscal responsibility as it pursues its anti-teacher and political agendas.

This district has lost more than 300 teachers in the past three years and has stated that it plans to hire more than 350 people for the 2000-01 school year.

I see experienced teachers, a speech therapist and a psychologist head to other districts. These professional educators are lucky that they can get off their “soapboxes” and vote with their feet. I will just retire early from a job I still love and a district that I despise.

You are correct, pay is the critical issue. We are the lowest paid teachers in Orange County. No pay raise in 1998; the school board kept the 2% state cost of living allowance that every other teacher in the county was given.

A raise of 8% for 1999-2000 is not really an 8% raise, if you receive no raise in the previous year and the new contract changes the medical plan.

Teachers must also now pay a fee for dependent coverage. And the district says it has the money to fund the raise we are asking for but does not want to give us the raise.

A fish rots at the head, and I am sure this one will continue to foul the air for a long time to come. The rot at the head has begun to spread to the meat.

ED O’KEEFE

Modjeska Canyon