Teachers demand salary increases

By Susannah Rosenblatt

May 21, 2008 7 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Parents and teachers, frustrated with what they call unfair contract negotiations, rallied at the Huntington Beach City School District Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night to demand salary increases.

Teachers in the small district of nine elementary and middle schools complain that their pay lags that of other Orange County educators, and that district administrators are receiving raises while those in the classroom are denied significant pay increases.

The protesting teachers, clad in black with hot pink “Support HB Teachers” stickers on their shirts, jammed the meeting room where more than 100 demonstrators cheered and held “Settle Now” placards.

More than 300 teachers have yet to settle on a contract for the current school year, weeks away from ending.

The Huntington Beach Elementary Teachers Assn. is criticizing district officials for offering a 3.5% salary increase in December, then holding the offer in abeyance -- in other words, freezing it -- by the time teachers accepted it in March.

“That was the ultimate slap in the face,” said association President Kathy Hogan, who teaches history at Isaac L. Sowers Middle School. “We couldn’t even accept their own salary proposal.”

Hogan complained that while teachers earned a 6.5% pay increase last school year, administrators’ salaries went up 8.5%. That doesn’t include Supt. Roberta DeLuca’s raise: Her salary has increased 33.2% over three years.

District officials disputed Hogan’s characterization of the negotiations, saying a 3.5% raise was offered to teachers in December, with warnings that the figure could easily shrink.

“We were very clear that [the money] would likely not be available in January once the state budget hit,” said Kathy Kessler, assistant superintendent for human resources. “The teachers declined that offer” in December. She said district officials met with teachers about a dozen times.

In light of the governor’s revised budget proposal, district officials plan to resume salary discussions with teachers this morning, Kessler said.

And DeLuca said administrators’ salaries, including her own, were boosted to bring them in line with county averages.

Fifth-grade teacher Normajean Janssen thinks district officials are “hiding behind” the state budget crunch: “Our school district is not as bad off as some school districts around us,” she said.

“Our teachers in our district are tired of being treated as second-class citizens, and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Janssen said.

The Huntington Beach City School District, which covers kindergarten through eighth grade, has about 6,600 students. The statewide average of teachers with a bachelor’s degree and 60 additional credits in similar districts is $58,179.

susannah.rosenblatt@latimes.com

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Teachers protest

Teachers in the Huntington Beach City School District are asking for fairer treatment by the district during salary negotiations.

Average annual salary*

For selected O.C. elementary school districts of similar size, 2006-07

Savanna: $80,713

Buena Park: $76,338

Magnolia: $74,577

Huntington Beach City: $74,571

Centralia: $74,117

Fullerton: $74,026