Mailbag: Teachers, board should keep talking
I am completely baffled and quite frankly at a loss for words about the what is happening right now in the Glendale Unified School District system (“Rallying for no school cuts,” June 11).
Why can’t two groups of adults who say they do all of this for the children work out a contract that is agreed upon on both sides. This has turned into a “they said,” “they said” situation.
From my conversations with the Glendale Unified school board, they are willing to continue to talk and their door is open to keep negotiating. The Glendale Teachers Assn. has drawn a line in the sand and said no. They want fact finding.
I understand they are frustrated and feel Glendale Unified administrators are not being honest with them, but this war they have raged on is at the expense of our children. We are running out of time.
Fact finding doesn’t happen until mid-July, the school district’s budget is due June 30 and school is supposed to start at the end of August.
Teachers who have pink slips need to get on with their lives; they can’t wait for everything to be worked out.
I am so disappointed in both sides and why this has dragged out for so long. I have seen no movement on the teacher union’s side to try and work this out.
The Glendale Unified school board represents the best interest of our students and needs to do what is best for the district to stay solvent to keep teaching our children. They are elected officials using our tax dollars to do what is best for our students (we elected them). If there is a hidden agenda, I am not seeing it.
The Glendale Teachers Assn. supports teachers and their interest regardless of how it will affect our students. And to me it appears that there is a hidden agenda.
The union has stopped the conversation with Glendale Unified administrators.
Why would you stop talking when you say you are doing this for our children? When my children are fighting I don’t tell them not to talk it out, I tell them to figure a way to settle their disagreement and call me to help if needed.
Keep talking, it can’t hurt to go back to the table and see what the school district is offering. Don’t give up on our children.
ANNE NORD
Glendale
School, teachers there for daughter
My daughter has attended Glendale High School for the past four years and will graduate June 18.
I feel compelled to express my deep satisfaction with the education my child has received.
She has always been an eager learner and an active participant in her own education; fortunately, these qualities were recognized by her teachers (most of whom are excellent, challenging and knowledgeable) who have spurred her on to high academic achievement.
Glendale High School has an underserved reputation for being too big, too crowded and, as sad I am to say it, not as “good” as some of the other high schools in the Glendale Unified School District.
Many of my colleagues, whom I respect as teachers in their own right, have sent their own children to Glendale High.
They too were completely satisfied and are still great supporters of the school and the students who go there.
Parents who are engaged in their child’s education, as well as augmenting it outside of school, are a big part of scholastic success.
Naturally, the student is also a responsibly party in participating above and beyond the call of duty in their own education.
Teacher who put as much dignity into teaching as the teachers my child has had, deserve acknowledgment, praise and all the best rewards society has to offer them.
VALERIE STUPHIN
Glendale
Editor’s note: Stuphin is a Glendale Unified teacher.