Parking scandal at San Leandro High School

After teaching long days at San Leandro High School, many of our school district’s valued teachers have been surprised to find school-district issued parking tickets on their car windows.

Apparently, the school district has cut a deal with a parking ticket vendor to administer a shakedown of people who park at the high school. The district has agreed to a cut of the revenue in exchange for this service. Tickets are $40, and if you don’t pay, the violations get turned over to the DMV. What’s even more surprising is that the parking tickets are being written by one of the assistant principals.

In other words, the school district is paying an administrator’s salary to an assistant principal whose job is to harass teachers by ticketing their cars. So, even after taking a salary cut, teachers are being fleeced further in this new parking ticket scam, and district resources are being wasted to make it happen.

So I have two questions. Is the Superintendent still surprised because teachers don’t feel valued? And, does the School Board know about this?

Deep-Fried Schools

Last night, the good people at the  San Leandro school board meeting pledged allegiance to fried chicken strips.  Most of us didn't even notice.  It was the most rational thing that happened.

Mike Katz, the school board president, called the meeting to order and people stood for the pledge.  Only, the meeting place had changed at the last moment.  The location ended up being the high school cafeteria.  So we dutifully rose for the pledge, turned to face the spot where everyone assumed a flag would be if there were a flag, and said the pledge of allegiance.  To a cafeteria advertisement for "Sunset Strips."  From the picture, they were delicious, crispy, golden brown, deep-fried chicken strips.

Deep-Fried, like the future of California.  I guess when music programs, physical education, librarians, counselors, days of school, and even lawyers and consultants (the most important people in the school community) are on the list, no absurdity seems all that unusual.

These meetings have taken place all over California.  In many places, the potential cuts will be far deeper.  Even the schools in the wealthier communities will have to dig into their reserves.  The Senate Republicans have just fired their leader, Dave Cogdill, because he is seen as most likely to "give in" on a tax increase.  That's right, they want deeper cuts.  This budget won't smash enough dreams and kill enough people for them yet.

They must have pledged allegiance to deep-fried chicken strips a long time ago.

Teachers on Steroids!

I'm a little jealous of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.  Cameras follow these guys wherever they go.  Government agencies want to hear from them.  Congress holds hearings.  But teachers can't even get local school boards to listen.

I keep wondering what it's going to take.  This week, 250 teachers (more than half) in my school district showed up at a board meeting - asking for a little attention.  It seems as though they were all fed up about the same things... low pay, low morale, low respect.  The crowd cheered support for speaker after speaker.

Official Board Response... A couple of smirks. 

Clemens has been the recipient of moral outrage and righteous indignation.  Congresspeople were tripping over each other trying to ask the next question.  The media is having a field day.   Don't get me wrong here, but Clemens is just a baseball player.  It's not like the future of our children is depending on anything that might have happened in those hearings.  Why aren't people all up in arms about the state of education?

Desperate times deserve desperate measures.  So, it's time for me to make some startling revelations about what goes on in our schools.

Teachers are using performance-enhancing drugs.  That's right, after numerous interviews from multiple sources, it's time to leak this story -- Teachers are on steroids.

A veteran teacher, who only spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, "The pressure is too high.  We face impossible test score expectations.  They're threatening to shut our school down."

Said another, "Those No-Child-Left-Behind expectations - every student above average - this isn't Lake Wobegon!"  

Yet another teacher who was interviewed for my story talked about the pressure of paying bills.  "I have to work two jobs just to pay the mortgage and health care.  I turned to steroids because I have no time to sleep."

These revelations bring every AYP and API ranking in the entire country under scrutiny.  It's unclear who is supplying our schools with steroids, though one teacher speculated that educational consultants who wander from school district to school district with their power-point staff-training presentations might be the source.  It's unclear the role that superintendents are playing in this, but it seems as though they have been knowingly looking the other way, hoping that those test scores would get the boost.

To do the important research for this story, I had to guarantee my sources that I would never release their names.  Subpoena me if you feel you must, but I will remain true to my word.  

Anyway, Bring on the cameras.  Schedule the hearings.  Call up the talk radio people.

Maybe our school board will pay attention to us now.

Why is the San Leandro School District Attacking Its Teachers?

(An open letter to the San Leandro School Board of Trustees)

As a 10 year teaching veteran of the San Leandro Schools, I am horrified by the district's recent attacks on its teachers and on our Union.

The biggest insult is the continuing saga of our pay scale.  The district has been dragging its heels at the bargaining table, despite knowing that teachers in San Leandro are among the lowest-compensated teachers in Alameda County.  The district has made no effort to improve the status of our pay-scale.  While neighboring district (Castro Valley most recently) have passed on  COLA increases to their workers, our District has refused to make a commitment to its teachers.

Several other districts in the County have lower revenue, but still manage to pay their teachers more than San Leandro.  As a Board, please examine how those districts succeed, and then instruct our Superintendent to make it happen.

Unfortunately, the disrespect shown to teachers by the District does not stop at the salary scale.  These recent events show the District's motives:

* Reduction of permitted release time for SLTA officers, and reneging on the agreement of how the release time should be compensated.  The district recently informed SLTA that it would significantly reduce the President's release time, and eliminate the release time for the Vice President altogether.  This is clearly a Union-busting maneuver.  The district has nothing to gain by this decision other than silencing the voices of teachers.  As a Board, did yoiu approve of this anti-teacher tactic?

* The Budget-Cut process, in which teachers (at staff meetings) were forced to state which vital student programs we could live without.  (District Office administrators' positions, perks, expense accounts and salaries were not listed in the menu of potential cuts.)  The Union's bargaining team represents teachers.  Talk with us at the table.  (That's the law.)

* Discouraging Union Input.  The SLTA President was given notice of his "invitation" to address the Board about budget cuts on the afternoon of the meeting that was scheduled later that night.  It's clear that his voice really wasn't wanted at your meeting.

While a cynical person might be able to dismiss some of the bargaining and budget-cut shenanigans as "business-as-usual" for a District that has never shown an interest in fairly compensating its teachers, the next insult from the district is unfathomable.

* Denial of Bereavement Leave.  A teacher whose spouse died was denied bereavement leave.  After the leave was denied, the grievance was rejected.  And now the district is going to fight this case all the way to arbitration.  Is the District really going to spend the $40,000 it takes to send a case to arbitration just to avoid spending a few hundred dollars?  Do you, as a member of the School Board, really approve the District's effort to deny leave for a grieving spouse no matter what the cost?  This is a dedicated, well-loved teacher in our District!

In the past, I had heard it said that even though teachers in San Leandro have always been under-compensated, that this was a good district to teach in because people are treated with respect.  Clearly, the spirit of respect has changed.  As Board Members, ultimately, the way the district treats its employees is your responsibility.  The Superintendents answer to you.

Sincerely,

Thomas B. Morse