Post by Modesto Anarcho on Feb 28, 2009 15:46:34 GMT -5
Overflow crowd wins delay on proposed cuts
SUSD layoff outcry
STOCKTON - Implored by an overflow crowd in the 1,100-seat auditorium at Franklin High to take more time before slashing the budget, the Stockton Unified Board of Education voted 5-2 Friday night against immediately authorizing the district to send layoff notices to 325 certificated employees, most of them teachers.
Instead, the district will continue studying its options, and another special meeting has been scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at a location to be announced. Trustees Daniel Castillo and Colleen Boardman voted against delaying the decision.
The district is looking to chop $28 million in spending by July 1, 2010, following last week's passage of a state budget that hacked $8.6 billion from education spending.
Teachers and principals were out in force at Friday night's meeting, some wearing pink as a protest against possible pink slips. Many in the audience held signs bearing messages such as "Cuts hurt students" and "Cuts=No electives." Outside Franklin before the meeting, arts administrator Dean Gorby played saxophone in a jazz ensemble as teachers chanted, "Save Our Schools."
Among the proposed cuts were the elimination of 107 elementary teacher positions, 42 elementary and 34 high school counseling positions, 25 elementary school assistant principal positions and 15 high school earth sciences teaching positions.
Stockton Teachers Association President Anne McCaughey said she was angry that the district did not present its proposed list of cuts until late Thursday.
"That list is based on what?" McCaughey said. "No dollar amount, no reference point; none of the stakeholders were involved in creating that list. Why not?"
Superintendent Tony Amato said Thursday the district did not present potential cuts sooner because he "made the executive decision to wait until we had accurate numbers. There was no way to tell that until we had better information after the governor signed the budget" on Feb. 20.
McCaughey was not alone in expressing frustration that the list of cuts wasn't presented sooner. Trustee Bill Ross said during a break that he'd been warning of a "train wreck" since last year and added, "Why weren't we doing this months and months ago? Now all of a sudden, there's a big rush to get the budget out. It's ridiculous."
During several addresses to the board Friday, McCaughey asked the board to hold off on any decisions.
"I suggest we pull this item and have a special meeting next week," McCaughey said.
Fillmore Elementary School Principal Gina Hall urged the board to consider what would be lost if the cuts passed.
"Services to students will be lost with every administrator, counselor, teacher, certificated and classified employee," said Hall, head of the principals union. "We believe it's imperative that the board meet with all units representing the staff and students to achieve fiscal responsibility without cutting services at school sites and to our students."
Bud West, the principal at Kohl Elementary, said he was "insulted" that his name had appeared in a lengthy list of administrators who might receive layoff notices that was included in the agenda. The list was mistakenly included in the agenda, district officials said, and ultimately was removed.
Still, West said, "You need to come to the table. You need to talk to us."
Parent Ronda Finister said the district should cut back on new programs until the fiscal crisis is over. "You should not buy another program, implement another plan," Finister said. "You guys need to cut back on spending and use the money on our kids. If you have to go back to basics, go back to basics."
Lori Muller-Gray, a literacy resource teacher at Adams Elementary and the teachers association's new vice president, said the district should keep its reductions away from the classroom. "The cuts need to be done at the top, not at our school sites," she said.
Carina Soto, a 14-year-old Franklin freshman, added, "We are the future. So please keep our education."
Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips @recordnet.com.
---
Lodi, workers agree to help avoid layoffs
Print this ArticlePrint this Article Email this ArticleEmail this Article
Text Size: A | A | A
Daniel Thigpen
By Daniel Thigpen
Record Staff Writer
February 28, 2009 6:00 AM
LODI - City leaders and a union representing some 90 rank-and-file Lodi workers reached a tentative agreement Friday that officials said could spare employees from layoffs.
Under the deal's terms, which the City Council still must approve later this month, city maintenance workers will be required to take six unpaid days off over the next four months.
Workers also will continue to receive city retirement contributions, which had been on the chopping block under a previous deal rejected by union members earlier this week.
City spokesman Jeff Hood said the new agreement is the last pending labor issue related to the city's efforts to close a $1.4 million budget gap.
Last week, the Lodi City Council approved a package of work force cuts estimated to shave about $780,000 off the deficit.
There were a variety of cuts: one-day-a-month furloughs for most nonpublic safety employees; pay reductions and reduced staffing levels for firefighters; and many other employees were set to stop seeing city contributions to their retirement accounts.
When the council approved the cuts, leaders of two labor groups - both represented by the union AFSCME - agreed to the deals, but their members hadn't yet ratified the terms.
Wednesday, one of those labor units, which represents city maintenance and other employees, rejected the proposed concessions. Surprised city officials said Thursday they were preparing to begin layoffs to save an estimated $111,000.
Union members held a new meeting Friday and agreed to take a new offer to the city, union business agent Felix Huerta said.
The City Council likely will consider the agreement at its March 18 meeting, Hood said.
Contact reporter Daniel Thigpen at (209) 546-8254 or dthigpen@recordnet.com.
SUSD layoff outcry
STOCKTON - Implored by an overflow crowd in the 1,100-seat auditorium at Franklin High to take more time before slashing the budget, the Stockton Unified Board of Education voted 5-2 Friday night against immediately authorizing the district to send layoff notices to 325 certificated employees, most of them teachers.
Instead, the district will continue studying its options, and another special meeting has been scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at a location to be announced. Trustees Daniel Castillo and Colleen Boardman voted against delaying the decision.
The district is looking to chop $28 million in spending by July 1, 2010, following last week's passage of a state budget that hacked $8.6 billion from education spending.
Teachers and principals were out in force at Friday night's meeting, some wearing pink as a protest against possible pink slips. Many in the audience held signs bearing messages such as "Cuts hurt students" and "Cuts=No electives." Outside Franklin before the meeting, arts administrator Dean Gorby played saxophone in a jazz ensemble as teachers chanted, "Save Our Schools."
Among the proposed cuts were the elimination of 107 elementary teacher positions, 42 elementary and 34 high school counseling positions, 25 elementary school assistant principal positions and 15 high school earth sciences teaching positions.
Stockton Teachers Association President Anne McCaughey said she was angry that the district did not present its proposed list of cuts until late Thursday.
"That list is based on what?" McCaughey said. "No dollar amount, no reference point; none of the stakeholders were involved in creating that list. Why not?"
Superintendent Tony Amato said Thursday the district did not present potential cuts sooner because he "made the executive decision to wait until we had accurate numbers. There was no way to tell that until we had better information after the governor signed the budget" on Feb. 20.
McCaughey was not alone in expressing frustration that the list of cuts wasn't presented sooner. Trustee Bill Ross said during a break that he'd been warning of a "train wreck" since last year and added, "Why weren't we doing this months and months ago? Now all of a sudden, there's a big rush to get the budget out. It's ridiculous."
During several addresses to the board Friday, McCaughey asked the board to hold off on any decisions.
"I suggest we pull this item and have a special meeting next week," McCaughey said.
Fillmore Elementary School Principal Gina Hall urged the board to consider what would be lost if the cuts passed.
"Services to students will be lost with every administrator, counselor, teacher, certificated and classified employee," said Hall, head of the principals union. "We believe it's imperative that the board meet with all units representing the staff and students to achieve fiscal responsibility without cutting services at school sites and to our students."
Bud West, the principal at Kohl Elementary, said he was "insulted" that his name had appeared in a lengthy list of administrators who might receive layoff notices that was included in the agenda. The list was mistakenly included in the agenda, district officials said, and ultimately was removed.
Still, West said, "You need to come to the table. You need to talk to us."
Parent Ronda Finister said the district should cut back on new programs until the fiscal crisis is over. "You should not buy another program, implement another plan," Finister said. "You guys need to cut back on spending and use the money on our kids. If you have to go back to basics, go back to basics."
Lori Muller-Gray, a literacy resource teacher at Adams Elementary and the teachers association's new vice president, said the district should keep its reductions away from the classroom. "The cuts need to be done at the top, not at our school sites," she said.
Carina Soto, a 14-year-old Franklin freshman, added, "We are the future. So please keep our education."
Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips @recordnet.com.
---
Lodi, workers agree to help avoid layoffs
Print this ArticlePrint this Article Email this ArticleEmail this Article
Text Size: A | A | A
Daniel Thigpen
By Daniel Thigpen
Record Staff Writer
February 28, 2009 6:00 AM
LODI - City leaders and a union representing some 90 rank-and-file Lodi workers reached a tentative agreement Friday that officials said could spare employees from layoffs.
Under the deal's terms, which the City Council still must approve later this month, city maintenance workers will be required to take six unpaid days off over the next four months.
Workers also will continue to receive city retirement contributions, which had been on the chopping block under a previous deal rejected by union members earlier this week.
City spokesman Jeff Hood said the new agreement is the last pending labor issue related to the city's efforts to close a $1.4 million budget gap.
Last week, the Lodi City Council approved a package of work force cuts estimated to shave about $780,000 off the deficit.
There were a variety of cuts: one-day-a-month furloughs for most nonpublic safety employees; pay reductions and reduced staffing levels for firefighters; and many other employees were set to stop seeing city contributions to their retirement accounts.
When the council approved the cuts, leaders of two labor groups - both represented by the union AFSCME - agreed to the deals, but their members hadn't yet ratified the terms.
Wednesday, one of those labor units, which represents city maintenance and other employees, rejected the proposed concessions. Surprised city officials said Thursday they were preparing to begin layoffs to save an estimated $111,000.
Union members held a new meeting Friday and agreed to take a new offer to the city, union business agent Felix Huerta said.
The City Council likely will consider the agreement at its March 18 meeting, Hood said.
Contact reporter Daniel Thigpen at (209) 546-8254 or dthigpen@recordnet.com.