Reader says LUSD compensation doesn’t reflect teacher contributions
Editor: Stockton. Elk Grove. Manteca. Even tiny Lammersville. These are just some of the neighboring districts that offer higher teacher salaries than Lodi Unified. If the superior benefits that most districts offer are also considered, it is difficult to find a local district whose teachers are not better compensated than those in LUSD. However, Lodi teachers have been working without a contract since July 1 and the district has yet to bring a reasonable offer to the table.
This issue doesn’t just concern teachers. It concerns every family that has students in LUSD and everyone who cares about the quality of education the district offers. Given current teacher shortages, the district's ability to attract the best teachers is in jeopardy, due to its refusal to offer competitive compensation. Why would any teacher who is job hunting choose to work in a district with lower salaries and inferior benefits when he or she could receive better compensation by simply making a short commute?
My questions for the district are these: Since all schools in California received the same windfall when the state's finances improved, why was Lodi Unified unable to improve teacher salaries and benefits as other area districts did? Since the teacher shortage is expected to exist for several years, and since Lodi Unified has been unwilling to offer competitive compensation to its teachers, how does the district intend to attract excellent teachers and therefore maintain a high quality of education for its students?
The bottom line is that the sole job of any school district is to provide the best possible education to its students. The key component is the caliber of the teachers. Lodi Unified needs to show its current (and prospective) teachers that they understand that teachers are the heart and soul of any school district and that they deserve compensation that reflects their contributions to the district.
Six months without a contract? It's time for the district to quit sitting on its hands and prove to its teachers and the community that it is willing to do what is necessary to ensure quality education for its students. KRISTINE LEACH Lodi
Frustrated with liberal politics
Editor: A reader recently made four points in which I’d like to comment. First, she stated that what has taken place since Trump’s election are protests, not riots. Portland police declared that “protest” as a riot and it’s happened in other Democratic party strongholds. If you call what’s happening protests and not riots then there really is no use debating you.
Second, she stated that the NEA was formed in 1857 when it actually came into being in 1870 with the merging of other associations. Up to the 1970s the NEA was conservative when they started pushing liberalism, concerned more with students’ self-esteem than teaching. Instead of reading, writing and arithmetic they started teaching socialism, as in our rights devolve from government, not God, and religion has no role in our society, Government is supreme (you didn’t build that), moral relativism (if it feels good, do it), people looked at as groups and not individuals, speech and wealth must be limited and on and on.
What’s the result? When the election doesn’t go their way they become unhinged. Schools offering grief counselors, cry rooms, therapy dogs, coloring books and Play-Doh to college students, diaper pins on lapels for their need for a “safe space.” To say professors never make political statements is ludicrous. If this generation fought World War II we would be speaking Japanese and/or German today.
Third, I said my teachers were nationalists because they believed this nation and its culture under God was better than any other. If you don’t believe this then why do you stay here?
Finally, the race card. Without it, today’s liberals would be lost. And if you’re a conservative black or Latino who doesn’t believe the liberal lie then you’re not really black or Latino. In the liberal’s eyes you’re just not black or Latino enough. RON PORTAL Lodi
Letters invited
The Lodi News-Sentinel welcomes opinions from its readers. Letters must be signed and include the writer’s address and phone number for internal verification purposes. All letters are subject to editing. Letters longer than 350 words will be cut to fit or returned to their writers. There is a holding period of 30 days between publication of letters by the same person unless no other letters are queued. Send letters to P.O. Box 1360, Lodi, CA 95241-1360; or email to letters@lodinews.com.