Educators take to the streets
Lodi teachers union makes case for a new deal
More than 200 local teachers, along with their supporters, gathered at the corner of Ham and Kettleman lanes Wednesday afternoon to protest in hopes of obtaining a new contract for Lodi Unified School District teachers.
The crowd cheered and held signs that read “fair contract now,” “Honk to let LUSD know you stand with LUSD teachers,” and “Quality instruction requires qualified instructors, good pay and smaller class sizes.”
Several cars honked in support as they drove by, including some fire trucks from the Lodi and Woodbridge fire departments.
The teacher’s union — Lodi Education Association — and Lodi Unified reached an impasse in their negotiations on Monday after bargaining for 18 months. Teachers have been working without a contract since June 30, 2016.
“I’m here to support the teachers of Lodi Unified School District,” said Jeff Tracy, a U.S. History teacher at Tokay High School. “The main emphasis to me is returning quality teachers. We
“This is about the future of Lodi Unified School District, getting the best teachers we can. At the (pay scale) we’re at that’s not going to happen.”
have a teacher shortage. There is going to be a teacher shortage, so anybody that the district plans on hiring, they need to have a competitive salary schedule. Our salary schedule at Lodi Unified School District is among the lowest in the entire area.”
Lodi Unified has the lowest starting salary when compared with 10 other local districts, according to information from the teachers union. Lodi offers $40,781 to interns without credentials, while Galt Joint Union Elementary School District has the second lowest at $42,379. Modesto City School District offers the highest starting salary at $56,836, according to union data.
Tracy said he has been teaching in the school district for 35 years and this is the first time he’s had to come out and protest for a fair contract.
“I’m an eternal optimist. I think we can come to an agreement, and our main job is to not only take of all of our students but to take good care of our employees.” JEFF TRACY TOKAY HIGH SCHOOL U.S. HISTORY TEACHER RON HEBERLE LODI UNIFIED BOARD OF TRUSTEES PRESIDENT
Jen Cassel, who teaches English and art history at Tokay High, agreed.
“We’re interested in attracting new teachers,” she said. “We’re interested in retaining and keeping the good teachers that we have in the district, and we need the whole community to realize the importance of what we’re doing in these schools.”
She also argued that Lodi Unified is not offering a competitive package for attracting and retaining teachers.
Teachers from beyond the local area supported Wednesday’s protest.
A history teacher at Manteca Unified School District’s McFarland Junior High School, Ken Johnson, protested in solidarity with his Lodi colleagues.
“I just wanted to show my support because we’re going through the same thing,” he said. “Why wouldn’t school districts want to pay top dollar for top talent, because sports teams do the same thing when they go out there: try to get the best athletes. So why don’t they attract the best teachers with the best compensation?”
According to LEA President Michelle Orgon, now that the union and the district have come to an impasse, a mediator will have to intervene.
There are many reasons behind the impasse, Orgon said.
For one, the 2 percent salary increase offered by the district is not addressing the desperate need of teachers, Orgon said. She said there are currently 50 positions that are being taught by substitutes, and because they are not fully qualified teachers, state law only allows them to be in the classroom for 30 days.
“Every 30 days in those classrooms, a new teacher comes in so students do not have the consistency of somebody writing those lesson plans and making sure that the students’ needs are being met,” she said.
Orgon said that three teachers asked to be released from their contracts in December in order to work for other districts because they couldn’t afford to live in the area.
She said the union is also proposing the return of peer assistance review, a model to help coach teachers who have changed grades, are in need of assistance with new curriculum or who have been placed on an improvement plan. The program was cut from the budget in 2008.
Orgon said the new teachers coming in need that assistance and coaching, and the union believes the program was a a great model to follow and would address those needs. The district’s proposal, she said, only addresses some of that.
Orgon said there is a huge gap between the compensation for teachers in Lodi and compensation for teachers in other school districts, and said teachers are also paying more for their benefits. She said most union members saw an increase of up to 18 percent in out-of-pocket costs for insurance.
The union is requesting a 5 percent increase in salary and a 1 percent increase in health benefits, Orgon said.
Orgon said Lodi Unified has almost three times the amount of money that the state requires, and there is $31 million set aside for text books, which weren’t purchased this year and won’t be purchased next year. She said another $10 million is also being added to that budget category.
“They say it’s a place holder. Why do you need to hold money in an account instead of putting it towards keeping teachers?” she said.
Lodi Unified Superintendent Cathy Nichols-Washer said that the $31 million is not only for books — it covers all classroom supplies. She said the budget line for textbooks is between $2 and $3 million, and the rest is used for supplies and technology. She said some of those funds are restricted money, which can only be used for a certain purpose and can’t be moved around.
Nichols-Washer said some of it is one-time money that the district can’t count on getting again. Because of that, she said, the money can’t be used for ongoing costs such as raises.
Orgon said that teachers were also concerned that under the district’s proposal, they would lose input on what teacher assignments they take.
“Currently, one of the pluses for Lodi Unified is that you can apply to what site you’d like to work and what grade level you’d like to work at,” Orgon said.
Lodi Unified Board of Trustees President Ron Heberle said part of the issue is that the state budget changed again this year, and the district is still hoping that more state funding will be directed toward schools when the governor does his May budget revision. Heberle said the district’s funding is almost entirely state and federal money, and the state controls all the money distributed to the school districts.
Despite the budget constraints, Heberle said that the district is still open to negotiations.
“I’m an eternal optimist,” he said. “I think we can come to an agreement, and our main job is to not only take of all of our students but to take good care of our employees.”
He said the district hopes to raise its starting pay to attract new teachers. He said that with the statewide teacher shortage, it’s important that the district attract more teachers and keep the ones that they have.
In response to concerns that the district’s newly proposed plan would eliminate teachers’ input with regards to teaching assignments, Heberle said all the ideas stated in that concept are open for discussion.
“It’s more of an invitation to the teachers to become actually more involved and more empowered to help set the direction of the district,” he said.
Lodi Unified School Board Trustee Gary Knackstedt agreed with Heberle’s sentiments.
“It all has to do with a limited amount of money in the pot,” he said. “There is only so much money to go around, and it just kills me because our teachers deserve a lot more than they’re getting.”