HOW DOES THE STATE VIEW EDUCATORS?

California’s latest $11 billion cut to schools and colleges is the state’s largest single budget cut ever made to public education. $11BILLION! What is the message this sends? The value Sacramento places on educators and school programs is now painfully clear. Are we held in such low regard as to deserve these cuts by the thousands? Has our state decided to completely check out of the business of educating our children?

As a society, we need to send our own message: It is not acceptable to treat our profession with such little respect. We deserve better. What we do is vitally important and our educational system is not where you start the process of cutting government spending. As a community, state, and country we talk quite a bit about how we want to not only compete, but lead on a global scale. We want the future of our country to not only support us but to make us proud with their innovations and ingenuity. If we take away the tools they need to develop, how can we expect them to soar?

Skimping on the foundation is never a good plan.

DENISE ADDRESSES THE BOARD

Denise Hood, a 6th grade Resource Specialist, recently spoke at an MDUSD Board Meeting. Denise and her husband James both work at El Dorado and are among the people we fight for, as they have both been given notice that they will not be offered a position in our district next year. Here are a few highlights of her speech:

“Good Evening Superintendent Nicoll, President Eberhart, and Board members - My name is Denise Hood and I am involved with the district on many levels. I am an alumni of the district who attended K-12 and graduated from Mount Diablo High School. I have two children who both attend Concord High School. Both my husband and I have been affected by the recent notices of precautionary action. It is scary for all who received this notice but you can only imagine how scary it is to have both of your household incomes on standby. I am on the schools leadership team, the PFC, co-chair of the 6th grade team, master scheduling committee and am the academic coach for the after-school program, I spend hours upon hours at my site and have poured my heart and soul into my school and my students for the past 9 years. The possibility of leaving is breaking my heart…

As a teacher and a parent in the district, I feel this is the time when we have to stand together and fight back. We have to say “Enough is Enough” and protect our children. They are our future and these cuts will seriously impact their education and their safety…

I know that tonight you will be discussing the priority list of items that should be on the Tier 1 and Tier 2 lists when the parcel tax is passed. There are two items that I specifically want to mention tonight.

The first is the teacher ratio that was increased at a board meeting earlier this year. This makes class sizes larger and offers less supervision on every level.

The second is Daytime Custodial Supervisors. Ours has been with our site for 18 years. He is our flag football coach, basketball coach, and a mentor to every student on our campus. I have never heard him say a negative word about anyone. On the day he found out his position had been eliminated he was repeatedly found comforting crying staff members when he was the one that lost his job. He is a true gentlemen and a gift to our site. He is on constant watch for our students’ safety… For those of us on sites every day we can not imagine how we will function without this very important position.

Thank you for your time and please visit our blog spot and join our rallies and our effort to be active in the fight against the state budget cuts.”