Monday, January 26, 2004
Town Hall Two: This time, it's personal
The Superintendent's demeanor, attitude, and comments at the second of his Town Hall meetings was decidedly different from last Wednesday's. I am interested, of course, in hearing your take on the meeting, if you were there or if you saw the coverage on WTMJ tonight. Click on "Speak Out!" below to comment.
From my perspective, the Superintendent approached the evening on the offensive. I think last week he was genuinely surprised that teachers and the parents who came out to support us were unified in our message. A lot of the credit there goes to our union officials, who have stayed in top things and not only kept us informed but supported as well. But more than that, I think there was a genuine sense of betrayal among us, that we have sacrificed and sacrificed now only to be blindsided by the districts "preliminary final offer" that has us paying $6000 a year--plus up to $4500 in deductibles--to maintain our current level of health benefits.
I think he was also surprised last week to see that his attempt at driving a wedge between young and veteran teachers would fail. (He has said this to the press: "What young people are looking for is a higher wage. They're not interested in a pension. They're not even that interested in the health insurance." Not true, sir.)
So tonight he took a much more strident tone, and as a result, he got a lot of gruff from teacher after teacher who, at some point in their remarks, said they felt disrespected.
In all, it was not the most pleasant of experiences. I firmly believe that now the Superintendent is mad, and I'm afraid things will get far worse before the get better. I hope now he may be willing to sit down at the table and talk about some of the things that his "preliminary final offer" neglected, and make a good-faith effort instead of a media charge.
From my perspective, the Superintendent approached the evening on the offensive. I think last week he was genuinely surprised that teachers and the parents who came out to support us were unified in our message. A lot of the credit there goes to our union officials, who have stayed in top things and not only kept us informed but supported as well. But more than that, I think there was a genuine sense of betrayal among us, that we have sacrificed and sacrificed now only to be blindsided by the districts "preliminary final offer" that has us paying $6000 a year--plus up to $4500 in deductibles--to maintain our current level of health benefits.
I think he was also surprised last week to see that his attempt at driving a wedge between young and veteran teachers would fail. (He has said this to the press: "What young people are looking for is a higher wage. They're not interested in a pension. They're not even that interested in the health insurance." Not true, sir.)
So tonight he took a much more strident tone, and as a result, he got a lot of gruff from teacher after teacher who, at some point in their remarks, said they felt disrespected.
In all, it was not the most pleasant of experiences. I firmly believe that now the Superintendent is mad, and I'm afraid things will get far worse before the get better. I hope now he may be willing to sit down at the table and talk about some of the things that his "preliminary final offer" neglected, and make a good-faith effort instead of a media charge.
