I am currently the President of the National School District Board. Recently an article that profiled Ted Godshalk (published Oct. 1, 2010) who is running for one of the three seats of the three seats of the National School District Governing Board that will be decided in the November election. There were several inaccurate statements made in the article that I would like to address. Mr. Godshalk makes several claims regarding some of the difficult decisions that we have made over the past few months along with accusing the Governing Board of being “unable to communicate openly and respectfully” with parents and employee groups. What Mr. Godshalk is talking about is the current labor dispute between the National School District and the Teacher’s Association. The Governing Board has been forced by State budget crisis to make some very difficult cuts. During this past year we have listened to the parents in our community when they have told us time and again that maintaining low class size and adopting a calendar that aligns with the Sweetwater calendar are their highest priorities. That is why the new working conditions that the Governing Board imposed maintained class sized at last year’s levels and included the adoption of the Sweetwater calendar for the 2011-12 school year.
We are facing and economic crisis in California that we haven’t seen in this country since the Great Depression. The result, people have lost their houses and jobs as they struggle to make ends meet. That same economic condition has negatively impacted schools as we continue to receive less and less money from the State to run the District. In the eight years prior to the latest economic crisis, the National School District was in declining enrollment, which meant that we had to cut close to $8 million. During those years we were able to keep those cuts away from the classroom. Now that 90% of the District budget is used to pay our employees, we were not able to avoid cuts that impacted the classroom or our employees. Mr. Godshalk stated in your article that the “problem (with the Governing Board) came to a crisis point when the incumbents voted unanimously to break their contract with the teachers and impose or force six furlough days which is a pay cut and less days of learning for the students, increased class size and new language taking away rights and conditions of the teachers.”
This information is not true. First of all, the District and the Teachers Association have been in negotiations during this past year on a new contract. The last contract expired this past June. Therefore, no contract has been broken. The Governing Board has been interested in talking with the Teacher’s Association at the negotiations table about how we could address the $3 million in cuts that the District needed to make. We were successful in negotiating with the other employee groups. Unfortunately, the Teacher’s Association did not seem interested in taking about these issues, the District and the Association went to fact finding. When we were unable to come to an agreement through the fact finding process, the Governing Board has the right to impose new working conditions.
• For the 2010-11 school year all employee groups will observe 6 furlough days.
• The District increased it’s contribution for health and welfare benefits for all employee groups from $8,700 to $9,200
• Class size remained at 22:1 in grades K-3 and 33:1 in grades 4-6 for the 2010-11 school year – There was no increase in class size this year.
In implementing new working conditions, the Governing Board only imposed what was necessary to make ends meet for the current school year. Why would the Governing Board increase the District’s contribution to health benefits if we did not care for our employees? It is clear that these new working conditions are better than what has been negotiated in nearby districts.
Mr. Godshalk fails to mention that the Teachers Association has consistently blocked the implementation of a school calendar that would align with Sweetwater. As a result, elementary students in National City have a different school calendar than the students in Middle School and High School. The Governing Board has been dedicated to changing that so all students in National City to school at the same time. Part of the imposition of new working conditions included a calendar that will finally align with Sweetwater for the 2011-12 school year. Mr. Godshalk implies that the only way we support our community is by agreeing with everything that the Teacher’s Association wants. That is simply not the case —sometimes the Teacher’s Association advocates positions that are not in the best interest of the families of National City. As a Governing Board member I feel that I have an obligation to do what is in the best interest of children and their families.
To imply that we can’t get along with our employees is another misrepresentation of the truth. The Governing Board enjoys outstanding relations with our other employee union.
Although we have yet to successfully negotiate a new contract for the teachers, we remain hopeful that we will ultimately be successful.
Rose Alvarado
National School Board President