Negotiations remain unresolved with employee unions over when and how to reopen schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District, which has had more than 1,000 students leave the district since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the district’s superintendent told the school board at a meeting Wednesday night.
MDUSD Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark told the district’s Board of Education that the negotiations with labor partners like the Mt. Diablo Education Association teachers’ union are “still distances away from coming to an agreement” and said layoffs and even school closures could be on the table as a result of the drop in enrollment numbers since last year.
“That’s the harsh reality of public education, we staff in terms of enrollment,” Clark said. “This is all of our district, and we all have to come together to find different ways that we can serve our students.”
Clark said the district will send out a survey later this week or early next week to get input from students and their families about reopening plans as negotiations continue with the labor groups. The superintendent said in a letter to the district community last week that eight of the 18 school districts in Contra Costa County have signed agreements with their labor partners and are preparing to bring students back on campus in the coming weeks.
Dozens of people spoke in the public comment portion of Wednesday’s meeting and dozens more emailed in comments, with many parents saying their students are struggling with distance learning and noting that the district is disproportionately behind in its progress to reopen compared to other nearby school districts.
“Our students deserve the opportunity to be with their peers and teachers in person,” said Kristen Burkhardt, who said she’s a parent and teacher in the district who is currently on leave from teaching to help her own children during the pandemic.
But some teachers in comments and emails sent to the board expressed concerns about safely reopening amid the pandemic, with vaccines not yet available for teachers, and said the district has not provided a clear plan for educators and staff.
Clark said there is not a “one size fits all” plan since the district, which includes schools in Concord, Pleasant Hill, Bay Point and parts of Walnut Creek, Martinez and Pittsburg, has campuses with different needs and demographics, and that the results of the survey will help staff at each campus formulate a plan for reopening.
School board president Cherise Khaund said, “We do need to get to the point where those can get designed” at individual campuses and said athletic conditioning activities have been allowed at all school sites throughout the pandemic so the district has shown that small group activities can be done safely on campuses.
Board trustee Linda Mayo said she was “hopeful for reopening before the end of the school year” in early June, but fellow trustee Keisha Nzewi said she worried that moving too quickly to bring students, teachers and staff back to campuses in large numbers could be the equivalent of “spiking the ball on the one-yard-line” with vaccines starting to be made available to certain sections of the public but not yet to educators.
Nzewi said many teachers are ready to return to class, but many are not, and said she has “a moral obligation not to lose one life … for someone who didn’t want to take that risk.”
Clark had said in January that distance learning in the district would continue at least into March, and did not commit at Wednesday’s meeting to any timeline for when schools may reopen.
“I just don’t think with the time that it has taken for us to get this far … I’m concerned about being able in the next few weeks to reach all of the agreements that need to be reached,” Clark said.
Dr. Clark was clear and to the point last night. He genuinely appears frustrated with the endless back and forth negotiations and made it clear he wants kids back in school. He also indicated he expects children back in the classroom in fall in an almost normal capacity. After listening to the board meeting for hours and hours last night it was nice to hear someone speak on behalf of our kids. Unfortunately the teachers union has everyone’s hands tied and in my opinion they made it clear they aren’t there for the kids.
The MDUSD and the teachers and staff want nothing more than to have the students back on campus.
Educators know all too well the history of pandemics. We are so close to getting vaccinated. Why take the risk? I don’t want to lose any more people!
@MadMon – um, it’s quite apparent they want something more than to have students back on campus. They want to ride out the entire pandemic with zero work-related risk for themselves. And they want that more than they want to help students. That’s why they aren’t back on campus. That’s all pretty elementary. If getting back on campus were priority #1, they would be back on campus.
“Educators know all too well the history of pandemics.”
Pardon me if I’m less than impressed by this idea. Any teacher who isn’t a history teacher probably knows significantly less about the history of pandemics than your average literate person. What’s more, the evidence is quite clear in *this* pandemic, right now, that schools – esp. K-6 – are not significant sources of spread. I guess the educators you have in mind are too busy reading about other pandemics to know that…
FYI same as all vaccinations it doesn’t prevent you from not getting Covid 19. In fact if you read any type of research on this matter it’s 50/50. Whether you all beg for shots or not really doesn’t matter. Get back in classes or the education department is gonna have United Americans in your backs.
It’s obvious that our children and their education and mental welfare isn’t a priority (or even a thought) for them.
What a sad group of clowns.
I hate MDUSD….with every breath I have.
I’m so disgusted and disappointed. Not sure how we can justify staying in MDUSD any longer. At this point, to not have a plan and to not have some sort of union agreement is just a massive failure to the kids and families. Great job teachers union! Holding out for so long that you’ve lost most public support and many of you will be laid off anyway because of the loss of enrolled students.
Kind of reminds me of the noble fight to force grocery stores to add $5 / hour hero pay which has resulted in the closure of 2 grocery stores in Long Beach and the loss of over 300 jobs. Get a CLUE. For a district that proudly claims to be on the side of racial justice you sure aren’t doing a damn thing for all of your minority and low income students. When are our cities going to follow SF lead and start filing lawsuits against the district and the unions?
Sitting down and listening to this meeting was extremely frustrating. I heard a lot of teachers begging for their jobs. Some parents I agreed with and a few teacher/parents were on the opposite spectrum. I say if a teacher is willing to go pick up food from a grocery store or fill their car full of gas they have no right to complain about people using a copy machine or possibly getting covid from children when the science says it’s extremely unlikely. If there are teachers who are unwilling to come in and do their jobs I say treat them like any other job would. As far as the teachers union goes it needs to be stripped of its power. I bet they were preaching “listen to the science” in 2020! Seems they’ve decided to turn their heads on that stance now. Never thought I’d say this but we need to follow San Francisco and possibly settle this in legal actions.
I completely agree with you!
So over 1,000 students have left the district that only serves 36,000 K-12 students … so almost 3% of the students have left (higher percentage have left then then the US COVID mortality rate, 1.7%).
Almost a year into this and the MDUSD teachers do not have a plan.
Almost a year into this and other school districts in our county have plans to open their public schools, 8 out of the 18!
Now we are being told potential school closures and teachers layoffs … forgive me if I do not feel for the teachers who may lose their job. Sorry, my kids are important and if you cannot grasp that, then you should not be a teacher!
Who do you think comes up with the plan you are talking about? it’s not the teachers, its not the union. It is the District. they are the one without the plan. I am married to a teacher in the district who wants to go back. But there are no safety precautions in place, they have not even finished installing the correct air filters. They don’t have shield’s not sanitizers installed for each and every classroom. So how are those things the union or teachers responsibility? The District is the employer and they should supply these things.
The other districts are able to open because they were about to open while the county was in the read, MDUSD was not when we went back to purple. They HAD NO plan. The district HAD NO plan.
Teachers want to go back to a safe environment, the district and parents dont care for teachers safety. You would rather send your child well or sick into a possible super spreader event and get others sick.
Dont blame the teachers for the DISTERICTS lack of planning and leadership
@JimC, “the teachers want to go back to a safe environment.” Yeah, but your union’s idea of safe is zero-risk. So that really means that nobody goes back to work as long as there is any Covid risk whatsoever.
I’m sure the district is to blame as well as the union. But teachers need to realize that their union is overreaching and fearmongering. They need to push back more and earlier.
@Jim C
If this is totally left up to the Districts, then why have unions said they’re not going back until their demands are met?
@Jim C
I forgot to include that the demands to which the unions were referring had absolutely nothing to do with teacher safety.
Does anyone know if a student can be emancipated from the district, if another district that is open has space? It seems that the ratepayers continue to pay property taxes for which no services are provided. If constitutionally mandated education isn’t being provided, should such tax money’s be impounded if not returned to the payers? I am concerned that the students have and are being denied their right to education, and that remote learning is not a substitute for a proper education. Do parents of children being denied an education because of personnel disputes have a cause for action? Do ratepayers have a right to demand a refund of tax dollars when requisite services constitutionally mandated are not provided?
Lost time cannot be recaptured. How many man years of development have been forgone that can never be recovered? How many high school seniors will be at a disadvantage to those who had classroom education in university?
Notice her analogy: “spiking the ball on the 1-yard line.” Think about that for a second. What is the touchdown? Waiting for a vaccine. That’s been the game all along. Stall until there is a vaccine. Delay as long as possible. We’re almost there! We successfully stonewalled for a year, let’s just hold on a little longer and we will have achieved our real goal!
It’s all about teachers and staff unions throwing kids and families under the bus. They set out to wait for a vaccine, and that’s what they’ve done. That was the real plan all along, not this “reopening plan” that the district wrote up *a year later than it should have.* The real plan is zero risk for staff, stall for a vaccine. Mission nearly accomplished.
But wait! The vaccine everyone has been waiting for will not prevent you from getting the virus nor stop you from being a spreader. So what does the vaccine have to do with the schools reopening?
I am disgusted and angry with MDEA!!! How dare they. Come to some darn agreements and get these kids back in school. If you are a teacher and don’t want to return then DON’T. If you are a parent and don’t want to send your kids back then DON’T. But for crying out loud let the folks go back who need it and want it. My child is miserable. I am a single mom who has to work and my kid is on her own to teach herself. What the heck kind of education is that.
In my greater PH neighborhood, I’ve heard a number of parents with school age children express frustration and disappointment about the quality of MDSU remote learning and the lack of plans for reopening. One family even moved out of their PH home, turned it into a rental, and is renting a home in WC so the kids can attend WC public schools.
Parents moving from Pleasant Hill and Concord to get into Foothill Middle and NHS (part of MDUSD) or get into the Walnut Creek School District and Acalanes Union High School District has been going on for years.
Yes, I know some Concord addresses feed into Foothill and Northgate.
When my children were attending MDUSD schools, I knew of seven families who sold their homes and moved so their children could attend the school they felt could better serve them. Usually a few miles from their previous homes.
Be careful what you wish for.
If they haven’t moved since then, their homes have appreciated. 🙂
As a parent of an elementary child in this school district I am furious and frustrated. If most parents are like myself and my wife we have been working this whole time and balance the risks of being exposed. I definitely feel like teachers should be higher on the priority list for vaccination but I also do not feel that should be holding up the schools from reopening. Many of us do not have a choice but to go to work or lose our job during this pandemic, the teachers union needs to stop using this as a bargaining tool and work with the district and parents.
Distance learning is not working, especially for younger children. They get 2-3 hours of education a day if they are lucky, no social interaction, and less exercise. The impact from this is going to have a much more profound affect on our children then the possibility of being exposed.
At an age when they should be not only learning but continuing to develop their social skills, they are stuck at home in front of computer screens.
I grew up in this area and attended this school district. I felt I received a good education and that my children would also. Unfortunately, this past year has changed my mind. I will be doing everything I can to be able to either move to a better district or put my children into private school next year.
I agree. People need to absolutely flood their representatives a d the union with calls and emails. Several emails and phone numbers posted here. Do this in next 24-48 hours because the only way we will get change is by building the pressure. See East Bay Times article today that says the Bay area’s richest public school districts are the ones that have reopened. Because those parents started a pressure campaign! We can do it too. Call call call 😉
My kids just had their Valentine Day classroom parties today at school. You should have seen the smiles on their faces when they came home with bags of candy, cards and toys. Opt for the private school. You won’t regret it. Sacrifice anything and everything to put them into one. They are on a four day weekend after a fun in person learning week. Just ask Newsome about private schools. His kids attend one too.
Can’t wait for the negotiations on the next teacher’s contract.
👍🏼
Fire the teachers!!!! PINK SLIP THEM!!!!
Here are the email addresses of the MDEA (teachers Union) board members:
president@ourmdea.org
dreynolds@cta.org
vicepresident@ourmdea.org
keyc@ourmdea.org
coffeen@ourmdea.org
trubloodb@ourmdea.org
simones@ourmdea.org
cyrl@ourmdea.org
juareza@ourmdea.org
duenasb@ourmdea.org
bussst@ourmdea.org
I suggest emailing all of the above and letting them know how the ongoing closures are affecting your children. Let them know how very unhappy and disappointed you are the there is no agreement. How it is not supported by data. The only way they have gotten the union in SF to agree to anything is by public pressure and law suits. Start putting respectful, civil but firm pressure on the union to follow the data and REOPEN because our children are suffering
Cc: copies of your letter(s) to attorneys
Email sent. I am disgusted.
Not MDEA who are holding up the reopening. It’s the people who refuse to follow safe protocols. You must have missed the article about the Escondido SD and 18 students quarantined 2 days after they opened up in school learning.
On the positive side our family is done with MDUSD! On the negative side MDUSD suppresses my property value by their ineptitude. YV and Oak Grove Middle School are just examples of how not to run a school. How many more years do we have to hear about how they’re going to fix Oak Grove only to have it fall further behind. Years ago both of these schools scored high academically what has changed? Only the demographics and there’s no way to deny it.
What changed? Demographics. Most student at Oak Grove are from the Monument corridor. Many of those students are English language learners and do not have the parental support to help in their kid’s education. Then those students, with their below average test scores, move on to YVHS and it continues. The majority of These two schools’ populations are from low economic households and parents without higher level education. 70% of the students are on free lunch. It’s not only the school’s fault when students fail when they don’t have a home base that also supports them and are involved with what’s going on with their kids education.
Laying off teachers is the the solution to this problem? So sad that the teachers have to pay the consequences of some irresponsible board members who can’t decide to come up with a plan to get kids to school safely.
Oh, no. No, no. no. Not that the board members are great, but there would be a plan without the teacher’s union making unreasonable demands. What you wrote is not reality at all. The teacher’s union is ever so clearly blocking re-opening. When the board tried to survey the teachers to see who wanted to come back in person, the UNION threatened them wit a lawsuit,. So, yeah. The union should be investigated for child abuse.
Also, the science and CDC tells us it is safe NOW. We can go back NOW. And why don’t we? Right. the union.
@ OH Please
My understanding is that the union is supposed to be the spokesperson for those they represent. Not be the authority over them. So no, if the teachers are not telling the union what they want then they are as responsible as the union for not getting the kids back in school. The union is supposed to support the teachers not the other way around
My kids are, fortunately, older and done with MDUSD, but while they were attending school in Clayton, I always thought the school district was waaaaay to large and that the Clayton schools, Highlands Elem, and Pine Hollow Middle should have formed their own district.
Heck, even include Concord High and the surrounding elementary schools and it still would be a more manageable district.
This was before CV Charter came about and it could have been included also.
Bust the Teachers Union. An organization that uses our children as bargaining chips cannot be allowed to exist.
Mr. Clarke. It’s time to get Medieval. Take emergency action. Stop all negotiations with the teachers union. Put out a mandate that all schools will be open when the county allows it. Those teachers that do not report for duty will be terminated. Due to the unions loss of public trust, announce that all current contracts will be enforced and no new contracts will be signed. Now is a perfect time for the teachers to strike, they aren’t doing anything. We won’t even notice.
Never let a crisis go to waste. This is a golden opportunity to rid ourselves of the teachers union. I know it’s a pipe dream.
Call your representatives:
Mark DeSaulnier: 202-225-2095 (Washington DC office)
Steve Glazer 925-258-1176 (Orinda office)
Tell them how the school closures affect your children. Tell them how unhappy you are as a voter and constituent and that you would like them to put pressure on the teachers union to follow the science and commit to a firm timeline to reopen. There are live people answering the phones and they compile and give all messages to the Senators. The more pressure we put on the more results we will get!
I don’t have a child in school at this point anymore, but this isn’t good for the Kids. Let’s say, there are 30-35 Kids pre class for a teacher. The teacher(s) could have 6-7 Kids in class per day (5 days) for testing and give the Kids lessons to do for the whole week to do at home. It would limit the amount of Kids to the teacher at one time and the Kids get one-on-one with teacher(s) and get to see their friends. The teachers need to get back to the classroom for the Kids. This is not a perfect situation, but think it would be a step forward.
Not sure how you get rid of the teacher’s union and the board, it is way past the time to do both! We need to start from square one and rehire a board and teachers without a union and make sure it runs like a business and not a government entity.
As Daffy Duck would say, “You’re despicable…Mount Diablo Unified School District!” They need to get their act together. What is not being spoken of is the damage being done to childrens eyes from computer learning…I suspect we will have more children in prescription eye glasses in the near future.
https://www.chop.edu/news/health-tip/how-too-much-screen-time-affects-kids-eyes
I’m a retired teacher, never taught in California, but I can assure you that the school districts that I taught in ALL had corrupt, nepotistic, arrogant union members (cushy offices, trips to Europe to recruit foreign language teachers, etc.). Not a Mt. Diablo…. part of the human condition. But the bottom line: it’s a glamorous job and goes to many of their narcissistic heads). Good luck parents…
If all else fails blame it on Newsom, seems to be the go to on here
The teacher’s union is evil.
And more and more, the teachers that belong to that union and remain silent are complicit in their evildoings. I have no respect for the union, and am losing respect for any of its members.
I feel that teachers are trying to blackmail their way to the front of the vaccination line. Given that we are not even allowing front line worker to skip the line, that seems a bit unfair. When I said this to a friend who is a teacher, I was met with an angry “No, we just don’t want to go back until it’s safe!”. and when then asked, what will make it safe, the response was vaccinations. Go figure.
Are there any links to local private schools? I think it’s time to start looking at my options.
@MS~I agree with your statement about vaccinations! You betcha that even after teachers receive the vaccine they will say that it’s still not safe—sort of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy.’
Take a look at NorthCreek Academy in Walnut Creek:
https://www.ncapschool.org
Why not blame Newsom? Media and Dems blamed Trump for the virus so other “leaders” can share in that blame as well.
We all know Covid19 is the fault of the CCP. When will the media shills and Dems acknowledge that fact?
I also find it VERY hard to believe that “they” have not figured out how to safely return to school. They have had a YEAR to do this. We are not ignorant people! We can tell that this is such a b.s. move it’s more than annoying! Each person has a different situation, but if we can work at grocery stores and big box stores and medical offices, etc. I’m sure that teachers can be in a classroom with students for 5 hours!! Come on!
Everyone needs to flood their offices of elected officials with calls, express your frustration. Do it today, momentum needs to build in the next 24-48 hours order for them to pay attention: Schools are always a low priority. Make sure to tell them you are constituent and this will be a voting issue for you in the next election.
Grayson: (916) 319-2014
Dodd: (916) 651-4003
Force your Congressional representatives also to get on the record and release a statement:
DeSaulnier: (925) 933-2660
Tim Graysons office phone is: 925-521-1512
Thanks: The 916 number is the Sacramento office, I believe. One of his staff is there, I talked to him this morning. Very nice and helpful and understanding of the situation. But they need to hear from us!
Shame on MDUSD and shame on the teachers union!!!
There are no excuses anymore. They are not following the science and the district is being a bunch of incompetent cowards. All at the expense of our children. Shame on all of them!
I totally agree! I cannot even believe that this is STILL an issue. Our kids are in limbo and not getting a good education.! My 5th grader only has 2 hours of instruction per day and some of that is watching Youtube videos and sometimes she cannot even get online to do the 2 hours! Terrible, terrible terrible.
In Idaho we are normal.
I hope you can keep it normal Klaus. Idaho is a favorite landing spot for the expatriated Californian.
….. of course not… the teachers and teachers union have a stranglehold on ………. Newsom has no leadership or gumption to break through it…. the state should go ahead and start laying teachers off – there are bigger spans with teachers “distance learning” they don’t need as many and has gone on too long already. “Distance learning” is an oxymoron anyway…
Exactly why I voted for vouchers. Seemed like a no-brainer but the majority of voters preferred less freedom apparently.
If you are a Concord resident, here are some more people you can email:
tim.mcgallian@cityofconcord.org
edi.birsan@cityofconcord.org
dominic.aliano@cityofconcord.org
carlyn.obringer@cityofconcord.org
laura.hoffmeister@cityofconcord.org
Maybe they will be willing to help make some calls to the union if they get enough requests from residents and homeowners in Concord.
THANK YOU! Hopefully the district won’t require vaccinations for staff or students as it will not stop the spread of this disease. Those who choose to vaccinate can still catch and spread the virus.
All of you threatening to pull your kids out of MDUSD, knock yourself out. You had this option last spring and could have been there for the fall semester. Be prepared to pay, but at least you’ll stop complaining. And your departure will help reduce class sizes, making it better for the rest of us. Adios!
Mika – I take it you don’t think teacher layoffs will follow?
@Mika, I hope all MDUSD families pull their children out of the district; hopefully, this would force the board and the union to look at their ridiculous actions. However, they would probably just twiddle their thumbs and say “ But everything we did was for the kids”. As for families not leaving in the Spring was probably due to everyone still adjusting to the pandemic. Families probably thought the fall would be better. I feel that these school families have finally reached their breaking point with all of this nonsense. As to having smaller class sizes, well, that will never happen – teachers will be just be laid off. You also made the comment “be prepared to pay”, private schools do cost money; however, they also offer financial aid and tuition assistance – it is very doable.
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@Mika
You must be a product of excellent MDUSD education, no?
FYI, when students leave, the per-capita funding that the district receives from the state goes down accordingly.
And in order to balance the budget, the district will lay off teachers and possibly even close some schools. Just as the Superintendent told you. He wasn’t kidding, you know.
So class sizes won’t go down, they’ll go UP. If you want to see your future, look at Oakland’s OUSD plagued by student exodus for the last 10 years.
But do enjoy your newly-found freedom from those nasty parents who want schools to be schools and teachers to be teachers.
Is this where I say, “Why am I not surprised?”.
The Teacher Unions are running the asylum formerly known as public education. The only cure is to NOT PAY THEM until they return to the classroom.
BTW- Perhaps we should ban teachers from in-store purchases, dining outside, getting their hair or nails done, etc…
“MDUSD Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark told the district’s Board of Education…(that) layoffs and even school closures could be on the table as a result of the drop in enrollment numbers since last year.”
So if there’s enough of a drop in enrollment to close schools and layoff teachers, will there also be a reduction in the number of MDUSD board and teacher union members as well?
Talks of layoffs were on the table even before the pandemic. This is nothing new. How they can serve the 36,000 students in the district after layoffs or school closures is beyond me. I heard drinking fountains will not be available to the students nor the cafeterias and when they return they will only be on campus part time, hybrid model. Still no spectator activities, assemblies, no socializing in groups, bathrooms will have to be monitored to ensure they don’t exceed their limit. Maybe it be best to just continue with the distance learning?
@ Mika – It can be done. Hybrid model is not easy on the parents, but it made a huge difference to the students. My daughter attends private school 2 days a week and then remote for the remainder (7th grade). That 2 days of in-person school made a huge difference.
Last week she dissected cow eye ball during science and today both of my kids had Valentine’s party and came home with lots of cards and treats. They came home with huge smile and lots of stories and not once they complained about going to school. They know it’s a privilege.
To address your concern:
Drinking fountain – yes it’s not available, so we pack water bottle.
No cafeteria – her school never have one so we always pack lunch.
No assemblies, socializing – this is a HUGE UPSIDE actually. Even if they can’t gather in large group, they are still socializing with kids in their cohort. Each cohort only has 7-10 kids, so they actually get to know each one of their friends better. They become closer and kinder to each other. No room for bullying and unkind words, they cling to each other.
Bathroom – recess is staggered, so bathroom does not get too crowded.
I kept asking my kids if they prefer in-person or remote and the both said “in-person”.
Happy Parent: Thank you! We need to hear more of that perspective.
@happy Parent: I agree with you, as a parent I would be so glad for my child to just have 2 days per week. The position that “well if we can’t have all the usual stuff why bother?” Is infuriating to me. One of the board members replied to me in an email that she wasn’t sure a hybrid schedule would really make much of a dent in the isolation and loneliness kids are feeling. I strongly disagree. In fact, they have been out of school for so long that many of them need to be eased back into it. We will bring our own water and sit outside in a chair in a field! My kid needs to be in the company of other kids and learning even a little bit! A small amount of time makes a huge difference which is why the union refusal to make an agreement is so maddening
@ Haley,
Um, perhaps if so many teachers didn’t indoctrinate kids with leftist insanity and advocate for leftist platforms (e.g. antics surrounding “red for ed” and “defund the police”) then maybe you wouldn’t get called a Marxist. Funny you mention teaching at CHS, I know 4 or 5 teachers/staff there and two are teachers who are 100% bat***t crazy leftist loons, “Marxists” if you will. You would “stop at nothing” to support your students? Well it’s irrefutable that keeping kids from school is extremely detrimental not only to their academic life but also mental and physical well-being, so why isn’t someone who claims they would “stop at nothing” spitting mad and DEMANDING that MDEA get you back in the classroom?
WTF does our “diverse population” have to do with teachers’ collective resistance to returning to school? Oh that’s right, absolutely NOTHING, but don’t let that stop you from tossing out lame platitudes…I’m sure the race card lurks nearby in your arsenal.
Naturally, though, you did not refrain from pulling the “barely make a livable wage” tripe. Please. No one claims teachers are getting rich, but spare us the “teetering on the edge of poverty” routine. The mean salary for a teacher in MDUSD is ~$70K. Add in good benefits paid mostly by the District (read: the taxpayers) to include your unsustainable pensions that are bankrupting CalSTRS and CalPERS. Tomorrow I’d be the first person to push for MINIMUM $80K teacher salaries, but in return NO MORE PENSION, you go strictly 403b with typical 50% match up to 6% of salary, but then that’s where it ends for the taxpayer, no more being the safety net for irresponsible pensions, and YOU are responsible for YOUR retirement just like everyone else in the real world.
I truly believe all MDUSD parents should completely remove their children and all financial support from the school system for 6 months. On-line learning is not school. It won’t matter for us parents doing the teachers jobs anyway. Once MDUSD gets hit in the pocketbook they will all be begging to open schools ASAP with or without a vaccine. If a teacher done not want to come back to work. Fine someone that will. Everyone is working and out and about. This is all just evil and destroying our children’s lives. Stand up and take your children out of MDUSD.
Probably a good idea to take your kids out … but my understanding is that the schools got the state legislature to lock in their funding based on enrollment levels from 2019, so that pandemic-related withdrawals wouldn’t hit their budgets. So even a mass withdrawal might not affect their funding. It would probably get some attention, though!
Online learning is not school? Tell that to my wife who works tirelessly EVERY DAY, and weekends too to teach/prep work. Maybe if you’d make your child show up and participate in class (which happens rarely for her) she could feel some accomplishment. Just as soon as teachers can get vaccinated (before exercise trainers who are next in line. REALLY?!) we can get the schools reopened.
@JazzMan
Yes, distance learning is putting an additional stress not only on students, but on teachers as well – at least on those who do care about their students.
The problem is that this additional stress and effort doesn’t pay off in terms of student outcomes. And blaming the parents for these failures is about as productive as blaming the teachers. It takes years of effort, multiple iterations and testing on target audience to develop a successful online education program. Ask anyone who tried this through Coursera. And even then it doesn’t work for everybody.
With current rates of COVID in the district (even in the “communities of color” that Anita Johnson “cares” about so much) and with appropriate measures (reduced class sizes structured as pods, masks, sanitizers, regular cleaning etc.) in-person education is no more dangerous than going to a grocery store.
Given the vaccine protection rates even against symptomatic cases and the speed with which this virus mutates, the best outcome we can expect with COVID is similar to what we have with seasonal flu. I. e. there can be risk reduction with vaccines, but there will never be a zero-risk environment. If that’s what your wife requires, she is in the wrong profession.
It is my conclusion that she is just not very smart. I mean, she didn’t have any qualifications for this position, but was elected because she looked a certain part. Not that the other board members are great… But, she certainly loves to be a victim. She called out parents who want the best for her kids, but she was being so horrid on social media. Apparently you are a racist if you don’t agree with her every insipid word. SMH.
Mr. Clark is making MDEA out to be the “bad guys” for doing their job and looking out for the teachers. Put pressure where it belongs, on the state and get the teachers vaccinated. THEN we can talk about reopening.
I think the major us want teachers prioritized for vaccines. We as parents want teachers to be safe! Many teachers are our friends and we know how important they are to the students. The problem is: waiting until teachers are totally vaccinated to reopen at all is NOT supported by the large and lengthy amount of data that we have. Large districts have been able to operate in relative safety with precautions and altered schedules for some time now across the country, in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and plenty of other areas too. Our children’s mental health, after a year of school closures, frankly outweighs teacher union insistence that the only way to be safe is 100% teacher vaccination.
Las Vegas just started reopening their schools because they had 19 student suicides this year, which was a massive increase from prior years. That’s why I think the risk of doing nothing is greater than the risks to teachers if they return with hybrid schedule and precautions
Teachers are not your babysitter and schools are not daycare. If you chose to have children, deal with the fact there is a pandemic, and raise your kids. Teachers have a right to workplace protections like anyone else. Stop being jealous and organize your workplace so it protects workers rather than serving the corporate oligarchs and managerial ladder climbers.
Oh really? Workplace protections like everybody else? Like everybody else in an essential job who has been working from home for the past year? Public school teachers are an outlier and everybody can see that. They work 100% remote even when public health and child development experts say they don’t need to and it damages kids. And then they leverage their “essential” character to get up in line for vaccination. Nobody else is both essential and 100% remote. Only public schools can pull that one off!
Also, where in your comment is there any awareness of the state’s constitutional right to an education? People are responsible for their kids, yes, but the state is responsible for providing a basic education, no matter what you may say about it. It’s in the state constitution.
If teachers want to be treated as normal employees of a private enterprise, they can teach for private schools. (In which case they still have OSHA protections but they might have to actually teach in person…) You shouldn’t be able to have your cake and eat it too. If you work for public schools you provide a constitutionally guaranteed service to the public. You aren’t just another independent service people can take or leave. People don’t get to opt out of supporting the public school system. But apparently the public school system can opt out of providing an education…
Jealous? The public school workplace protects workers so much that employee risk-elimination trumps every other consideration: kids’ welfare, constitutional rights, CDC guidance, enrollment-based funding, the effect of school closures on actually-essential workers like nurses and doctors and agricultural and food workers, etc. etc.
If the choice is between the corporate oligarchs who treat workers poorly but actually deliver a service to their client base, and the education cartel that protects workers and throws the public under the bus … I’ll take the oligarchs any day. With all the problems that brings, at least they can’t just stop delivering their service indefinitely while charging the public 100%. There are different kinds of power. Tech moguls have one kind of power. Public sector unions have another. And both can be used in unjust ways. Right now anybody would jump at the chance to get their kids in real school if they could take the per-student funding and put it towards a private education. (Even if there is an oligarchy somewhere in the background.) Frankly, the unions are playing with fire right now. It is hard for the public to turn against teachers (or firefighters, or doctors). But it’s not impossible!
If ag or grocery store workers or nurses could operate like the teacher’s unions do, we would all be starving and hospitals would be closed. It’s not a model for anybody to emulate, unless you’re a sociopath.
If you don’t see how badly Newsom is running out state you’re the problem.
Pull our kids out of school now and 💯 % guarantee teachers will beg to go back to work. Child abuse at its finest = teachers unions