This is the story that should have been written about Linden's school board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2011. Instead, the story was about how Mancino's donated free coupon's for good student behavior. Give me a break...
The media center was filled with teachers of a single mind, dressed singularly in the color black. It was very obvious to anyone that it was intentional. The meeting was called to order. The school district's superintendent was noticeably absent.
The meeting proceeding very quickly with the agenda being approved, then moving onto the recognition of the fall sports coaches by the athletic director, Cathy North. Then came public comments.
LEA president Meg Walton took the podium and gave a very rousing and emotional speech about the district's inability to settle a contract. She raised several salient points about the union making a minimum of four offers while the school board has only has only made one offer. That offer is a substantial pay cut, plus a hard cap on insurance, something much more drastic than is required, considering the district's fund balance. In fact, the district voted just about a month ago to lower the fund balance to 3% in order to save teacher jobs. Apparently, they want to build it back up again. In the past, the district' fund balance has been as low as 2%.
After, Ms. Walton's speech the audience stood and gave her a hearty round of applause. Two other teachers also took the podium and spoke on the issue of a lack of contract.
It should be evident to the Linden School Board that the teachers are not happy with the current situation. Even some parents are not happy, as was evidenced by two parents addressing the board about the very large class sizes at Linden Elementary.
I hope the board was paying attention...
I hope the public realizes that it is not the teachers' fault that there is no calendar and no contract. Of course, they might, if the media did its job....
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