School Salaries Protested

By Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Jan. 25–Dissatisfied with the slow pace of contract negotiations, Ravenswood City School District teachers and parents filled a board meeting Tuesday night to demand the district find more money for salaries.

"We are making less money now than we were in September," said Dixie Johansen, president of the Ravenswood Teachers Association. Because health insurance premiums have increased and the district pays only a portion, she said, teachers’ take-home pay has shrunk.

Placard-carrying teachers lined the room, detailing how much instructors at the districts’ six schools had lost. "Cesar Chavez teachers spent $16,841 in medical expenses; $27,470 in classroom expenses," one sign read.

The union has a contract through 2007, but salaries are renegotiated annually. Talks begun two years ago are at an impasse, with the two sides scheduled to meet with a mediator Feb. 2.

"Certainly we want to pay them more, and we are attempting to do that," interim Superintendent Maria De La Vega said in an interview during a break in the meeting.

The district has offered a 2 percent raise this year. Teachers are asking for a 2.5 percent raise. They also want the district to pay the full cost of medical insurance within three years.

"We are not appreciated. I feel I am disposable," said Harmony Hayes, a teacher at Costano School. "We don’t feel you care enough about us to keep us."

The district’s offer comes to 85 cents a day for top-scale teachers and 40 cents a day for beginning teachers when medical expense are deducted, teacher Ann Husty said.

Pay scales in Ravenswood range from $37,243 to $70,336, the second-lowest in San Mateo County, the union says. Teachers said many colleagues leave for districts offering more pay.

"It’s really sad to train them for two years, then they leave," said teacher Diane Krichendorf said, who added that Ravenswood’s elementary teachers don’t have physical education, music or art specialists to help them out. "Teachers here in Ravenswood work a lot harder than do teachers in other districts," she said.

Board President Jacqueline Green said she would not comment on the negotiations.

Contact Sharon Noguchi at snoguchi@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7576.

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