(Editor's note: The following is a press release from the Lehighton Area Education Association)
The Lehighton Area Education Association met on March 10 to vote on a fact-finding report from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Bureau. The teachers' negotiating team noted that the fact-finders report was lower than anticipated but felt it was an acceptable proposal that met both sides in the middle. The LAEA members overwhelmingly voted to accept this proposal on salaries.
The following week, on March 17, the Lehighton Area School Board held a public meeting and very quickly voted against the fact-finders report unanimously without public discussion. Acceptance of this third party report could have ended the labor dispute that began on August 31, 2009.
The Lehighton Area Education Association has had representatives from PSEA, Pennsylvania State Education Association, evaluate the district's budget to determine the amount of money and percentage of increase included in the 2009-2010 district budget submitted to the Commonwealth. PSEA's findings concur with those established by the Labor Relations Bureau. The LAEA is not asking for the full amount budgeted for professional salaries but for their fair share.
The district's administrators recently received a 13.65 percent increase over last year's total amount used for just administrative salaries. This increase was given at the height of our country's economic hardship. It cannot speak any louder how the Lehighton School District disrespects it's staff, and blatantly misrepresents the facts to the public.
The school district budgeted 4 percent for salary increases in their balanced budget submitted to the Commonwealth last June. The school board also raised taxes to cover the 4 percent throughout the district. The fact-finder doesn't even recommend 4 percent in any year, and the teachers are not asking for any more than the third party observer deemed reasonable.
Do the taxpayers know and understand that we are paying our Superintendent, Mr. James Kraky", $128,000 plus daily gas mileage to and from work? That is an additional $2,000-$2,400 annually just to drive to work, making his total salary and benefits over $138,000.
Did you know that 67 percent of our administrators live outside of our school district and make decisions that affect our taxpayers, students, and community for years to come? Our superintendent felt it necessary to purchase new furniture, and most recently, a flat-screen television for his office. The Lehighton School District recently purchased all new furniture (tables and office chairs) for the school board to use at a cost of thousands of dollars.
The district is continually misleading the public. They're using smoke and mirror tactics to skirt an obligation that they should have to their staff; a staff who has provided quality education to the children in this community.
Most recently the district welcomed U.S. Senator Bob Casey, who announced at the Mahoning Elementary School, that the schools in Carbon County would receive an additional $18 million in funding. This elementary building is listed in the "Top 50 Schools in the Lehigh Valley." The Mahoning Elementary School finished in the top 91 percent in the state on their PSSA tests last year. In fact all of the schools in the Lehighton School District met AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) and surpassed the state averages.
The test results are a direct result of the experience, expertise, and dedication the teachers in the LAEA have toward their students. Instead of praise from the Lehighton Area Administration, the public continually hears rhetoric like, "we will need to look at cutting teachers, para professionals, and programs to meet our budgetary needs." These statements have been made AFTER the district budgeted the 4 percent increase for salaries and received a portion of the $18 million grant from Senator Casey.
The LAEA contract has nothing to do with the para professionals in the Lehighton schools. Instead of being proud of our educational community and rewarding those teachers who have made the Lehighton School District what it is, they would rather slash and burn the very foundation of their existence.
The LAEA voted to help the district in applying for a "Race to the Top" grant. Lehighton is one of the few Pennsylvania districts, which carries the district and teacher's union signatures. The teachers agreed to sign the grant proposal because it increased the chances of receiving the grant money and felt that it would help the community with the rising cost of education. The Lehighton teaching staff continues to reach out to the community, helping others, and working with our students to prepare them for a successful future. The teachers continually attend in-service programs, community colleges, and traditional colleges and universities. They strive to improve their craft by attending conferences, workshops, and classes to enhance their ability to instruct, integrate technology, and motivate Lehighton area students.
Although Lehighton students surpassed the state averages and made AYP, the teacher's salaries fall far below the state average in teacher salaries. The average state teacher's salary was $54,971 with an average of 15.9 years experience during the 2006-07 school year. During that same time, teachers in Lehighton averaged just $49,757 with an average of 17 years experience.
The Lehighton teacher's union contract ended in August of 2009 and the support staff has been working without a contract since June of 2008. If this impasse is not quickly resolved the teacher's union is prepared for a job action that will affect the 2,434 students who attend schools in the district. Community members and parents who are interested in supporting education and providing excellence in the classrooms are encouraged to attend the next school board meeting in the district's administration building off of Union Street in Lehighton.
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I personally find it interesting the LAEA is suggesting the amount budgeted for professional salaries “could” be the bar for their salaries. The LAEA does not consider the District should project for possible salary increases rather than wait for the outcome of an award. The district can in turn lower the tax base that was raised in anticipation of an unknown percentage increase in salaries. Is it a good negotiations tactic to use as leverage the salary increases given the administrators? I think not. The LAEA finds fault with the increase during our present and future economic hardship and failed to include the projected funding of the under funded teachers pension. The LAEA attempts to make the case the increase was poor judgment but the LAEA also expects an increase. Furthermore, the third party may be incorrect and in-fact, the third party and arbitrators today are re-evaluating the needs of the communities and tax-payer funding as a result of rising cost of salaries, pensions, insurance, etc.
In addition, it is not an obligation of the district to increase any salaries to insure quality education. The obligation lies with the educators who agreed to fill the positions and full-fill their obligations as educators. If any educator believes they are not properly compensated for their successes in their class room they can stay or move-on as in private business. I will project less than 5% would leave to take a position in another SD.
And finally, the LAEA talks about” rewarding THOSE teachers who have made the LSD what it is.” Now we are getting some place. I propose the teachers union agree to a “PERFORMANCE BASED SALARY STRUCTURE (PBSS)” since we can all agree every educator is not as effective or is more successful then the educator in the next class room. But NO! Have my salary based on another’s assessment of my ability to instruct! But in the end the LAEA would rather support a Job Action because they feel an individual “fact finder” is their measuring bar. Even better, I propose the School District agree to the “third parties” recommendation for salary increases, leave the pension as is for current educators and renegotiate pensions for new educators.In-return the LAEA agrees to include a PBSS. The community should expect and compensate educators that are dedicated to the children as a career and not expect to pay the salaries of educators who simply report to work. Today everything is business. Even education. Today everyone expects more for their money as do educators for their commitment. PBSS ensures your tax dollars are expended wisely.
The community should attend the meeting organized by the LAEA and continue supporting education and the expectations of providing excellence in the classrooms regardless of an educator’s salary. The business of negotiations of salaries is as much of a business as the responsibilities of administrators to insure quality educators in the class room at a reasonable cost to ALL taxpayers. There are many educators without a current position just waiting for an opening to begin their careers or resume theirs after a layoff from another school district budget cuts.
Making education into a business is a huge mistake by our governments. There are way too many variables involved. People who believe education is a business look at the students as the end product, but how can that be when the end product will always be different. Everyone learns differently and at different rates, which in turn creates a variety of learners in the school districts. The end product will never be the same because of this.
Also, you mention "PBSS". This is just as bad as making education into a business. Let me paint you a picture on why this will not work and is not a fair test of a teacher's ability to teach. With today's full inclusion, there are students in regular ed. classrooms that normally would have been in a special ed. class. So now the classroom teacher has to teach students who for the most part are just not capable of learning like other children. I know that sounds harsh, but it's a fact of life. Then, you have children that are not in special ed. but are very slow learners. They need adaptations or modifications or they become frustrated and grow to hate school because they feel they are failures. Next, some students come from broken homes, which seems to grow every year. These students are too busy worrying whether or not they are going to go home to a father that's drunk again, if he ever comes home at all, and a mom who's strung out on drugs and sleeping around with the local drug dealer in the next apartment. These same kids are making their own meals while trying to lead some resemblance to a normal childhood. Do you really think they give a crap about homework and studying for their next big exam? Finally, there are the students who do very well in school. These are the kids who get bored in class because the teacher is spending too much time with the students who really need his/her help so they begin to act out. Now put all these kids into one classroom and that is what today's students look like and I'm not exagerrating in the least. Now ask yourself, if you were the classroom teacher, how would you teach all these kids in a way that they will all succeed and do well on statewide assessments, because if you don't you won't get a raise or you could even get fired? Oh and you're only given 55 minutes a day for 4 days each week to plan all your activities, run off your worksheets, grade all their tests, quizzes, projects, and homework sheets, while making phone calls to parents to let them know that their sweet little angel won't shut the hell up so you can get your lessons completed in the 45 minutes you have set aside for Math. And don't forget, you have to do all this in a way that won't belittle the children, make them feel like failures, and without many discipline options. No putting them in the corner because it draws individual attention to them, no making them write because that makes many children grow to hate writing, no paddling students because well that's just inhumane, try not to take their recess away because there is just too much child obesity, and what ever you do, don't give a child a hug to comfort them or you'll be arrested for sexual abuse, fired, and banned from teaching ever again. Let me know how it turns out?! F@#%ing idiot!