LYNWOOD — Seventy-seven teachers who received layoff notices from the Lynwood Unified School District this past spring will keep their jobs for at least one more year thanks to a majority vote from members of the Lynwood Teachers Association, who approved a 3 percent pay cut for all of the LTA’s 850 members.
Prior to sending out the official ballots, which had to be returned within one week, LTA representatives last month tentatively made an agreement with the district to take a 3 percent pay cut for the 2009-10 school year, along with one furlough day in order to save approximately 77 teachers from the district’s final reduction in force numbers.
Back in March, the school district initially proposed to lay off approximately 131 positions. School board members were not happy with the amount of layoffs and instructed district staff to find ways to save some of those teachers. After several weeks, the district was told it could rescind 43 positions of the 131 proposed layoffs.
In early June, with the district still facing an uncertain state budget, board members voted 3-0 to lay off 77 teachers, and reinstated the rescind notices sent out to 43 teachers in April.
“I wish the LTA could have saved all of the teachers,” said one teacher, whose job will be saved by the LTA’s majority vote. “I don’t want my name in the paper. I’m very grateful that the majority voted to give themselves a cut just so that I could stay. I’m very grateful. Unfortunately, I know some of the teachers who won’t be coming back. It’s unfortunate, because Lynwood is losing some very good, qualified teachers.”
In an interview before the LTA’s final vote, Hector Marquez, vice president of the LTA, called the tentative agreement a milestone in negotiations with the school district, saying he believed teachers would vote in favor of the 3 percent cut, for the sake of the students.
“Taking this cut won’t just help to keep the last batch of teachers who were pink slipped for a year, but it will also keep more teachers in the classroom. … The more teachers we lose, the higher the student-teacher ratio will be.”
Marquez, in an interview after the ballots were counted, said he was happy teachers approved the pay cut.
Ballots went out to all 850 LTA members, but only about 400 teachers returned them, with the majority voting in favor of taking the 3 percent cut.
The LTA’s tentative agreement specifies that all members take a 3 percent reduction in salary and one furlough day for the 2009-10 school year. Under the agreement, the furlough day will be a free day with no pay for teachers. The cut was approved on the condition that on July 1, 2010, LTA members’ salaries will retroactively return to their normal pay. Another condition secondary teachers asked for was that all secondary schools would have four classes per day, and teachers would teach three, and the fourth would be an elective class.
“The board of education is very thankful for the LTA’s cooperation in helping to solve the district’s financial problems,” school board President Jose Solache said. “Personally, I’ve been stressed out about this whole situation and having to lose so many teachers. … Even though it was not a massive yes vote, the majority of the teachers did vote for this, so thank you … we can’t say thank you enough to these teachers.”
At the same time, Solache thanked all certificated and classified employees in the district, since they too were asked to take a 3 percent pay cut, effective immediately.
“Thank you to all who are working with us, and not against us,” he said. “To our classroom teachers, our employees, and our principals for being leaders and taking the cut, thank you.”
Unfortunately, Solache said, the district next year may find itself in the same financial hot water due to cuts coming down from the state level that may result in more layoffs and cuts in the classroom.
School board member Maria Lopez said she thought it was a beautiful thing for teachers to take a cut for a year to save 77 of their colleague’s jobs. “You don’t see that too often,” she said.
The 3 percent cut may have been approved by the majority of members who returned their ballots, but it doesn’t mean that all LTA members are very happy with the election results or having to take the cut.
“The cut is according to your pay schedule,” said one teacher who asked to remain anonymous. “I understand that we have to stick together, but just because one teacher might be losing $300 from her annual salary, doesn’t mean that another teacher, who has been in the district longer, is going to lose $300, too. A teacher who has been in the district 25 years could lose $3,000.”
Some are also criticizing the LTA’s representatives for “rushing” the election process, but that wasn’t the case at all, said Marquez, who said that the bylaws were checked and double checked.
“The ballots were sent out in a timely manner,” said Marquez. “And every teacher, even those who are out of the country on vacation received one.”
Another teacher, a member of the LTA who voted against the 3 percent cut, said she wouldn’t have minded taking the cut had the LTA proposed a higher cut that would have saved the first 73 teachers that were laid off.
“No one tried to save their jobs,” she said. “That’s [73] teachers out of the classroom. Maybe some of us would have voted for a higher cut if there was more transparency in the election process, and the first teachers included.”
Unfortunately, not all wars can be won, said Marquez, who said the negotiations between the LTA and the school district didn’t happen over night, and it was difficult to reach an agreement.
Apparently, the district’s initial proposal to the LTA included a 4 percent pay cut, but LTA representatives turned it down. There was also talk of the district freezing the step and column process, which the LTA also rejected.
At the end of the day, 77 teachers will be returned to the classroom when school starts later this month, Marquez said.
“I’ve heard back from teachers, and the majority of teachers are happy with the results,” he said. “It’s not so much that teachers will be affected by the loss of their colleagues from the classroom, but there are teachers out here who can see that losing all of these teachers will ultimately affect the students in the classrooms.”
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