By Robin Humphrey
I guess I shouldn”t write my first column when I am upset, but I feel very passionate about what happened at the Kelseyville School Board meeting on Wednesday night. They voted to terminate nine teachers; four from Kelseyville Elementary and five from Riviera Elementary.
I feel disheartened, disillusioned and thoroughly disgusted. The board said that they really listened to what the dozens of community members said about saving our teachers and how devastating it would be for the children to have to increase class sizes. They said it made a difference hearing what we all had to say. I say bull.
I felt like they strung us along. At first, none of the board members wanted to make a motion to vote on the resolution to terminate the teachers. Then they took a 5-minute break to think it over. Upon reconvening, again, none of the board members wanted to make a motion to vote. Several board members even stated how this didn”t feel right and that they didn”t want to terminate the teachers. Board member Peter Quartarolo said he wanted to table the motion to give everyone a few days to think it over and maybe come up with other solutions. The board even picked Saturday at noon to reconvene and give everyone time to mull this over. They stalled so much we thought they agreed with the community. Then all of a sudden, Peter Quartarolo changed his mind and decided not to table the motion. Then the board chair Rick Winer made the motion to accept the resolution to terminate the teachers and, out of the blue, all the board members voted yes. And we lost nine teachers. It felt like all the talk about the board not wanting to do this was just a show for the audience”s benefit. Shame on them!
Don”t they realize that was a slap in the face to all the community members there, to our children and to our wonderful teachers?
Mr. McQueen, the principal of Kelseyville Elementary and the new Kelseyville Unified School District Superintendent said they had to cut $450,000 out of the budget now and another $900,000 in September. Cutting the nine teaching jobs saves $450,000 dollars but the school district will get a $250,000 penalty from the state for not following the class reduction rule (student-teacher ratio). That is like throwing away four teachers for the penalty. What an insult. There has to be a better way. I think the whole thing stinks with the board only having 48 hours to make a decision of this magnitude and the public only having 24-hours notice to fight it.
The last thing to go should have been the teachers, but the board”s resolution only mentioned the teachers. There was no other thought mentioned to cut less important things? One of the teachers said she would take a 50 percent pay cut. How about a pay cut district-wide, starting with the new superintendent? That would have at least shown Dave McQueen”s dedication in keeping the teachers. That we would have respected. How about offering an early retirement to some of the older teachers? How about cutting the buses? Parents can drive their kids, but we can”t replace a good, dedicated teacher. (Sorry Donna, bus No. 3. We love you and wouldn”t want to lose you either). Why not cut two positions from all the Kelseyville schools? Then maybe we wouldn”t have the class reduction penalties. There were other options, if the board hadn”t reacted out of fear. Why didn”t they use their heads and think this through?
McQueen and the board talked about starting a task force to come up with ideas to help raise money to save these teachers and address further losses in September. I am mad because we should have had that option months ago before any teachers were cut. The board took the choice right out of our hands.
The board members made a hasty decision and used poor judgment. Don”t they realize the ramifications of their actions? They have put no worth on the teachers. They are disposable to them. The board members should have been the ones fighting to keep our teachers. They should have given up everything else first. The teachers are the hearts and souls of our schools. They are the ones we trust to nurture our children. The board has broken the spirit of the terminated, the community and the teachers who are left behind at the schools with classes that will be too big to handle.
I understand that the board has some hard choices to make. I know it is the state”s fault and not the board”s. But what I do blame the board for is acting rashly. The teachers were a quick fix to the budget problems. The kicker is that the district had enough money to let the teachers stay for one more year. Why didn”t they? That would have given the community a chance to come up with solutions.
Tell me board, what are you going to do in September? Lay off 18 more teachers? Have 50 to 60 students per class? The parents will leave the district and you will have no one to blame but yourselves.
You should have put your faith in the community and in our teachers. You blew it, big time.
Robin Humphrey is the special section editor for the record-Bee.
