Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / District Earns A, Now Ignores Teachers
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: This is Rick's Blog Live. Thank you for watching. As always, we try to bring a lot of newsmakers to you from a lot of different directions. This next guest is one I've been trying to have on for a couple weeks now, but she's been involved in negotiations with the school district and the school board. Carol Cleaver, thank you for joining me. See Carol Cleaver: You're welcome. Rick Outzen: you. See you. You know, it is the school district got an A this year. You as the voice of the teachers union. do you feel like teachers are getting enough credit for what they did to get that A, or are they just being sort of ignored and the and others are taking credit for it? Carol Cleaver: Well, you know, we we've been in the news a lot for forgetting the A and district leadership, you know, has said thank you. I know a lot of principals have been excited to share the news that our grades have improved. But I would be lying if it if I said that it doesn't feel a little bit like we're being ignored at the bargaining table. we've been asking the same things for a couple months now and we just get keep getting told that the school board members don't have enough time to meet with a district leadership or us. So I am kind of concerned about that, why we're being ignored in the face of these really great results that we've gotten. Rick Outzen: Right. You know, I mean it's it's we historic. We've never been in a school district, to and it is there are a lot of different pieces of why it happens, but it I always know and I know because my daughter's a teacher, is that it begins in the classroom. It everything begins in the classroom. Carol Cleaver: One hundred percent. With the people on the ground that are with students every day. Right. Rick Outzen: Now y we've got fewer, we've learned that fewer than nine hundred teachers are gonna be getting a raise, this raise that the governor of the legislature passed with this new state pay raise. What are the stipulations that make it so that so few people are able to get raises out of this this deal? Carol Cleaver: Well, thank you for asking about that. And I'm happy to report we've been examining the rosters and it it looks like maybe we're around nine hundred thirty, nine hundred forty teachers might get might get the raise. But the stipulations seem to be completely arbitrary. They seem to be completely just being enforced upon us by the legislators that wrote this bill. And they've decided that you know what, we're only gonna give it to teachers that I have been in a Florida public school classroom for 10 years or more, but they are they have to have a classroom roster attached to them. So unfortunately, that leaves out a lot of other people that also work with students every day, all day long. It leaves out our guidance counselors, it's leaving out a lot of our media specialists, it's leaving out our behavior deans and our instructional coaches. People that see students all day long every day are being left out. That doesn't even account for the fact that they've also allocated zero dollars for our bus drivers and our cafeteria workers and our custodians, our school secretaries, everybody that keeps the school running. So it's a very narrow pocket of people that are being recognized by our state government. Rick Outzen: W what would be the type of raise that would actually work for your membership? How would you how would y'all like to see it? Carol Cleaver: What we've been asking for from our state government for many years is go ahead and dispense the the T SIA money, the teacher salary increase allocation, and let each county, each district decide what is the best way to spend it in their county. We would like to not have all the strings attached. The Florida constitution guarantees us the right to collectively bargain and we deserve to have the freedom to bargain with the taxpayer dollars that are given back to our counties from the state legislature. The way it is now, they've just got a lot of strings attached to a to that money that does nothing but divide our workforce and pit us against district leadership and it just really serves no purpose. Rick Outzen: and I've also noticed over the years it can put, you know, frontline teachers versus admin versus like you said, the other duties, the guidance counselors, the librarians, the others. It c it kind of pits everybody against each other. what are some of the you know, you and I have talked before and we've actually did a story in weekly, but th th the issues I know one of is bereavement leave, the other one is duty free lunch. Yes, sir. w tell explain to our viewers what those ask are and and why they're important. Carol Cleaver: Well, we knew that this year, because of the massive loss of funds due to voucher payments that actually come out of our public school funds, we knew that there wouldn't be a lot of money available for a very significant raise. So we came up with the idea of let's do some different things in the contract that can still signal to our employees that they are valued. we are the only county in the state of Florida that does not guarantee teachers a duty-free lunch. So when we have lunch, we have to still supervise students at many of our schools while we're trying to eat our own lunch and maybe go to the bathroom or make a phone call. And every other county has figured out a way to schedule their day to where teachers can get a twenty-five to thirty minute break. I thought That would be a a zero cost way to recognize employees. Unfortunately, we're still being told no to that. bereavement leave was another one. We're one of the very few counties in the state of Florida where employees have to expend all their sick leave before they are able to use any bereavement leave. And so I you know, we went to the table and said, Hey, how about some sincere bereavement leave for people that lose a family member and They don't have to worry about going through all their sick leave. Unfortunately, we're still being told no there as well. Or we're being told at the very least that they don't have time to meet with our negotiators. Rick Outzen: Is there a clock ticking on this agreement? Carol Cleaver: Yes. we we had a deadline of August thirty first for the T SIS. Rick Outzen: Yeah. Carol Cleaver: Well, we did sign a memo of understanding with the district, but it still hasn't been ratified. There's not necessarily a clock for the other things that we're asking for in our full book negotiations, but it would be nice if the employees of an A rated district could know what type of contract they're working with when they start school in the beginning of August. Without a doubt. And we would really hope to be finished by the end of July, but we are not. Rick Outzen: All right, we're coming we're coming up on the break. The w if you had a you have an opportunity to talk to parents and grandparents, what's the message you would like them to know about the the teachers that are teaching their kids and grandkids? Carol Cleaver: Yeah, thanks for asking. I would love them to know, because I I taught in Escambia County schools for thirteen years. These are great kids and great families, and I really have loved working for this district. And I know that a lot of my coworkers feel that same way too. I would love for parents and grandparents to contact their school board members and ask you know, w what the holdup is in recognizing these teachers that do so much for their children and grandchildren every day. I would ask for them to look for ways to get involved in their schools, maybe join the PTA, chaperone a field trip, because we're doing really great things in these schools. I used to invite parents to come in and Help me with frog dissection or help me with different science experiments I was doing in my classroom and and teachers love it when parents get involved 'cause we're doing great things with your kids. That's what I want them to know. Rick Outzen: Carol, thank you so much for coming. We'll do this again. Hopefully we'll we'll have a celebration when a union contract's worked out. We'll do Carol Cleaver: I would love that. Cool. Rick Outzen: it. Listen, this is Rick's Vlog Live. This public schools are vital to us. It's a vital part of the community. It's vital to the quality of life that we have. And teachers are not an accessory, they're a critical part of it. We'll go ahead and take a break. We'll be right back. I'm Rick Alson. This is Rick's Vlog Live. Carol Cleaver: Mm-hmm.