Read at the 2/7/19 Board of Education Meeting

First, we have been asking for attendance data for three years and haven’t gotten any. We need to have the data disaggregated by day. The district includes days that staff members are at work in the overall attendance data when they use subs. For instance, professional development days, or days when staff members were pulled for W.I.D.A. testing. We have been shown no solid evidence that we have poor attendance as a district.

Second, contracts are about more than money.

Good Evening,

We want you to know that we are grateful that the issues with heat in the classrooms are being addressed. Staff members are very relieved. But there are still issues remaining. Staff members began emailing their principals instead of the energy specialist hoping that their specific issues could be addressed. Then surprisingly similar emails went out to staff members from building principals telling them not to email, but to call, or drop by the main office to let them know if they have any problems with the temperature in their classrooms. That’s all well and good if your principal is serious about addressing the problem, but that is not the case everywhere. People at Cruz have been complaining about excessive heat for a long time and nothing has been done. Staff members should be encouraged to send emails so that these issues can be addressed, and so there is a record when the issues are not addressed.

Two custodians received letters of reprimand after the heating issues were made public. One was given a letter for not changing filters in heating units in the stairwells, and one was given a letter of reprimand for the windows in the building being left open about two inches. The letter for the open windows actually stated, “At a time when so much negativity is being created around cold classrooms in the district, many will not comprehend or share that it is a result of negligence on the part of our very own custodians”. Letters like this also signal that staff members should remain silent about issues in our schools. 

Staff members also want you to know that there is a level of student aggression in our buildings that is distressing. As I said at the last meeting staff members are getting hit, kicked, punched and bitten. No child should have to witness this behavior day after day in their classroom. Our building reps conducted surveys and found that one elementary school had 36 incidents of student on staff injuries since September, one had 49 staff injuries since September, and one had 14. 

Our staff members want you to know that CPI training is useful for dealing with some student behaviors, but it is not a magic wand that allows us to deal with every difficult/violent student, in every situation. 

Our staff members want you to know that when parents complain about the behavior of a difficult/violent student in their child’s class, it is their child who is changed to a different room. 

The staff at Shull School want you to know that there is a serious discipline problem in their school. 

Our high school staff members want you to know that there are gangs in our high schools, and we want information and training on how to deal with them. Finding out about incidents after they happen is not good enough.