As the end of my first two-year term of office draws near, I would like to reflect on some of the incidents which have transpired during this term and look ahead to some of my hopes for the future. When I decided to run for this office, I had no idea what to expect; I thought I did, but I soon realized that no one can truly know this job without having experienced it. I never dreamed that teachers would be hammered by one blow after another: highly qualified teacher, English language learner certification, ballot propositions, declining enrollment, modernization, classroom re-assignments, Measure B improvements, and many more. Some of these were traumatic, some mere bumps in the road, and some (after the mess of construction was finally completed), are genuine improvements, but all of them had a negative impact at one point or another, and things that affect teachers negatively add additional stress to an already stressful job.

After a little more than a month in office, I signed the first collective bargaining agreement of my tenure. It was a very good contract, but a complicated one. We knew that any shift in health benefits would be controversial, but we also knew that we were not keeping up with the salaries of less "benefit healthy" districts. In a year when we knew that other districts would probably only gain 1% to 2% on their respective salary schedules, we could move our teachers well forward (by comparison) with a judicious change in our health benefits. We also knew that while over 95% of our teachers would gain substantially, a very small number would be negatively impacted—and this weighed heavily as we chose to move the overwhelming majority forward. And then came this year’s agreement...our negotiators put together an amazing package that, with new money, Plan A savings money, and the compounding effect of phased in raises, will, at the beginning of school next fall, move all of our teachers ahead by slightly more than 6%! The contract was approved with more than 90% of the voters voting "yes". Our negotiators, led by Patty Stewart and George Anderson, along with their dedicated and hardworking colleagues, Pam Bisson, Charlotte Hansen, and Bruce Teel, have moved us ahead on the salary schedule during a time of exceptional political turmoil. They have my respect and warmest thanks for their accomplishments, and all of it was achieved without concerted actions by our teachers—no black armbands, no t-shirts, no window signs, no school board rallies, just hard work by dedicated professionals.

What’s ahead? I don’t know. We have a new superintendent and a new attitude developing in our district offices. What I would like to see is a collaborative, collegial attitude, where teachers are treated as professionals. It seems that word, "professional", is bandied about often when someone is talking about their expectations regarding teachers, but I would like to remind those individuals that professionalism works both ways—teachers will act professionally, but they expect to be treated professionally as well.

The fiscal outlook for next year is rosy, an above average COLA, deficit reduction money, equalization money, Prop. 98 restoration funds, and more, will be coming into district office coffers. We recognize that in recent lean years the district cut programs. Some programs were near and dear to the hearts of teachers as well as parents and students, and it will be nice to see those programs restored. We hope the district recognizes the outstanding teachers, who daily provide their students with an excellent education, and will strive to reach an early and equitable agreement with our bargaining team. We look for early and honest communication from the district when there are changes that will affect teachers’ jobs, their future, and their plans for future events. We are truly at a point where we could restore to education many of the positives which recently have been overlooked or under funded. We still have a long way to go to bring California back to the national educational forefront, but, if we avoid the mishaps and pitfalls of serving petty self-interests, we can gain much here in SVUSD.

I wish you all a restful and restorative summer and look optimistically to a great year next September!