Now that an all-night “fact-finding” meeting apparently has pushed together the two sides in the Calexico Unified School District, maybe the animus will dissipate and those in the CUSD can concentrate on educating students.
Calexico teachers and the school board had been battling for many months over contract issues, although that seems to be the case every few years in Calexico. The dispute was declared to be at impasse in January and the fact-finding process was started in March. Locals in the know said this was the first time the CUSD had gone as far as the fact-finding stage in its countless disputes with teachers.
Now both sides will have meetings next week to consider ratifying the agreement that came out of the all-nighter. We hope they do ratify it, because this is a school district strapped for cash and in deep need of reasonable solutions to financial matters. The district this year had to make $6 million in cuts, faced the possibility of being taken over by the state and had to lay off 89 employees, so both sides should be happy if a fair accord can be reached.
Once it is, we would like to see all parties in the district concentrate on the reason they are there: to educate children deeply in need of education. This is a school district with mostly low standardized test scores and too many young people graduating without the basic education and skills needed to succeed in life.
The fact is the CUSD board and administration have spent too much time in recent months and years in internecine battles and too little time trying to improve the district’s quality of education. And the district’s teachers have spent too much time picketing and complaining about their contract when their main goal should be being great educators.
We hope any agreement reached carries with it a tacit resolution for all sides to concentrate primarily on what they were hired to do: educate Calexico’s kids to the best of their abilities.
THE ISSUE:
CUSD contract accord.
WE SAY:
Now concentrate on educating the kids.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Send us your thoughts on this topic to www.ivpressonline.com/letterstotheeditor
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
Calexico teachers and the school board had been battling for many months over contract issues, although that seems to be the case every few years in Calexico. The dispute was declared to be at impasse in January and the fact-finding process was started in March. Locals in the know said this was the first time the CUSD had gone as far as the fact-finding stage in its countless disputes with teachers.
Now both sides will have meetings next week to consider ratifying the agreement that came out of the all-nighter. We hope they do ratify it, because this is a school district strapped for cash and in deep need of reasonable solutions to financial matters. The district this year had to make $6 million in cuts, faced the possibility of being taken over by the state and had to lay off 89 employees, so both sides should be happy if a fair accord can be reached.
Once it is, we would like to see all parties in the district concentrate on the reason they are there: to educate children deeply in need of education. This is a school district with mostly low standardized test scores and too many young people graduating without the basic education and skills needed to succeed in life.
The fact is the CUSD board and administration have spent too much time in recent months and years in internecine battles and too little time trying to improve the district’s quality of education. And the district’s teachers have spent too much time picketing and complaining about their contract when their main goal should be being great educators.
We hope any agreement reached carries with it a tacit resolution for all sides to concentrate primarily on what they were hired to do: educate Calexico’s kids to the best of their abilities.
THE ISSUE:
CUSD contract accord.
WE SAY:
Now concentrate on educating the kids.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Send us your thoughts on this topic to www.ivpressonline.com/letterstotheeditor
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
