September 21, 2002
Saturday - 9:20 am

I believe the last meeting that led to the tentative agreement of this contract was not held in good faith. The agreement made by board members was that at least one other board member would be present at the informal negotiations. The Board President can offer no reason for not notifying other board members. My assumption is that Board President Brown proceeded with this tentative agreement because she assumed she had the required votes she needed to pass this raise for the school teachers. Therefore - there was no need to afford other board members who might not agree with her decision, the opportunity to discuss all aspects of the contract. Where was the public interest served in this process?

I question whether the Borough Attorney, Scott Brandt-Erichsen should be rendering any opinion on this issue. He has a conflict of interest in that he will benefit monetarily when his wife who is a school teacher will get a raise. Who asked him to render an opinion? Where was the public interest served in this process?

The Borough Assembly under funded the school district by $500,000 this current school year and they are talking about cutting even more from their budget next year. If the school district can get cut by $500,000 and then give their school teachers nearly a million dollar raise, what kind of message are you sending the boro assembly?

Given the economic down turn in Ketchikan, and with the State of Alaska contemplating cutting nearly a million dollars from their budget, it is not reasonable to give this much of a raise with no way to pay for it.

I believe that our teachers are being paid a reasonable wage right now. The salaries of our teachers are in the top ten of all school districts in the state of Alaska with the average wage of Ketchikan teachers of $52,000. This doesn't even include their benefits.

In the 2004 and 2005 school years you will be cutting 5 school teachers each year. Does anyone honestly believe that this will not effect the numbers of students in the classroom? What you are asking the parents and students in this community to do, is to sacrifice the quality of their child's education so that teachers can have a raise in their pay. Where is the public interest served in this process?

And I have yet to hear any other board member address the issue of all the other bargaining units in our district ­ secretaries, administrators, maintenance, janitors and paraprofessionals who will be asking for the same monetary considerations that you have given the teachers. This means cutting even more teachers to pay for those raises --- where is the public interest served in this process?

If you vote in favor of this contract, I challenge you to stay on the school board so that you can sit at this table and listen to those parents and school teachers who will be at this podium in the coming school years because of the crowded classrooms and other sacrifices that have to be made to pay for this raise.

Finally, I ask you to consider these three questions 1)How does this benefit the children of our school district? 2) Is it worth the price we are being asked to pay? and 3) Where is the public interest served in this process?

 

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