6 responses to “Tensions begin to rise”

1. Anonymous

   September 20, 2006

   I’m sorry to see that it has come to this, but I can’t blame them for it. This is a real-life lesson for the kids, too.

2. Anonymous

   September 20, 2006

   It is terrible that teachers have to be fired.
   Being an employee of any California School district has to stressful.
   I always hear about “teacher shortage” in the news.
   How voters let this happen is stupid!

3. KRN

   September 20, 2006

   To the angry parent seen walking the halls at BHS on Tuesday night and slipping notes under teacher’s doors. You did not sign your name so I could not respond to you in private. I must therefore respond in public. (this note an others were placed under the doors of “select” teachers at BHS)

   The Note

   “you should be ashamed of that sign on your door.”

   A Parent

   “If you act like an hourly employee, don’t expect to be treated like a professional”

   The response:
   Teachers love working with young people. Most of us put our entire lives into our careers at the cost of our families, personal time, and incomes. We give up our time to help your children learn, grow, and succeed. Most of what we do is compensated with a smile or a thank you. The current actions by the SMUHSD Teachers Association are a response to the District’s outragous position that teachers should either lose their jobs or take a 3% pay cut for the financial mismanagement of the district.

   Teachers need the help of the parents in this community to correct this problem so that we can go back to helping students. I’m sorry if your child is going to miss a club meeting or an activity because we have shut our doors. Teachers are also planning on withholding college letters of recommendation until this problem is solved. We do not intend to hurt or damage anyone, we are only trying to protect OUR families and income. The SMUHSD are the stewards of the budget. They alone have created this problem and are attempting to shift the blame to the teachers. We reject their assertion that the teachers of the district have created this problem.

4. Anonymous

   September 20, 2006

   To the angry parent walking the halls…
   Get real, what would you do if you were a teacher!

   Teachers have families too. The ones that need to be accounted for are the administrators of the SMUHSD. Take it up with them!

   I’m with the teachers!

5. sue

   September 20, 2006

   There is SO much that teachers do that is above and beyond the call of duty, for which they receive nothing in return, in terms of monetary compensation anyway. They, like all professionals, deserve to be paid accordingly, and the district’s fiscal difficulties should not be placed on the shoulders of the teachers. Unless you do the job, you have NO idea how much it entails.
   The angry parents ought to be required to spend a week in the life of a teacher, and try to get by. How shameful.

6. Rich Grogan

   September 21, 2006

   I am please to know some very excellent teachers, who go above and beyond their job description. They have the right to enjoy their lunch and decompress in private, it is a damn shame the District has forced teachers to resort to envoking their Union Contract to highlight some of their extra duties, that go unnoticed. I will support their right to have breaks and lunches as their own time and need not share it with students. With that said, I request they do their job and teach the student charged to them. Please leave personal political and sexual issues out of the classroom and stick to the subject matter at hand.