Board won't fire district chiefs
'We can't react solely to a petition,' says president
(San Mateo County Times)

SAN MATEO The San Mateo Union High School District board is ignoring teachers' pleas to fire the district's top leaders, outgoing board President Marcia Cohn-Lyle said Monday.

Frustrations over the budget and contract negotiations provoked 96 percent of the teachers in the district to approve a vote of "no confidence" in Superintendent Samuel Johnson Jr. and Associate Superintendent of Human Resources Ethel Konopka.
Among reasons the teachers association cited for the vote were careless budgeting, contract violations, unfair labor practices, inept personnel moves and bargaining in bad faith.

"They are free to say anything they want," Cohn-Lyle said. "We don't agree with it."

The board, she said, has not voted to call for the resignation of Johnson or Konopka.
Board President Robert Griffin agreed there are no plans to terminate the two superintendents.

"We can't react solely to a petition," he said. "When the superintendents' contracts are up, we'll evaluate them appropriately. I'm not ready to make personnel changes."

Johnson could not be reached for comment Monday. He said Thursday that he could understand the teachers' frustrations over the budget problems, but that doesn't stop him from having to make hard decisions.

Teachers association bargaining chair Naomi Tuite said union members will talk individually with each board member to explain in detail their accusations against Johnson and Konopka. "I would be really surprised if some of them didn't have some concerns with the issues we raised," she said.

The bitterness between the teachers and the district began this fall, when unexpected budget problems caused the district to make $3.5 million in cuts, including laying off teachers and other employees. Now the district is looking to make more reductions in the spring.

Teachers felt with better planning, these cuts could have been avoided.

Relations grew even worse when contract negotiations between the district and teachers' association stalled in November because of a disagreement over health benefits. A state mediator is expected to help the two parties settle on an agreement.
Tuite said she thinks it will take some time before teachers and district leaders would have a good working relationship again. Furthermore, she said, the instability in the district may even prompt some teachers to look for work elsewhere.

"It will affect the long-term relationship, because people aren't going to be as trusting," she said. "It will be hard for a while. It will be uncomfortable for a while."

This isn't the first time such hostility had existed between teachers and district officials, Cohn-Lyle said.
In 1997, she said, there was an uproar when the district was experiencing budget problems and teachers did not receive a raise. "When they got a zero percent raise, I got death threats," she said.

Griffin said he would like everyone to begin focusing on getting things done instead of personally attacking each other."The thing that concerns me the most about the current problems is they seemed to be personalized, and there seems to be a lack of respect," he said. "All of these people are interested in education. They all went into teaching not for the money. We need to resolve these issues to focus on our mission to educate these students."

– Written by JC

Vote of No-Confidence Ballot for Superintendent and Assistant-Superintendent for Human Resources

The District Administration of the San Mateo Union High School District is expected to be honest, ethical, and competent. This vote of no-confidence in Superintendent Sam Johnson and Associate Superintendent Ethel Konopka is the result of these two administrators severely damaging the trust, good will, and communication that were the cornerstone of this district's success for years. The current relationship between the teachers and these two administrators is one of fear and mistrust. The following actions outline how these administrators have damaged the spirit and integrity of the district, leaving it in financial and ethical disarray which they have shown themselves incapable of repairing.

Whereas the District Administration has had 22 grievances filed against it for class size violations during the first semester of the 2006-2007 school year because of poor planning, thus denying students their right to the best education possible;

Whereas Special Education departments of this district have been decimated by poorly-planned, hastily executed mid-semester cuts that have left both Special Education students and teachers with new classes, assignments, and expectations, but no additional training or resources;

Whereas students are being denied admission to Honors, AP, and support programs because of the packed class sizes and limited mobility forced on schools by the seven-period day and other ill-conceived and poorly-planned cost-cutting;

Whereas the Superintendent ignored the advice of then-Associate Superintendent for Business Services on March 3, 2005, when the Associate Superintendent advised the District to maintain a 5-7% reserve;

Whereas the Superintendent ignored teachers' recommendations not to proceed further with the Academic Core requirements until a more substantial investigation of the effects could take place;

Whereas the Superintendent ignored the recommendations of the Extended Day Study Committee, which was made up of parents, teachers, students, and community members, when deciding to recommend the seven-period day without any additional revenue source to fund it;

Whereas the Superintendent ignored the obvious costs of the seven-period day, which were clear after the district had to tap into its reserves to fund the seven-period pilot programs at three district schools during the 2005-2006 school year;

Whereas half the librarians of this district were laid off or reassigned after taxpayers spent millions of dollars to renovate and reconstruct our district libraries, thus leaving the new libraries without consistent, qualified supervision and instruction;

Whereas the Superintendent has callously responded to contractual violations of class size by stating that teachers are qualified to deal with it, rather than actually attempting to solve the problem;

Whereas the Superintendent publicly blamed teachers on numerous occasions for the budget problems that resulted in firing teachers and classified staff, while never taking any responsibility for his budgetary recommendations and mismanagement;

Whereas the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources continued to hire new teachers after August 15, 2006, with the full knowledge that she would have to terminate many of their contracts within 90 days, but never informing the new hires of this;

Whereas the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources fired or asked for the resignations of 14 teachers, some of whom gave up tenured positions in other districts to come to SMUHSD;

Whereas, three teachers were forced by the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources to take multi-school assignments or lose their jobs, despite the contractual requirement that multi-school assignments be voluntary; and numerous others had their positions changed without the contractually required twenty days notice;

Whereas the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources has bargained in bad faith by allowing the County Office of Education to dictate ultimatums in the bargaining process, and she has on numerous occasions been unprepared to bargain at scheduled bargaining meetings;

Whereas a librarian position was posted after all the librarians were re-assigned because of mismanagement and unconscionable personnel work by the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources;

Whereas the District Administration has mandated an immediate change to the teachers' health care coverage that guarantees out-of-pocket costs for every teacher in the district, despite this action's obvious violation of the teachers' contract, previous practice in the district, and the fact that funds exist to cover the health care costs;

Whereas poor management led the District to not pay its 84 Department Heads until October 31, 2006, but those department heads were expected to keep meeting their job expectations despite a lack of pay for two months;

Therefore, be it resolved that the teachers of the San Mateo Union High School District declare that they have no confidence in the ability of the Superintendent Sam Johnson and the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources Ethel Konopka to manage this district. The students, parents, teachers, and staff of the District deserve competent leadership.

95% of the teachers in the San Mateo Union High School District participated in this vote

96% of the teachers who voted have affirmed the articles above and have asked the board for the removal of Superintendent Sam Johnson and the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources Ethel Konopka.

– Written by JC

From the BHS Burlingame B newspaper comes these results from a poll sent out to eight English teachers who polled 480 students at BHS:

The results…were not unexpected. About 85% of the students a Burlingame High School celebrate Christmas, 2% celebrate Hanukkah, 4% celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, 6% of students celebrate a different holiday or no holiday at all and 3% celebrate Kwanza (sic).

An editorial in the B goes on to ask:

"Do advertisements play the game of favoritism? I feel that although they make an attempt to incorporate elements of different holidays, they focus primarily on Christmas. Perhaps they feel that will bring them more business since Christmas appears to be the most popular holiday in America.

Perhaps.

– Written by admin

District stands by embattled leader – More cuts possible as board scrutinizes budget (Burlingame Daily News)

Amid anger and protests from teachers, leaders of the San Mateo Union High School District say they are doing everything they can to right the ship without getting caught up in politics or assigning blame. That might include more cuts in the coming year. Responding to a "vote of no confidence" in Superintendent Sam Johnson and Associate Superintendent Ethel Konopka by the teachers' union, outgoing school board president Marcia Cohn-Lyle on Friday said, "We're ignoring it. We don't agree with it." The vote came partly in response to recent layoffs and an impasse in contract negotiations between the district and the teachers. Cohn-Lyle said Friday that Johnson has handled the budget crisis and the ensuing controversies "magnificently." "He has not pointed fingers at anyone, when he easily could have passed the buck," Cohn-Lyle said. "And his total performance is incredible." She added that the board and administration "plan to do whatever it takes to get the district back on track." That will likely include more cuts beyond the $3.5 million already slashed from the budget this fall, Associate Superintendent Elizabeth McManus said Friday. The budget cuts were spurred by unexpected shortfalls in property tax revenue that came after the district had negotiated raises for employees. "We're growing out of this and we'll continue to grow out of it," McManus said. "But it's extraordinarily painful."

The $3.5 million in immediate cuts were enough to satisfy the San Mateo County Office of Education that the district was responding appropriately to its loss of budget reserves, but that figure still left the district $600,000 shy of the state-mandated 3 percent minimum reserve. Not only will that $600,000 have to be made up next year, but the district has also announced a change in policy to maintain higher budget reserves than the 3 percent minimum. Johnson said at a board meeting Thursday that he would like to see the district build its reserves back above 5 percent, which will likely necessitate more belt-tightening. "I don't know where they're going to cut from," said Dwight Dunn, a member of the negotiating team for the union that represents support staff. He said he fears that more classified staff, such as administrative aides, might be on the chopping block at some point.

The district's recovery plan included a few cost-cutting measures that have not turned out as hoped, McManus said. For instance, projections of $350,000 in reimbursements from College of San Mateo for hosting college courses at high schools have been trimmed to $160,000. That adjustment, however, has been made up for by an increase in projected property tax, McManus said. "The budget is very dynamic," McManus said. "Anytime you have budget cuts in one area you might have increases in costs in another area."

– Written by Fiona

From Sam Johnson's letter to parents received yesterday:

Concurrent with cuts to the budget in the past several months, the District has been engaged with the Teachers' Association in negotiating the labor contract which includes total compensation. The primary issue is the amount the District contributes towards health and welfare benefits. Medical premiums have been increasing in double digits in recent years. On November 20, impasse was mutually declared and together we requested the assistance of a state mediator. Our goal is to work to resolve all outstanding issues considering the impact on families and the financial health of the District. The dental and vision premiums increased in October and the increase in medical premiums will begin in January 2007. All employees will be required to make an out-of-pocket contribution toward the health and welfare premiums. The District currently contributes for a full-time teacher towards health and welfare premiums, $5,792 for single coverage; $11,373 for two party coverage; and $14,966 for family coverage. A first year teacher with a BA + 30 units employed by the San Mateo Union High School District receives $48,698 in salary; a teacher with 12 years experience and a BA + 75 units receives $84,313; the maximum salary a teacher can earn with career increments is $89,275; additionally teachers receive $1,654 for either a Masters degree or a Ph.D. Moreover, teachers receive a generous retirement packet. We believe the District has among the very best teachers and staff in California. Accordingly, I assure you our employees will continue to receive the maximum allotment the District can reasonably provide.

– Written by Joanne