Wednesday, April 25, 2007
We Did It!!
We knew this day would come. We didn't know when or how, but we knew it would come. A lot of things happened in the last ten days. We froze and burned. We walked and sat. We rallied and sulked. We ate doughnuts and drank coffee. We yelled and laughed. Above all, we found our voice. We started strong and we ended stronger. We bonded with our colleagues in a way nobody can understand unless they stood on a line. In this experience, I have made bonds with people I, otherwise, would never have known. Watching us come together this way has been, truly, life changing. I commend every one of you for all of your hard work and support. Thank you. You are exceptional.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
What did we do? That remains to be seen. When we go back it is not business as usual. The leadership of this district needs to be checked and I hope that all educational leaders closely scrutinize the curricular programs at all levels through the various councils and advisory boards. Those clowns from the rock palace were laughing all the way to there bank. Louie , Louie , they still gotta go!! Vigil ain't no friend of mine!!
We are so relieved that you guys finally settled.
Hopefully we won't be striking in May, but if we do have to, the unity, creativity and strength that the Hayward teachers demonstrated will be an inspiration for us to follow.
Anonymous: I am simply expressing the feeling of relief most of us feel about the tentative agreement. I know there is much work to be done. I know this was one battle in a larger war. I feel that we all deserve to feel some relief and we're allowed to be happy, if only for a short time. Yes, there is much work to be done. But allow us to enjoy this moment. We worked hard for it.
I am enjoying the moment and then some. I hope I sleep better tonight.
I too hope we do not become complacent. We have discovered unity, however, there are many different ideas of what needs to happen I have heard everything from forgive and forget to I will never forget, or forgive.
I personally hope for something in between.
I hope you sleep better tonight, too! I know I will! I think that the concept of unity is exactly what will bring the results. We need to maintain the sense of togetherness in order to get anything done. The teachers that I have spoken with don't seem to want to forget this. They have been inspired to change things through the vehicle of unity. When things settle (no pun intended), I hope that folks don't forget this whole thing. I hope they call on this experience to inspire change. What do you think about keeping this blog opened up...possibly starting new ones to keep everyone informed? I wish The Truth Channel 16.84 was real and provided "watchdog" reporting on the district....
Way to go. I'm so glad for you that it's over. We (Yucaipa-Calimesa) head into fact-finding next Thursday; send positive thoughts our way.
"We froze and burned. We walked and sat. We rallied and sulked." And all for substantially the same contract we could have had BEFORE freezing, burning, walking, sitting, rallying and sulking!
Anonymous #2,
When did the district ever offer us 11% on the salary schedule (only 1% less than COLA)? They didn't even attempt to bargain with HEA until we went on strike.
Don't get me wrong, I understand your frustration. I know that our May checks are going to be low and it'll be awfully hard for me to make ends meet in June because of that, but strike = sacrifice. A strike means that we're sacrificing our pay now for better pay later. Seems to me like that's exactly what happened.
I agree with SPF. We were never offered anything close to what we settled for. I, too, understand your frustration. I do, however, understand that an 11% increase on the schedule is much better than a one time retro check in my pocket now. If we took any of the districts previous offers, I would have money in my pocket in June. What I wouldn't have is an ongoing 11% increase.
Post a Comment