California Educator

May 2013

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Ramona teachers are considering a strike vote. Santa Rosa Oakland Madera Salinas Desert Sands Ramona Courtesy photos by CTA members Leilani Banks is one of the many who support Oakland teachers. Oakland educators getting the message out include Kelly Banks, Kimm E. Ward, Julie Palacios, Channon Jackson and Tracy Dordell. Ramona: Can a strike be avoided? A strike authorization vote is imminent for Ramona teachers. Despite impassioned pleas from teachers, parents, students and community leaders to resume negotiations, the Ramona Unified School District School Board unilaterally imposed three years of drastic cuts — 7.8 percent for 2012-13 and 9.4 percent for both 2013 -14 and 2014-15 — at a special board meeting April 22. Six furlough days between now and the end of the current school year and retroactive health and welfare benefits cuts backdated to February 2013 mean that the 255 members in the rural San Diego County district will lose an average of 50 percent in gross pay from their May and June paychecks. In the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, each will lose hundreds of dollars from every warrant. Teachers received great support from the community. Above, Ramona Teachers Association bargaining chair Grant McNiff and chapter president Donna Braye-Romero encourage RTA members and supporters at a rally demanding a fair contract settlement. "The board imposed these egregious cuts knowing full well that it will leave many teachers unable to pay their mortgages or rent, their car payments, or food and utilities for them and their families," says Braye-Romero. May 2013 www.cta.org 39

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