School Board renigging on promised salary negotiations after two years of cuts. Support the educators and the kids they teach on Wednesday, December 7th at 7pm during the PVUSD Board meeting at the District Office.

When I became a teacher I thought this was a respectable job that was highly regarded by society. When I told people of my profession the response was always positive. "Wow, that's so noble." "You must be a special person." "We need more people like you." So of course I thought I must be a valuable member of society. But in the first several years of teaching I learned a few things that don't make me feel so important anymore.

1. I will never be able to afford a house.
2. I will most likely be living paycheck to paycheck for a long time.
3. It will be a very long time before I can support another person on my salary.
4. I have to pay for more schooling than I can afford in a very short amount of time to add onto the student loans that I can barely afford already on my salary.
5. I am a cog. I am not allowed to be the wheel in a public school setting.
6. Most of my classroom decisions are made for me by people who have not been in the classroom and have little understanding of what my kids need.
7. Too many years of this and I will need severe counseling to sleep well at night. It's not just papers I take home every night. The irony of it all is that I love my job and I wouldn't want any other. The other teachers at my school feel the same way despite the heavy adversity we face. Maybe we are masocists or just maybe we see the value in our students. We are the grunts of the school system. We are also highly abused by administration.

Carolyn Savino, president PVFT wrote: The above article and the accusation that the Board of Trustees has renigged on promises for a salary increase for teachers are not true and do not reflect the beliefs of the PVFT Executive Council nor the PVFT Negotiations Team. We have asked teachers to attend tonight's Board meeting to remind the Board that we have done well by the district in the tough years and it is now time for them to support the teachers in better times. This action is to call attention to Board members that negotiations are going on and that we need their support in order to be successful in those talks. Whoever put this information on this website along with a link to our website did so without the knowledge or permission of PVFT. We do not want to create anamosity with the Trustees when there is no reason to do so.

[ Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers ]