Closed-door approach frustrates H.B. teachers

Roughly 250 teachers, classified workers and parents packed the Huntington Beach City School District’s board room for its monthly meeting this week to express frustration with a recent raise for principals and top district staff.

What riled them most, however, was not the money, but what they say was a closed-doors approach to negotiations that found tens of thousands of dollars in new money just days after they settled for less. Teachers also said trustees rarely visited campuses and were out of touch with the needs of their district, unaware as teachers were forced yearly to scramble to fill a lack of resources.

Board members, aware that the issue would come up, distributed a pamphlet comparing administrative salaries and teacher salaries in districts across the county, also stating the total cost of the raises as $56,071.

Twelve-year teacher Jeff Riley compared negotiating tactics to a “shell game,” saying he has lost trust in a district he once had faith in.

“No matter how you explain it, and I understand what you’re saying, it just doesn’t look right,” Riley said. “I read that if the money had gone to the teachers it would have been an .18% raise. But it’s more than just the money — it’s just the way things were done.”

Some brought up the electoral support trustees customarily get from teacher volunteers.

“This last fall we worked tirelessly to get three of you elected, with the hope and expectation of being treated fairly and respectfully in the district,” said Perry Elementary kindergarten teacher Jane Hiltz. “Yet each year, teachers are forced to beg and plead for our desperately needed piece of the cost-of-living allowance that the state allows to each one of us.”

Others said it was unfair that teacher negotiations were held as public meetings, while administrative staff could negotiate in private.

“We do all agree that superintendents, principals and teachers all deserve to make a fair and reasonable salary,” said first-grade teacher Tommy Ortega. “But the teachers do their negotiations for salaries out in the open, under the watchful eye of public scrutiny.”

Once public comments were over, board trustees spoke briefly on the topic, though meeting rules prohibit them from dialogue with the public on issues not on the agenda.

Board Vice President Celia Jaffe spoke on the handout, saying the public was not well informed on the monetary issues.

“You feel that there’s a lack of understanding up here,” she said. “I feel there’s a lack of knowledge base. I don’t have a big message with this; it’s just information.”

Board President Brian Rechsteiner got the one, very brief, burst of applause for a board member’s statement of the night when he said he was going to meet with teachers.

“If some of you aren’t aware, I actually have meetings set up for all except two schools,” he said. “I’m coming out, and I personally feel it’s very important to talk.”