Upfront EDUCATION
Palo Alto teachers to get 1 percent bonus Unions will vote after Jan. 7, and Board of Education indicates support by Chris Kenrick ith three dozen Palo Alto educators sitting in the room, all five members of the Board of Education Tuesday said they would support a onetime, 1 percent bonus for teachers and staff. Their comments followed testimony by five teachers who said they love their jobs but need a raise, particularly after shouldering a growing portion of their health care costs in recent years. Gunn High School English teacher Mark Igler held up two monthly pay stubs — one from June 2011 and another from last month. The November 2012 stub
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was for $427 less than the one from 18 months earlier. “I’ve made $5,200 less over the last 18 months,” Igler said. “That’s a lot of money — a big hit. “I love my job and I’m not going anywhere, but $5,200 is $5,200 — and this is for inferior health care coverage than I had two-and-a-half years ago.” Other teachers told similar stories. Several referred to last Friday’s school shootings in Connecticut and noted it felt particularly awkward to be asking for a raise at such a time but said it is a “desperate situation” for many teachers.
“I greeted my students at the door Monday morning ... grateful that they’re all safe, healthy and well-protected from news of recent events,” Hoover Elementary School kindergarten teacher Corey Potter said. “It seems selfish or inappropriate to talk about a raise right now ... but we’ve planned this for a long time, and many teachers desperately need it.” Potter, whose rent recently went up by $100, told of colleagues who drive long distances to get to school by 6 a.m. “We love our jobs and feel fortunate to work for a district in which
we have all the supplies we need, ample professional-development opportunities and paraprofessionals in our classrooms each day,” Potter said. “This is as it should be: students first. But many of us have had to take on extra jobs.” Palo Alto’s two school employees’ unions, the Palo Alto Educators Association for teachers and the California School Employees Association, representing nonteaching staff, will vote on the tentative 2011-12 agreement after the first of the year. If the unions ratify it, the Board of Education will officially vote on it Jan. 15. Negotiations on a 2012-13 contract are continuing, said Palo Alto Educators Association President Teri Baldwin, a kindergarten teacher at Addison Elementary School. All five school board members said they intend to vote for the 1 percent bonus. “I want to acknowledge the can-
dor and the grace of your comments, and I hope nobody felt uncomfortable,” board member Barb Mitchell said. “You’re the least selfish group of people I could possibly name, and I also appreciate your recognition of the families in Connecticut. “We have a common sense that we may be seeing some light at the end of the (financial) tunnel. We want to be cautious but do recognize the importance of employee compensation, and of listening to all the people who made it possible these past few years to have the fiscal health that many districts don’t enjoy,” Mitchell said. In other business Tuesday, the board elected Dana Tom as its president and Mitchell as its vicepresident for 2013, and presented a gift from the Palo Alto High School glass-blowing program to outgoing president Camille Townsend. N Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly.com.
Yangpu
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“Smart Cities” conference, which is set to take place in Shanghai in summer 2013 before possibly coming to Palo Alto in 2014. According to a staff report, the conference would likely focus on partnerships in “innovation-driven economic development, green initiatives and community engagement.” Lastly, the council directed staff to engage management at companies in Stanford Research Park to consider collaborations with the Bay Area-Yangpu Digitization Park. Del Christensen, the Bay Area Council’s chief of global business development, stressed the similarities between the two cities, including a wealth of universities and large companies. The council’s conversation about Yangpu also prompted a broader discussion about Palo Alto’s international relations. Councilman Larry Klein noted the disparity between Palo Alto’s proposed new partnerships (in addition to Yangpu, the council is scheduled to consider next month a formal relationship with Heidelberg, Germany) and its existing ones, which vary in nature and include less affluent cities such as Oaxaca and Palo, Leyte. Klein and his colleagues agreed to hold a full discussion in the first half of next year about the city’s international partners and to create criteria for entering into new agreements. “The point I’m getting at is, do we want to be a peer only, which is what we’re talking about with Yangpu and Heidelberg? Or is there a place for us to be a donor as well?” Klein asked. The council agreed that the city’s newest partnership could present ample opportunities for collaboration. At this point, Keene said, the partnership is a test drive. “If nothing else, I think we will learn a lot of what it takes to build and sustain a relationship of this sort,” Keene said. N
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