The latest as of June 9th

Hi,

Tonya went to McBride and I went to Lewis and Clark on Tuesday and we both felt really good about how those meetings went. There we a lot of good questions, a lot of concerned people and a lot of give and take. I really felt like people understood that we need to give the negotiation team some more time and we also need to give the federal and state governments some more time to do something before we start making big decisions. I also think one of the issues here is that Patty has to have a budget in by June 30 and that puts a lot of pressure on her to get answers now.

The budget meeting Tuesday night was plain ugly. All of the budget committee members said we should cut 10 days and take a salary and benefit freeze - by the time they went through that, one member at a time, I was so angry it hurt. It seems that many people think that cutting the time we spend in the classroom is not as important as sports, music and CCEC, since everyone there seemed to say that cutting 10 days was the answer to all of the money issues. One budget committee person even suggested 12 days. After the meeting I was talking to one of the budget committee members, who asked, "Where are the teachers?". At that point I saw that we are still losing the propoganda war and that we need to educate the public on our position and our values.

On Wednesday, Tonya, Michelle and I went to a RIF meeting with Patty. We think the meeting went really well and that we have some ideas that we want the districts negotiating team to look at which could possibly be a win win situation for all involved. I don't want to say too much more about what our ideas are, but we want you at the bargaining session on Monday at 3:30- if things go right, maybe we can settle the contract that night or at least make a lot of progress. I think a big showing by our members would let the districts bargaining team know we are serious and we want the district to settle with us. We have a reasonable offer and one that saves jobs, saves days and keeps us whole. Tell people to be there and wear their shirts - in union there is power! I say that because what I saw on Tuesday night showed me that if you come in numbers, people listen.

I see some hope - hang in there and show up!

Keith