What a disappointment!

Hi,

What a disappointment is to put it mildly - I was hoping for a more reasonable response from the district than the one we got today. I was hoping they would see we are trying to be flexible and creative in helping to solve the financial situation the district is in, apparently we have not done enough.

I would say that Patty, Jerry and Jamie all seem to get it and seem to be ready to deal, but the rest of the district's negotiating team does not seem ready to do much of anything except to put us off. I think there are people on the district's team that really want the dollar cap on insurance and anything short of that will not fly for them. I think that is unreasonable when we have given so much and they have not given anything. Richard said it well, when our team met after the session, when he said the only thing the district has given is the 30 minutes on Friday! That does not seem like a whole lot of movement if you ask me!

THANKS for all who attended today - your presence was noted and was helpful. We need that same presence at the budget committee meeting on Wednesday night and at negotiations on Thursday! We need to send the message that the district needs to bargain in good faith and not expect us to do it all for them and pay for it all as well!

What is really frustrating is that it seems like the districts team thinks we have secret motives as to why we are doing what we are doing and that we are not being on the up an up. It is almost insulting. We, as a team, have been nothing but honest and have worked very hard to come up with good ideas for the district, our members and our kids. I hope the people on the district's team figure that out!

I really have no idea what we will be offered on Thursday. I continue to hope for a settlement and think we have done all that we can do to make that happen. If the district does not agree to what we have offered it is enough to make me so upset I would almost want to go the other way and say, "too bad district, now I want a raise and I want steps and you need to find more money to make me happy because I tried to be reasonable and you were not". I am probably overreacting, but we have really tried hard to be decent and honest and I don't feel the district's team appreciates that enough. I did hear from a couple of people on their team that they do appreciate the work we have done, but I still want to see a legitimate offer come Thursday.

I will have to think hard the next couple of days about where we go from here and you should too. I don't think we have a whole lot more to give and I also don't think we should give any more. Let us hope the district comes to its senses and we get a good offer on Thursday. You should come to that meeting and find out!

Keith