Loaded 05/24/97 11:58 PM

Note this release By Joseph B. Crawford, Edd. Superintendent of Schools Acton­Agua Dulce Unified School District was provided exclusively to the Country Jo urnal. We believe it to be public as it seems to represent the superintendents views, although not necessarily the board members. It is placed in the Internet so that people that do not read the Country Jo urnal can see his views.

The Old School Bell (Issue 2)

By Joseph B. Crawford, Edd. Superintendent of Schools Acton­Agua Dulce Unified School District

The Old School Bell, cast in solid bronze in Massachusetts, Brought to early California by wooden ship around the Horn, Raised by sturdy men into the high tower of the schoolhouse, Called generations of boys and girls to school from throughout the valley.

It's time to stop throwing rocks. It's time to stop being angry. It's time to sit down and reason together. It's time to put our energy into kids.

Over the past weeks, I have had the opportunity to share with Country Journal readers the events that have caused a lot of frustration in the district. These events have resulted in a lot of rock throwing. This needs to come to an end.

There are a few spouters and whiners in the community who are attempting to paint some members of the Board of Education and the superintendent as anti­teacher. This is a deliberate lie. All these bitter and unhappy people want to do is stir up trouble and make the district look bad. Get a life!

Here are some of the rocks the spouters and whiners have been throwing at the district:

1. Work by Rule. This means to do only, and I meant only, those things that are required by the contract. At Vasquez High School, certain teachers were unlocking their rooms only when the bell rang, forcing kids to remain outdoors, even in the winter and the rain. When I discovered that this was going on, I issued an order to comply with the contract which states that teachers report for duty 30 minutes before classes start and remain 15 minutes after classes let out. A grievance was filed immediately with the conclusion that teachers were only required to be on campus 7 hours, which includes a duty free lunch. This is not in the contract. I denied the grievance, citing the clear and unmistakable language of the contract. The teacher leadership has now filed to take the matter to binding arbitration.

2. Make Administration Look Bad. There have been many instances of actions that can only be interpreted as intended to make the administration look bad. One letter was very hostile to the fact that the district had a trained CPA to accurately compute the back pay agreed to by the Board. Another letter charged me with unprofessional conduct because I stood up at a Board meeting to respond to a baseless accusation. I stood up because while seated I could not see the person I was addressing in the audience. When my salary came up for consideration, there were howls of protest from the AATA leadership. This howling seems to be OK with the leadership, who are among the highest paid teachers in California, when the superintendents salary ranks 47th among 47 unified school districts in Los Angeles County.

Most recently, the association president sent a letter to a large­circulation newspaper implying that teachers were bailing out of Vasquez because of bad working conditions. The truth is that departing teachers either left for personal or professional reasons or, as in the case of a significant number, they were given the opportunity to resign. These facts are well known to all those close to the situation. The AATA leadership is close to the situation.

3. Get AII You Can Get. Even If Kills the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs. Last August, the Board voted to fulfill every promise that had been made to teachers by prior Boards and Administrations. This was not enough. The association filed a claim for additional back pay that was never bargained for. This claim threw the district into a fiscal crisis, gobbled up the 3% reserve we had fought so hard to re­instate, and put on indefinite hold all plans for future improvement. This includes the reduction of class size to 20 students in all kindergarten and second grade classrooms plus the relocation of Vasquez High School to

I Its permanent site. T he amount of the additional claim filed by the AATA is 100 times the superintendent's proposed salary increase, which the organizational leadership stridently opposed because it would take money from kids m the classroom.

4 Be Magnanimous on the Surface. There was a warm feeling in the school community when the association offered to drop its claim for more back pay. The offer was to drop the claim in exchange for a pay raise in 1996­97 and again in 1997­98 equal to the COLAs of those years plus any money received for equalization of the Base Revenue Limit. In other words, they were willing to drop a one­time payment of 7% in exchange for a permanent, everlasting raise in excess of 7% which would be paid every year into perpetuity. The Board of Education did not accept the "offer."

These are more like boulders than rocks. May I close with this question? How does this behavior benefit boys and girls?