By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
A number of teachers attended the School Board meeting Wednesday to express frustration with stalled negotiations on a new contract with the teachers union.
“I’ve expressed concern, I’ve expressed alarm and now I’m expressing severe frustration that we find ourselves in the place that we find ourselves,” Sitka Education Association President Mike Vieira told the board. “The time is now to make a significant contribution to the compensation of our members... The proposal that we have on the table currently is really just the cost of living allowance.”
He criticized the district for keeping funds in reserve while asking teachers to forego pay increases.
“The proposal on the table has a total cost of new money of $225,000, approximately,” Vieira said. ”The district has an anticipated fund balance at the end of FY23 of $700,000.”
He noted also that the recently approved budget for the coming school year doesn’t include income the district is likely to receive, including $140,000 of Secure Rural Schools funding, “and approximately $600,000 that is likely to come from the legislature.”
He hoped for future collaboration with the district, but noted that so far there has been little progress in negotiations.
“The plan so far expressed to us is that our members are going to absorb all the cost of living increases that we do in this town,” he said. “And if you want to continue to teach in Sitka, you have to be prepared to do that. We don’t have to do this separately from each other. We can do this together, we can work on a plan, but we need a plan. What is the plan to make this a place that is competitive with salary compensation?”
Other teachers also spoke on the need for a pay raise.
“Our salaries have not kept up with inflation,” Baranof Elementary teacher Kailee Martinsen said. “And second, any educator hired after 2006 is also fighting for a future retirement. We have been encouraged by outside financial advisors to invest in separate retirement accounts if we want the chance of future success. I can’t contribute to that very much, because I’m simply trying to just cover my cost of living.”
Martinsen and other teachers at the meeting also described various levels of exhaustion from teaching during the pandemic.
“I honestly don’t feel valued. Many of us don’t,” Martinson said. “We’ve bent over backwards to stay open during COVID. When the majority of schools nationwide closed their doors, we have taken on heavier loads to support our students with increased social-emotional needs. Our students need more now more than ever, and I can’t give much more of myself. I’m exhausted.”
Another Baranof teacher, Morgaine Enfiejian, expanded on that point.
“What we’ve been experiencing, especially in the last two years, is beyond burnout,” she said. “We have not been burned out – we are demoralized. The system is setting us up for failure. The root cause of educator exhaustion is a severe lack of support and respect, not a perceived inability to manage stress.
“The only reason the education system hasn’t fallen apart is because the teachers and the school staff are holding it together,” she continued. “The mindset has always been that educators are driven by dedication to their students rather than the money, so they should selflessly absorb the overload and stress of working in underfunded public schools. We need to end that kind of thinking that is toxic for teachers and staff. Recruiting and retaining quality educators has always started with professional salaries.”
“We need better salaries in order to live here and to keep up with the economy,” said Blatchley Middle School teacher Judith Young. “We have to be able to provide for ourselves and our families before we can provide for the students that we teach. Currently, I’m working three jobs. It’s exhausting.”
Sitka High teacher Ryan Myers commented, “I’ve got four years until my younger son graduates, and with the way this package is and the way things are going, we will absolutely leave in four years. I can get a defined contribution anywhere, the pay that I’m getting here. When I factor in what I’m paying for everything else, it’s just not attractive. And I’ve got to save for retirement, I got to save for my kids’ college. I’ve got to pay a mortgage. This isn’t good. I’m sorry”
He said that with the present inflation what the teachers are asking for is not a pay raise. “With seven percent inflation, we’re talking about what degree of a pay cut we’re willing to take right now,” he said.
While the board did not directly address the topic of teacher contract negotiations at the meeting, board president Andrew Hames told teachers that he was listening to their concerns.
“Rest assured, we hear you,” Hames said. “This is a really tough situation, and there’s only so much I should say from the board table, but we understand where you’re coming from… We really appreciate your involvement, even at this point where I know a lot of people are frustrated.”
RENAMING BARANOF
The board discussed options, but did not take action, on moving forward with the renaming of Baranof Elementary School. At last month’s meeting a motion to change the name to Charlie Joseph Sr. Awdigaan Hit, as proposed by Sitka Tribe of Alaska, failed on a 1-4 vote.
Hames reaffirmed the board’s commitment to changing the name.
“It is something we’ve committed to doing. So tonight, I was hopeful that we could at least just kind of talk about pathways forward,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any pressure or urgency to come up with a motion tonight, or to have a solid plan in place. But we just need to talk about it and keep it fresh in our minds.”
Board member Todd Gebler said he was open to asking STA for additional guidance.
“I would respectfully ask STA to take on the task again. They did a good job the first time and they could do the job again. Then I say respectfully, because we already asked them to do it once and asking them again is another task,” Gebler said. “The only stipulation in my opinion is not to use the two names prior – not to use the cultural educator, and not to use the House of Sunshine, I feel, in order to move forward.”
Board member Blossom Teal-Olsen thanked STA for their work in the renaming process so far.
“I do have to agree with Mr. Gebler tonight that while this subject has unexpectedly become controversial within our community and unfortunately presented and created division within our community, I think it is within our duty to acknowledge the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and their time spent on the renaming.”
She agreed with her colleagues that the renaming process need not be rushed.
Board member Paul Rioux said the board should consider working alongside STA and the Sitka Health Summit on the renaming.
“A lot of the original movement for this came from the Sitka Health Summit, and they had originally volunteered to put that committee together,” Rioux said. “And you know, maybe we should go back. And I have no issue going back and asking the Tribe if they’re interested in doing it again. But maybe we should ask the Health Summit to do that in partnership. They might be a good community liaison.”
He suggested that the process could get underway in the fall, and Hames said he was open to this idea.
“It is up to the board to make sure that we put this back on the agenda in the fall, which I think all of us would be willing to commit to,” Hames said. “This isn’t something that we want to see fizzle… We should spend some time thinking about some more specific criteria and not be too specific.”
Speaking from the public, Pauline Duncan advised the board not to name the school for an individual.
“The proposed name should be appropriate to the age of the students at the facility being named or renamed,” Duncan testified. “The name should stand the test of time. The name and sites or facilities in consideration may be given to those names that have some special meaning to the students and community. The name will not be named after individuals.”
She hoped to see a diverse naming committee representing a number of different groups.
In other new business at the meeting the board approved a number of policies on first reading and voted to move up the date of their next meeting to June 1 instead of the originally scheduled June 22.
