I am concerned about the comments made by the Vacaville Unified School District Board of Education at its Feb. 11 meeting. The board asserted that it was the teachers' fault that the district must consider closing schools.
This is another classic example of the school board trying to pass the blame off on someone else and not taking responsibility for making decisions.
The Vacaville Teachers Association (VTA) has put forth an offer of more than $1.1 million dollars in concessions to the school district. This offer represents an unprecedented give-back from the association and is the largest percentage give-back by any district employee group. In return, all the teachers have asked for is time outside the duty day to help with the increased workload that has resulted with the larger class sizes they are facing.
The district has rejected the offer made by the VTA, an offer based on the options given to the teachers by the district's negotiating team.
None of the options given to the teachers are good for the teachers or the students. But to blame the teachers for the possible closing of schools should not be the school board's response to the financial problems of the school district. If a school needs to be closed because it represents a financial loss to the district, then the board needs to do its job and stop passing the responsibility onto a committee or a group of hard-working employees.
Larry Baker, president
Vacaville Teachers Association