Santa Fe teachers head back to school without a contract. Again.
The sign was appropriate.
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Hundreds of teachers last week sat inside the Capital High gymnasium listening to Santa Fe Public Schools Supt. Gloria Rendón's "Welcome Back" speech. But it was the "welcome" sign at the back of the gym-a reference to the Cougars' athletic teams-that was a more apt description of the dichotomy on display.
Welcome to the Jungle.
That's because the SFPS workers found themselves starting the school year
without a contract for the second consecutive year, hacking once again through an Amazonian thicket of laborious negotiations with the district.
"I don't have any indication that things are close to being resolved," Mike Costello, a special education teacher at Capital High, says. "It's a frustrating and involved process. There are no simple answers to anything. When you think there are, that's when you have problems."
Costello should know. He is entering his 14th year at CHS and has sat at the bargaining table multiple times as a part of the negotiating team for the National Education Association teachers union. He has taken a back seat this year due to health reasons, a wise choice considering the painstaking nature of the annual stalemate.
"Our goal is to finish [negotiations] by the time school starts but that doesn't always happen," Rendón says. "In the future we may need to set a deadline for when we expect negotiations to be finalized."
Without a deadline, the process has consistently stretched from the spring into the summer and then the fall. And neither side is giving any hints that the current negotiations are anywhere close to an agreement.
"All I can say is that we're still in negotiations," Rendón says. "I really can't comment any further than that."
According to the NEA-Santa Fe monthly newsletter, issues on the bargaining table include topics like salaries, stipends, employee rights, employee discipline, sick leave and workload. Specifically, the NEA says it's advocating for significant salary increases for school support staff.
"I know some cafeteria workers that make less than some of the students," Lisa Goldman, co-ordinator of the Gifted Program at CHS, says. "That's just abhorrent to me as a basic human rights issue."
It's also not the only issue. Goldman says there is a myriad of problems facing employees of the district, including high turnover, low pay and disenchantment with the political process. And then there's Megan Siesennop, the former math teacher at Santa Fe High whose contract wasn't renewed after her outspoken criticisms [Cover story, May 25: "
"] rattled the district's cage. Siesennop has become a martyr to some and a cautionary tale to others.
"Many of the teachers that I speak to have their heads buried in the sand," Goldman says. "They feel helpless. There's a lack of communication and a fear that if they push too far they will face retaliation. They're afraid they will get fired if they speak out. The irony is none of us has a contract to be terminated from."
Goldman says she declined to renew her NEA membership when she became frustrated by the lack of progress. Her fortunes-like the other district employees-are nonetheless tied to union negotiations, which bargains on behalf of both union and non-union employees.
Costello says the current negotiations are further hampered by distrust spawned from last year's contract squabbles. During negotiations, the district adamantly denied there were adequate funds to support several programs proposed by the NEA. It was subsequently revealed at an April 21 school board meeting that SFPS was being forced to pay the state $618,000 as a penalty for keeping an excessive cash reserve, ostensibly to improve the district's bond rating.
"The district said repeatedly that there wasn't any money to fund the NEA proposals," Costello says. "And then they turn around and give $600,000 back to the state. I find that unconscionable. They can't have it both ways. There is either some creative bookkeeping going on or they're lying. I applaud the district for being financially responsible but I think hoarding money is just as bad as squandering it. It also makes the entire negotiating process suspect."
The process is already laborious and slow.
"It has always been difficult at best," Costello says. "It takes time. But that means we need to start earlier and be forthcoming and upright in the negotiations. It should not be continuing on into the summer and certainly not into the next school year. [When it does] it makes a lot of people feel frustrated, angry and anxious, among other things."
Goldman says the district is able to coax employees back to work without a contract by playing its do-it-for-the-kids trump card. But she says the increasing frustration of teachers can easily spill out of the bargaining room and into the classroom.
"Kids aren't stupid," Goldman says. "When you're happy and supported they can tell. When you're not, they'll pick up on that quickly."
Empowering teachers to speak up about their concerns without fear of retaliation is crucial, Goldman says, to reversing an atmosphere she characterizes as "one heavy collective sigh." But the perpetual stalemate of contract negotiations does little to bolster confidence or morale.
"People here feel voiceless," Goldman says. "Until we have people willing to become that voice, this is just going to continue."
