Letter: Ki-Be school board confusing
Benton City, I am confused, and you should be also. The school district claims that the education of our students is of paramount importance, and yet they continue to disrespect and undervalue those tasked with the responsibility of teaching those students.
The state allocated funds to increase teacher pay, and yet the following district actions indicate their unwillingness to give those funds to the teachers: 1) They hired a professional negotiator – Why would you spend $10,000 if you did not think that you could gain more in return? 2) On the first day of negotiations, they submitted a list of proposals aimed at eliminating benefits that teachers currently have and provided no salary proposals. Why would you do this unless you needed leverage to convince teachers to trade away a portion of the allocated funds? and, 3) They agreed to a full day of negotiations and then ended them before noon, without any progress made.
Given this, are students really the priority? Don’t respond to this letter, just show up at the next school board meeting.
– Ronald Harris, Richland
Editor’s note: This letter originally was published in the June 28 print edition but did not get published online.