Support San Jose Evergreen teachers

Support San Jose Evergreen teachers

Started
June 8, 2018
Petition to
Evergreen School District
Victory
This petition made change with 1,030 supporters!

Why this petition matters

Started by Shameela Jalari

San Jose Evergreen is a popular destination for families looking for good community. What makes Evergreen such a good community is its quality schools (also the reason for high housing cost) which is why it is important to support our teachers. They are the foundation of our schools and our future generation. An essential factor in maintaining quality schools is attracting and retaining quality educators.

Unfortunately, this does not seem to be a priority for Evergreen School District(EESD). Evergreen Teachers Association (ETA) and EESD entered into impasse in March. A mediator was brought in and met with both sides on April 11th & 17th with zero results. If the negotiations are not successful soon, we may end up with teachers strike which means CLOSED SCHOOLS during FALL.

The Evergreen Teachers Association (ETA) is asking parents, students, and the entire community to stand with Evergreen teachers by doing the following:

  • Sign this petition, then share it with your friends
  • Email the members of the school board (emails listed below)
  • Show up to a board meeting and share why you care

School Board meetings (Updated with new date) happen at 6.30pm. The next one is scheduled for Sep 13th, 2018. Location information will be updated on http://www.eesd.org/ ( scroll to the bottom near calendar) 2 days prior to the meeting. 

School Board Members:

Superintendent Kathy Gomez - kgomez@eesd.org
President Sylvia Alvarez - sylviaalvarez@eesd.org
President Pro-Tem Bonnie Mace - bonniemace@eesd.org
Clerk Leila Welch - leilawelch@eesd.org
Trustee Balaji Venkatraman - balajivenkatraman@eesd.org
Trustee Jim Zito - jimzito@eesd.org


Remember, Happy teachers = Happy school = Happy Community! 

EDIT:

Updated as of 6/14/18 10.30am

Based on some inquiries, I realized some folks are not aware of the current state of affairs. Here is the problem we are trying to solve (info collected with help from ETA). 

What is the current issue?
EESD is facing a projected $16 million deficit by the year 2020-2021 out of a total annual budget of about $120 million. This is due to declining enrollment and increase of health care costs. So to fill this upcoming gap, EESD needs to make changes/cuts.

What is the board(EESD) proposing?
There are two proposals here which are currently in debate

  1. Close/Consolidate schools where there is declining enrollment and move the effected students over to other schools 
  2. Do not close schools and cut elsewhere which includes
  • Increase class size
  • Reduce art class and art specialists
  • Eliminate funding for field trips
  • Reduce contribution to ETA Trust
  • No pay raises for teachers

What are teachers(ETA) proposing?

  1. 0.5% raise in salaries 
  2. Additional Thursday teacher preparation time (Currently the 1st & 3rd Thursdays are for teacher preparation. The 2nd & 4th are for district in-service. Given everything teachers are asked to do these days, ETA requested additional Thursdays for teacher preparation. There is no additional cost involved).
  3. Status quo on everything else like
  • No increase in TK-3 class size 
  • No decrease in 4-6 art prep
  • No change to the current 50-50 sharing of healthcare costs 
  • No change to the district contribution to the ETA Health and Welfare Trust

For further information, please attend the info session that is being conducted at the Grace Church (2650 Aborn Road) on Tuesday, June 19 from 6PM-7:30PM. Please note, this event is not a debate or a rally. It is an opportunity for evergreen families to get fact-based questions answered from Mr. Jim Zito (EESD Trustee) and ETA President Mr.Brian Wheatley.

Victory

This petition made change with 1,030 supporters!

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Decision Makers

  • Evergreen School District