What if hundreds of teachers in your county who have already won double-digit raises for this school year staged a huge public rally for the hundreds who may still be fighting for decent salary increases?
In precisely that kind of show of solidarity, more than 400 Sonoma County teachers held a January rally in Santa Rosa to support educators still battling some 19 local school districts for double-digit raises.
"Teachers are the heart and soul of public education," Pat Sabo, co-president of the Healdsburg Area Teachers Association, told the vocal crowd gathered in the downtown Old Courthouse Square. "We are the conscience of our districts. Our superintendents and board members don't want to listen to their conscience when they know they are wrong. And make no mistake - the superintendents and boards are wrong."
Rally speakers underscored the fact that the new, statewide school funding from the state won by teachers last year makes it affordable for districts to provide double-digit raises. In Sonoma County alone, here is a sampling of districts that provided such long-overdue raises for this school year: Harmony Elementary, 10.92 percent; Sonoma Valley Unified, 10.80 percent; Healdsburg Unified, 10.22 percent; Twin Hills Elementary, 10.20 percent; Santa Rosa Elementary and Santa Rosa High School districts, 10 percent.
Speaking at the rally, U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey offered her strong support, as did local chapter presidents and CTA representatives.
"Folks get together and find some common ground - and then stand on it," said CTA Board member Dean Vogel. He urged teachers in districts without contracts to say, "Enough is enough."
In a rousing speech, Santa Rosa Teachers Association President Larry Hanel said perseverance pays off. He described how his chapter won 10 percent raises for the elementary and high school districts it represents.
"The districts said, 'We don't have the money.' Santa Rosa said all we have is 8 percent. We negotiated and waited. They said all we have is 9 percent. We continued to negotiate and wait. And on the day we were to go to impasse, they somehow found the 10 percent they said wasn't there because they knew we were united."
The Jan. 24 rally demonstrated support for teachers still in contract talks at the time. Among them were the following Sonoma County school districts: Bellevue, Cinnabar, Cloverdale, Dunham, Forestville, Geyserville, Guerneville, Kenwood, Liberty, Montgomery, Old Adobe, Piner-Olivet, Rincon Valley, Roseland, Two Rock, Waugh, Westside, Wilmar, Windsor and Wright.
Mike Myslinski
