At a time when every district employee had been asked to make major sacrifices to shore up underfunded schools and programs, the 360 members of the Ramona Teachers Association were shocked to discover that the school board had awarded its superintendent a 25 percent pay raise over three years.
The school board had quietly called a special meeting over a holiday weekend to make their controversial decision. They not only failed to send proper notice to employee associations, but also made it impossible for the weekly newspaper to post an announcement, leaving the entire community in the dark, says RTA President Michael Harrelson.
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Classified and certificated employees pack a Ramona school board meeting in protest of the superintendent's disproportionate pay raise. |
Once the board's activity was brought to the chapter's attention, RTA quickly partnered with its local CSEA chapter and organized around the issue. Digging deep into district records, they discovered a pattern of "quietly conducted" meetings that had resulted in a near doubling of the superintendent's salary in just nine years and an unprecedented action that provided low-cost benefits to the superintendent and his spouse "for life."
"We then applied a full-court press," says Harrelson. "RTA exposed the board's deceptive practices and began systematically ratcheting up public pressure through the media." The chapter, which had recently implemented an all-member e-mail system, began a daily "leaking" of details from the superintendent's contract.
Faced with an avalanche of newspaper articles, letters to the editor, e-mails to district leadership, and the threat of legal and political consequences, the school board called another special meeting to reconsider their action.
The board stunned the angry overflow crowd of employees, community members and media by rescinding their previous action and immediately voting to re-implement the 25 percent salary package.
Working together, says Harrelson, the employee associations "responded swiftly and harshly," taking the first steps to recall board leaders. "The board quickly capitulated."
Within two weeks, the board reduced the superintendent's salary offer by 75 percent and voted to tie future raises to those of employee groups.
"This was a momentous victory for both associations," says Harrelson. "The successful partnership of certificated and classified employee groups has proven to be an unbeatable team."
