Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/25070
6A – Daily News – Saturday, February 12, 2011 Opinion The gift of D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 inspiration Editor: I was watching a special Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 DVD documentary the other day and I got to wondering about our America. Not about what it is or isn't but what it once was and can be again. Yes, I am a dreamer. I see a day in the not too dis- tant future of people from all walks of life working together in this community. Working together to keep us all safe. Working together to be better neighbors. Working together to stop drug use, under age alcohol and tobacco use. Working together to change the gang, bullying and violence to a better way of living and supporting each other. It's possible to achieve these things as a community. How? Imagine each person being encouraged to make a ripple in their own mind, with the though of doing or saying something encouraging. Maybe a simple act of kindness to someone you don't know. It costs nothing but makes a deposit in someone's attitude. Isn't that worth a try? At the turn from the 19th to 20th century that's what Ameri- cans did. Even though some drug use was present and alco- hol and tobacco were in use, too, these immigrant Ameri- cans, from all cultures, created an American culture of looking into the future for their children and grandchildren. Education is better now. Why not use it to the advantage of the community? Back then labor and wage laws were nearly non-existent. Individual rights were still only a dream. Communities either thrived or barely survived due to their own effort or lack thereof. But they had dreams. Dreams that made America strong. Sure, there were problems, just like today. But they forged ahead and good always tri- umphed. Some didn't see it but most did. If that isn't so then why are we here today? We can do better as a community. We can do this if we inspire each other. Can't you just be kind to your neighbor, your teacher, your student, your boss, your employee, your parents, your children? I believe everyone is very capable of this. Won't you go first? Okay, I will. I wish you a very good day, every day. Say that to anybody you greet at the store, your school, your workplace, your church, your home. Just say hello with a smile. Giving greetings like this is a gift. Giv- ing a gift means it doesn't have to or need to be returned. It's just a gift no matter what the receiver says or feels. The not-too-distant future is tomorrow. Tomorrow is a gift. It's a gift that can keep on giv- ing. John Minton, Red Bluff State should end vacation payouts Editor: California state and local public employers should eliminate the bloated vacation payouts for retirees. During my 42 year engineering career with Fortune 500 employers, each mandates loosing vacation and the two or three allowed sick days, not used by year end. Most corporations continue this policy. California taxpayers cannot Your Turn afford to pay public employ- ment retirees bloated vacation checks from unused vacation and sick days. There is almost certainty that these same employees abused their vacation policies by using sick days for non-sick events. Employees need vacations from stressful jobs to recharge their batteries. End- ing multiyear vacation and sick days is a win-win for tax- payers and public employers. This would be a start of a major program to rein in the pay and benefits of public employees, now double those of equal or superior skilled civilian employees and retirees. Other action needed is to limit public pensions to the same awful 2 percent rate of return of the Ponsi scheme called Social Security. For most civilian retirees, Social Security is the only pension, since most civilian employers do not have company funded 401(k) plans, fixed pensions, or health insurance after early retirement. Joseph Neff, Corning Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. School board dysfunction Commentary “In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made School Boards.” — Mark Twain in Pudd’nhead Wilson I was somewhat dismayed by the article in last Saturday’s Daily News about the sudden thud in the bargaining process between the Red Bluff Union Elementary School Board and the teachers’ union. It was a year ago last August when I congratulated the District and the teachers’ union on the agreements they made to stave off fiscal problems for the 2009- 2010 school year. Based on the article in the Daily News things are not so harmonious at this point. I have faith that in a community like ours things will work their way out, but it is difficult to tell given the limited statements made by the School Board representa- tive and statements about filing a grievance or an unfair labor prac- tice charge. Saturday’s article was followed up by coverage of the School Board meeting on February 8; it was equally dismaying. Apparently the Board’s repre- sentative at the bargaining table and the Union representative signed off on a tentative agree- ment. A tentative agreement is just that, tentative. Both representa- tives are then obligated to make a good faith effort to convince those they represent to ratify the tenta- tive agreement. The teachers did ratify the tentative agreement, but the School Board did not. At first, on the surface, it looked like the School Board either did not give their representa- tive clear direction about his dis- cretion to act on their behalf, or they may have been misleading. In the former case there will have to be some fence mending between the Board and the representative, in the latter case there may be a problem of bargaining in bad faith. In either case it is unacceptable behavior on the part of our elected board. At the school board meeting held on February 8 there seemed to be some confusion among board members about whether the representative who signed the ten- tative agreement was really sup- posed to be doing the negotiating; the claim was made that the Super- intendent was not representing the Board at what the Teachers’ Union thought was a bargaining meeting. This is not a good example of your local school board at work for the best interests of our community. It is hard to tell just what hap- pened with the tentative agreement that couldn’t really be a tentative agreement because the Board spokesman only said “We spent two hours going over every aspect of that agreement. We looked at it closely, and we basically had an understanding that that was proba- bly not what we wanted…What they [the union] offered did not meet what the board has decided to do…We value our teachers a great deal, and I think most of them know that. This decision is not to devalue what they do. This is our decision, and we stand by it. We are looking out for the children and the community. I feel we are representing the situation that we have.” The use of the term “proba- bly not what we wanted” is not confidence building. I have read the tentative agree- ment. It does not take two hours to understand. The Board, which should have been on top of the bar- gaining process since it began last May, could have decided for or against it in no time at all. It most likely was fussing and fuming about issues like the chain of command, or building a united front. The next steps are clear. Either the parties can continue to bargain in good faith or they can declare an impasse. The Board cannot implement any of whatever it is they have “decided to do” unilaterally. My guess is it is time for a third party to step in and cool things down and mediate. If I understand the Joe most difficult issue cor- rectly, the Board would like to discontinue providing health insurance for retirees who meet specific qualifications; those benefits are provided until the employee reaches age 65. This has been common practice in school districts since the early 1980s. This practice was implemented to encourage senior teachers at the top of the salary schedule to retire so they could be replaced by lower earning beginners. In the Red Bluff Union Elementary School District the difference between a beginning teacher’s salary and a senior teacher’s salary is approxi- mately $30,000; the cost of bene- fits provided to retirees is approxi- mately $10,500. Thus the district would save about $20,000 per year by encouraging early retirements, at least to start with. If overstaffing is an issue, laying off a beginning teacher is far less cost efficient than providing an early retirement benefit. Harrop Data available from the Ed Data web site indicate the District had an ending balance of $3,864,918 on June 30, 2009; $2,359,659 of that was unrestrict- ed. State support for schools has been very unsteady since then, and the December, 2010 Interim Budget Report for the district indicates that the unrestricted budget balance at the end of this year (June 30, 2011) will be $646,049; this means that the District has been deficit spending $1,825,548 this year if all goes according to plan. Clearly the Board has not been hording or hiding money, and, it seems, the Teachers' Union under- stands that. Bargaining is legally required to begin while the timeline for completion would indicate negoti- ations would be complete before the start of the next school year. In practice, many districts have pro- longed negotiations, particularly in difficult financial times. Current negotiations between the Board and the Teachers began last May according to the report in the Daily News. Sources at the Red Bluff Union Elementary District office were not able to respond to a request for information regarding the initial positions of the Board and the Union prior to the deadline for this commentary. Joe Harrop is a retired educator with more than 30 years of service to the North State.He can be reached at DrJoeHarrop@sbcglobal.net.