Union asks school board to "do what is right"

 

Last updated 10/24/2018 at 9:42am

School board members listen as Jess Utz tells them how the district's classified workers feel about their apparent standoff with administration over pay. From left in foreground are Superintendent Paul Turner, Chairman Rich Black, and directors George LaPlace and Carla Marconi. Director Ken Stanger is not pictured. - Jacob Wagner photo

Members of the union that represents "classified" school district employees, such as bus drivers, secretaries and more, showed up at Monday night's school board meeting for a direct appeal to the board, following an apparently fruitless second negotiating session with the district through a mediator last week.

The school board listened to Jesse Utz speak on behalf on the Public Service Employees, who feel they deserve more money for the work they do. Community members, teachers, and PSE members attended the Oct. 22 board meeting in support of the cause.

PSE members, joined by teachers and community members, held signs while lining the entryway and hallway leading to the board meeting at the Lake Roosevelt library before filing in at 6 p.m.

After several other agenda items, Utz, president of Grand Coulee Dam PSE Chapter 1001, addressed the board with a speech that lasted nearly 15 minutes, speaking to the concerns of 73 members of the PSE chapter.

"If I were to use a word to describe how we are all feeling right now, I would use the word 'disparity,'" Utz said. "That word means simply 'a great difference.' That is how we feel when we look at administrators, teachers, and the amount of respect they receive, especially in anything referring to pay, contracts, or day-to-day work. We feel it every day. And when the McCleary decision came down we thought that at least now we will get what is coming to us. But that is not what is happening."

In 2012, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the state wasn't properly funding public education. Last June, the court ruled that Washington had fulfilled the McCleary requirements by adding $2 billion in the state budget for teacher salaries.

Earlier this year, teachers in the district went through a similar conflict, eventually getting a 15.2-percent raise in salary.

There is no public information regarding how much of a raise PSE employees are asking for in negotiations with the GCDSD.

Utz described the service of many PSE employees, including bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, and others who have served the Grand Coulee Dam School District for years.

"We have Lisa Carlson and Sheila Darnold, 57 years between them," Utz said about the longtime GCDSD employees. "The mainstays of the high school office. If there are two employees this district cannot afford, it is them. That is, if they actually got paid for the hours they do put in and for the quality of work they do."

Utz noted that many PSE employees are single parents "trying so hard to make working at the school work for raising their children here."

"Their dedication is something to be looked up to by us and their kids," Utz said. "They are heroes to us and to their kids. Mindy Sharr is one of those paras. For 19 years, she has worked as a waitress after putting in a full day at the school."

"We want a living wage so we can work here and live here," Utz continued. "You must ask yourself as a board ... can you all, with a clear conscious, really move forward the way things are going? Some serious changes need to be made. ... Show us you care about classified employees. Do what is right. Look into things, I mean really look into things."

"We are here, day in and day out, and we will continue to be here," Utz said.

After the speech, the library filled with applause. School board members also applauded. Rich Black, chairman of the school board, said that the board was listening, and will work toward achieving a balance on the issue.

 

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