ASSOCIATION: "Oh District, we know there are still two grains of rice in our humble beggar's bowl. Yet we know too that you have little rice to spare. We will give you one and a half of these grains back to feed the whole, but please, oh merciful District, leave us but a mere half a grain to sustain our families."
DISTRICT: "Oh, pitiful beggar. We absolutely appreciate the thoughtfulness of your offer and the movement you have shone over the past two months. You started by asking us to add four grains of rice to your earthenware bowl, and have now come to us offering up what you already have. Unfortunately, we do not believe that your offer is enough. We will come back on Thursday, probably to ask you to give up the other half a grain. And we hope you will agree."
This assessment, too, is not quite fair. I have seen a collaborative spirit emerge in the past week with several members of the district's negotiations team. There has been a great deal of discussion of the finer points of the contract, a sharing of numbers, a general understanding that in order to salvage the education of our students and the livelihood of the district's teachers we must work together. And maybe it is this collaborative effort behind the scenes that I have been privy to that makes tonight's meeting all the more difficult. Because I know there are those sitting across the table from me who see our sacrifices, understand our reasoning and logic, and genuinely want to do what is best for our students and staff members.
The teacher's association is trying to be reasonable. We have agreed to taking lesser insurance plans. We have agreed to not get full step increases for next year. We have agreed to provide members with a small incentive to opt out of insurance coverage to save the district massive quantities of money. And we even agreed to give back nearly $30,000 to the district next year if there are unused tuition monies so we can try to save the jobs of teachers, this after we reached agreement on this point with the district earlier in the negotiations process.
And while we are working feverishly to come up with a financial bottom line that we all can live with, we have to defend our reasons for wanting a percentage stake in insurance premiums (a cost that we currently share with the district, the employees paying 7.5% of the monthly premium, the district paying the rest). Really? We can volunteer to take a lesser plan and keep everyone's costs under control, even save the district money at the cost of higher deductibles and co-pays, and you have the gall to ask us if we won't consider a dollar cap? Or an even cheaper insurance option? What more do you need from us? An arm? A leg?
I get the fact that the economy is not rosy, and that there is little hope that the state will find even a little bit of sugar to sweeten the bitter drink that education is being force-fed, but how much more can teachers take when they have given so much already? The district has painted a picture of the association on their website as being unwilling to move from their previous financial packages (this because we decided to wait on a more detailed budget analysis before we came back with a response--we wish to be reasonable, after all). And now, now that we have given up so much, and done so to save jobs, salvage benefits, and keep our students in school, we have...what, exactly?
No agreement, that's what.
Does Hallmark make a "Thanks, but No Thanks Card?" I imagine it might sound a little like this:
"We appreciate your efforts,
and what you say you'll share.
We recognize your compromises
And see clearly you care.
But when the rubber meets the road,
After all you say and do,
We can only disagree
And yell a big "Screw You!"
Again, this is harsh (maybe). But after four months of this, it's hard to not be cynical, to see the glass as half-full. Full of what--lemonade or flesh--remains to be seen.
