Front Page  »  

Lucia Mar students side with teachers in pay dispute

February 24, 2015

teacher-thumb-300x300CORRECTION:An earlier version incorrectly said that teachers at Lucia Mar Unified School District had not received a raise in several year. However, Lucia Mar teachers received a 2 percent raise in 2012/2013 and a 4.3 percent raise in 2013/2014.

Students in Arroyo Grande plan to march Tuesday in support of their teachers, who are in a contract dispute with the Lucia Mar Unified School District. [KSBY]

The teachers’ union is demanding 10 percent pay increases for its members, but the district’s plan is to give them 2 percent pay hikes. The teachers are threatening to strike if the district does not satisfy their demand.

Tuesday’s student march is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the Arroyo Grande High School gym. Alumni and parents will join students in support of the teachers, and about 100 total participants are expected.

The march will end at the Lucia Mar School District office, where a school board meeting will begin at 5 p.m. The board will hold public comment and then go into closed session to meet with labor negotiators.

Recently, the district received a $6.6 million increase to its $80 million budget. District officials plan to spend $2.3 million of those funds on tutors and services for disadvantaged students.

The average Lucia Mar teacher makes an annual salary of $61,000. Teachers received a 2 percent raise in 2012/2013 and a 4.3 percent raise in 2013/2014.

Both sides are scheduled to meet with an arbitrator on Friday.


Loading...
Subjects:                 
Related:


42 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Our kids went through the Lucia Mar school system. We are very happy how they turned out. That being said, the last time I checked the students weren’t contributing ANYTHING to the teachers salaries. It is all us property tax payers. If the students want to help, how about paying tuition? A modest sum of, say, $125 a month per student would be outstanding.


0

Careful.. if any government people read this, you may get what you wish for.


0

With the march timed like that (4:00 p. m. on a workday), the organizers appear to be selecting for unemployed, or flex-scheduled (govt?) participants. The people who actual work and and pay the salaries will still be at the grindstone at that hour. What gives?


0

I feel sorry for their teachers. Most of them want to do the best job in their classroom and do not want anything to do with these kind of antics.

Looks to me like the union folk are way off mark.

Who the hell got a 10% raise last year after already getting 4% the year before?


The union should have done their homework and not got their teachers all hot and bothered .

You cannot get money from an empty piggybank


Be grateful you have a job like the rest of us and get back to work!


0

ALL employees at Lucia Mar USD received. 4.3% pay raise last school year. The year before we got 2%. The non teaching members have already agreed to 2.25% for 14-15.


STOP the misinformation.


The teachers Should not inviolate the students I their personnel matters. How unprofessional.


0

“”District officials plan to spend $2.3 million of those funds on tutors and services for disadvantaged students.””


That my friends is code for…you guessed it…Non English Speaking kids….ta-da…amnesty anyone?


0

Speaking as a white english speaking student who once needed tutors and services, your subtle racism is still racism.


0

And apparently it didn’t help you one bit. You’re subtle denial is still denial


0

Hello….I’m Mexican…you idiot.


0

racist against your own race!


Kind of like Dave Chappelle’s character the black white supremicist.


0

You think people can’t be haters of there own race? Happens every day.


Perhaps it’s just about poor people and idiot’s


0

Back in my day teachers wouldn’t have dared share pay information with students so seeing them march over something they’re so clueless about typically means they’re getting that knowledge during class time!


Or maybe they read newspapers. Just kidding.


0

I would be furious if my children’s teachers were discussing their work related issues during what is supposed to be a time of learning.

Who’s surprised the kids aren’t going to jump on this opportunity to get out of class?


Shame on anyone who gets minor students involved in this!

Teachers fight your own battles! Leave the students out of it.


0

Even though the student march is scheduled to take place after school hours, the kids should not be involved.

With tactics like this, it’s no wonder unions are in decline.

Let the adults settle their differences without involving the kids.


0

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2012/04/16/california-ranks-no-5-for-annual-pay.html


The Average Pay in California is $51K, so at $61K these greedy teachers are already comfortably above the average tax paying citizen in the State….yet they want more blood from the taxpayers!


Then when you factor in their Fat Retirement and Medical plans….oh man…the Nerve of these people!


0

…Knowing the price of everything, and the value of nothing at all… (Billie Joel)


0

What could possibly be more valuable than a teacher?


0

I don’t think anyone believes good teachers aren’t valuable. Great teachers are rare and invaluable, just as in any industry or field.


That said, many workers would be thrilled to have received a raise at any point in the last few years, another 10% this year? Doesn’t happen in my line of work.


A lot of hardworking folks would be very happy to earn what these teachers do, and had to work 9-10 months out of the year to get it. Their healthcare and retirement benefits exceed those of many, many others.


It would be nice to weed out the dead wood and allow the remaining outstanding teachers to really shine. Sadly, too many are hanging on when it’s clear their heart isn’t in it any more and they’d rather be somewhere else.


My children would be able to count on less than one hand the teachers they felt had a significant impact on them during their K-12 years. Too many are going thru the motions. Merit pay, not across the board raises for all.


0

The great teachers in this district end up going elsewhere. At the end of the pay scale, you can make 20k more in SLO or Santa Maria, That is IN YOUR POCKET money– the rest pays rent and food


0

I would go apply and see about getting a job in Santa Maria.

Combat pay.


0

Many parents are doing an excellent job of home schooling their children, it’s not for everyone but not an impossible feat.


0

Probably good in a few cases but, the inept and socially awkward kids coming out of home school make me really ponder whether we’re on the right track with that. (Including 2 relatives of mine).


Parents who are socially awkward seem to lean into this belief that they can prepare their kids better for the big shiny world out there when in fact they can basically get the kid a diploma and they’re work is done. But the work that needed to be done with their physical and emotional needs won’t be done until they unleash them on the world.


Fast forward to that first year in the dorm 150 miles from momma. We see it daily….


0

Stunned, are you saying that these relatives of yours were socially competent, thriving, happy kids until their parents got hold of them and ruined them?


I am being a bit sarcastic, but I would like to hear the details. Something tells me the kids were inept and socially awkward before being homeschooled, and would still be even if they were classroom schooled all their educational careers.


0

Translation: Home schooled children are not afforded the opportunity to be “indoctrinated” into the Union’s way of thinking.


0

Terrible idea. Socialization is VERY important. Great Book: “I learned everything I needed to Know in the Sandbox”


If Mom and Dad are screwed up and they home school kids– Guess what you will get.!!!!


0

If Mom and Dad are screwed up? My guess would be they were probably a product of a public education, since home schooling is the rarity. I also believe screwed up parents tend to send their kids to school rather than taking the time to home school them.


Home schooling now involves socialization. The kids I know meet one or two days a week with other students for a bit of “classroom time”. They have organized field trips and other group activities. Basically their education amounts to a blend of some traditional class time, with the parents providing the bulk of all other teaching.


BTW, my children received a public education, and have done well.

I have great respect for teachers, but no one else I know has either the job protection they do, or is so well paid for working 9 months out of the year.


0

“:Socialization is VERY important.”


ha ha ha…sure it is if you want them to learn values from their peers and teachers and reading about white privilege and Heather has two mommies in 1st grade.


That is the biggest lie the Teachers like to spread to stop Home school, which they view as a threat to their Monopoly.


How many of the Founding Fathers home schooled?


0

Socialization is VERY important– It teaches you to make good choices

when faced with not so good choices. It teaches you how to deal with

a bully, and to choose your friends wisely. It gives you the ability to

voice your disagreement with another without resorting to name calling

(see your reply to Kettle above).


The world is full of jerks,. Socialization is part of education.


0

So, if you want your children to live in a Socialized Society send them to public school where they will become good little Socialists!


0

Good Grief. There is a difference between being socialized and being a socialist!


0

The people who PAY for their paychecks and golden benefits….that’s who!!!

Without us…there is no them!


0

I check their salaries and am hard pressed to find any less than $65 K plus benefits with most making close to $100k per year.

Even at $70 k at year, divided by 180 working days is still over $388 per day (not including benefits or “other pay” which is typically over $70 per day.

).

So, $388 plus $70 = $458 So even at a 10 hour work day they are still averaging $45 an hours.


Quit complaining!


0

I would have more respect for this if it were help let’s say on a Saturday.


“Teachers in the district have not received a pay increase in several years”, welcome to the real world, a world were your quality of work gets you a raise not just demanding it.


0

held to help…


0

Teachers Union wanting a 10% pay increase…

Ha ha ha….it’s all about the kids right….well…no these greedy teachers with their gold plated health care and retirement packages, no pay raise for you….next.


0

Check it out…

Transparentcalifornia.com


All the salaries of all the Lucia Mar employees and every other public employee.

Very interesting….


0

Those are damn good wages for what amounts to a part time job.

I wouldn’t be opposed to higher wages if we instituted year round school.


0

If you think most teachers work “part time”, you are totally unfamiliar with the realities of the profession. They may not work 12 months a year but any competent teacher puts in more than 8 hours a day — much more if they are involved in extra-curricular activities which most of them are.


I don’t have a problem with them getting raises. I don’t even have a problem with them having a retirement fund system. What I have a problem with is that their retirement fund is a “defined benefit” one that the taxpayer is legally obligated to subsidize if the plan’s investments don’t make what they are “supposed” to make. I certainly don’t get that guarantee and I don’t know anyone else who does except for other government workers and maybe a few corporate executives with the pull to get sweetheart contracts.


0
1 2