Terese McNamee is a clone of Craig Goldman.
Don't trust what she says about the budget.

"Teachers spent the week of Sept. 29 doing "work-to-rule," where they only worked contractual hours and did not bring work home, do after-school coaching or attend district committee meetings."

Well, since the teachers spent the week of September 29th acting like hourly employees rather than professional employees, then they should be paid accordingly. Did you know that about fifty teachers are being paid over $110,000 in total compensation? Web Link And that's with summers off! They are definitely being paid as PROFESSIONALS, but are wanting the benefits of being an hourly employee. (Being paid for the hours you work, rather than for a job for the year.)

So, let's re-classify their positions as hourly. They will be allowed to work 40 hours/week and with their administrator's approval, may work overtime (1.5x - 2x pay!). If the administrator believes that the employee should be able to complete their work within 40 hours, then they can refuse the employee overtime. If the teacher fails to meet their job expectations, then they could be let go. That is what being an hourly employee is like in most industries. Starting rate could be $20/hour and if the teacher continues to improve themselves, then that rate could go up. The money hungry could volunteer for more work and be paid for it at an overtime rate. Everybody wins!

But, they don't want that level of accountability. They want a high salary and the flexibility to work a lot of hours or work very few. How is that fair to the students? How is that fair to their employer? Which is US!!

With about 50 teachers receiving over $100,000 in total compensation for their 9 month year. How many of you make over $100,000 and get summers off and every single possible holiday?

Enough is enough!

Then please share YOUR real numbers with us, and by real I mean the salary increases PLUS benefits package overall. We parents really want to help the teachers, but the longer this drags on the worse it is for everybody. Some of the parents I've talked to regularly are already starting to lose steam. To be honest, we feel like we're caught in the middle and don't know which side to believe.

What exactly are you asking for? And yes we already know about the 7%. Is that just for this year, or is that for every year going forward? And is that sustainable with what Christopher Chang wrote regarding the district's possible plan of opening a new school, pensions down the line, etc.?

@CSEA Member... You know what thought crossed my mind today? "Should I be careful what I say to teachers because my child might be penalized in the classroom if I don't show support." Because I see how people claiming to be from MVEA and CSEA treat the administration and some of the people running for office in these online forums, and all I can think is "are parents next?"

I don't agree with everything the District has been saying, but at least they have been cordial about it...

Before raises are given out, they need to pay for their pension liabilities which is over 80 billion dollars. Once that is rained in, then lets talk about salary increases.

Thankfully, I'm not a candidate this year! To: Hmmm The MVWSD salary database (shared with your source and with the Mercury News) is in error for a few job titles - for instance, Kim Thompson is Principal of Graham Middle school. One of the employees is obviously a "Special" case - her other compensation is almost $30,000 greater than her regular compensation (once you are looking at data - please look at it very well). We lost a senior science teacher at Graham, Mr. Cima, to another higher paying district. So he, for some obscure reason, has a non $0 adjustment also on one version of public salary data.
Ah, and Mr. Sayer. Top of the teacher salary scale. A well respected teacher - who is THE REASON why Graham has a digital video studio and many opportunities for kids to get training in this (to supplement their regular old social studies) - if they are inspired they can work with KMVT, and be ready for Freestyle High. This is because of Sayer's "grantsmanship." I know, I substitute taught for him and he lives here!
I do not know where Hmmm works, or what he/she does for employment. My eldest son, who graduated in Economics just two years age (BA), now makes MORE IN SALARY that the TOTAL compensation of ANY teacher in MVWSD. I do not think my son (a Cardinal) is particularly a genius compared to Tom Sayer (a Bear). Big 3 business consulting does 'pay' more $ than inspiring teaching.
So, 50 is the number? Then that is about the number of teachers, out of 250 (50/250 = 1/5) that have more than 10 years teaching experience - and have some post-teaching-credential college credits.
If you are going to play 'the numbers game', you really need to understand TCOE, STRS and several other factors. And I am, personally, 1/5 of the collective representation of "US".

Mr. Nelson is a Trustee of the MVWSD, first elected in Nov. of 2012. This IS his own opinion.

Letter to the Trustees: We Need Leadership Not Hired Hands

======================================================================
Dear Trustees,

I am deeply disappointed and disheartened on how the contract negotiations are being handled. What I see here is a lack of leadership but rather hired hands there to do a job, with no consideration for those they are suppose to oversee. This was evident on the September 4th Board meeting, where Craig Goldman responded after teachers and parents shared their views on the contract negotiations. He had no clue on how disheartened, discouraged, discontent and unappreciated they have been for some time. As he spoke in response to the comments made, he was surprised to hear that so many were unhappy. He continues on to share how the teachers in the district were well taken care of and appreciated, yet the testimonials and the expressions of the teachers and parents faces painted a completely different picture. If Craig Goldman didn't have a clue on the condition of the teachers in his district and they have been unhappy for a long time, this brings up the question, is he is the right person for this job? Even if this was the first time Craig Goldman was aware of this, this brings up the question why hasn't anyone approached him about how unhappy the teachers have been for years under his watch? Maybe the teachers are afraid to approach him or they did and he was unwilling to listen or respond. Either way this points back to the superintendant. It is his responsibility that the teachers are taken care of; we get the best ones in the district and keep them.
We Need Leaders Not Hired Hands

1. Leader's greatness is determined by how much he helps those around him grow. From what I have seen and heard from multiple teachers from different schools in our district, they are not getting enough support and training. This results in teachers using their own time outside of work and money to get the proper training to best do their job. Because the school board refuses to invest in them and their growth, it leaves them feeling unappreciated, which in turn reflects how the School Board/Trustees sees our children, our families and our community. Building another school doesn't make a better school district, just like a new office building doesn't make a company better. The organization grows based on investing in the people in it. Investing in the teacher's growth, means investing in our children and the future of our community. Based on the teachers' turnover rate and those wanting to leave the district speaks loudly of how little superintendant and trustees value our children, and the future of our incredible community in Mountain View.

2. A leader and those he oversees have a unified purpose and goal. What is the purpose and goal? I spoke to several teachers before the September 18th School Board Meeting and ask teachers from different schools why they became teachers and why they continue to do what they do. All of then said it is their passion. They love teaching young people seeing them learn and grow. They are visionaries for others to help these boys and girls find their own vision and purpose. For someone to have that kind of passion, it goes beyond monetary fulfillment, if it didn't they would have chosen a different profession that paid more, it's about purpose and people, specifically the children. While those involved in the negotiations see dollars, stats, accounts, taxes, etc., we the community, the parents, the teachers see the true investment are the children. It seems the superintendant and the trustees see things differently, you focus on the logistic and administrative factors (which are important) above people. What the teachers are asking for isn't what I would call exuberant and unfair, they just want their wages to be comparable to other districts and to have sustainable cost of living in the county. MVWSD is building a poor foundation for the future. On top of the teachers being unhappy for the lack of support, they are under compensated for their work (lowest in Santa Clara County). This leads to teachers staying for short term, others leave to pursue a different career or they retire early. This is really bad, we need the experienced teachers to stay to help and train new teachers and support them. If teachers are unwilling to stay because they are unhappy, this doesn't build a growing school district, but a stagnant one, which will eventually in turn lower the quality of the schools, which will ultimately hurt the children and eventually the community. One of the main reasons we chose to live here in Mountain View like other families is the great schools and community. We all want to continue building a great community here in Mountain View for many more generations. Yet, one of the most important parts in building a great community is investing in our children's future. It won't happen if we can't keep good teachers and turning potential ones away. This will have a negative social and finical affect. People will look elsewhere to live to raise and build their families. Local businesses will feel it and will less likely to attract new ones. Your decision in these contract negotiations will not just affect the teachers but the children, the families, the whole community and the future of Mountain View.

In conclusion: Base on the current situation and the response (or lack there of) from the trustees specifically the superintendant Craig Goldman. These positions are not suited for the current leadership, if they do not coincide with the rest of the community. We need people in these positions who can care less about their position, instead are passionate about serving others, specifically our children.
These quotes below should answer that question for you: Look in the mirror, read these to yourself out loud and ask yourself: Is this who I am?

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams

"If you want to be a great leader, remember to treat all people with respect at all times. For one, because you never know when you'll need their help. And two, because it's a sign you respect people, which all great leaders do." - Simon Sinek

Sincerely,
Alex Lopez

To Steve Nelson:

Now that your son has worked for two years, does he have a guaranteed job at his company for the rest of his working life, three months of vacation per year, and a pension plan after retirement?

I looked at your link. It has one teacher making more that $100,000 and she is not actually a teacher. She is the principal at Grahm Middle School. Where are you getting these crazy numbers from?

The data is pretty clear. About fifty teachers are making over $100k in total compensation.

Click on this link:
Web Link

That should bring up a table that shows the teachers that will be sorted by the last column (the rightmost column) labeled: "Total pay & benefits", which is another term for total compensation.

Here are some examples of the 50+:

Camille L Michaud TEACHER $146,546.36
Thomas D Sayer TEACHER $122,578.06
Linda K Lopez TEACHER $120,328.66
Gregory R Cima TEACHER$113,945.20
Donna L Campbell TEACHER $113,698.40
Judith A Dinges TEACHER $113,471.08
Jennie R Spence TEACHER $113,427.78
Jennifer L Timmins TEACHER $113,427.78
Harriett D Applegarth TEACHER $111,728.98
Pearl K Okawachi TEACHER, OTHER INST. STAFF $111,659.60
Jonathan P Pharazyn TEACHER $111,523.67
Merlene R Saunders TEACHER $111,145.10
Susan N Papson TEACHER $110,031.73
Linda S Snyder-Hoyer TEACHER $109,899.20
Lily Jian TEACHER $109,857.79
Colleen M Walsh TEACHER $109,781.40
Eugene F Wood TEACHER $109,522.76
Susan L Mitchell TEACHER $109,426.31

Hope that helps!

Very good point about Steve's son. I'm sure he's a bright kid (as so many stanford grads are) and is providing a lot of value to the company he is working at.

Steve: Does your son work a strict 40 hour week? Or does he take work home? Go to work early, stay late? Send e-mail, work on presentations, analyses, etc on nights and weekends? Does he get summers off? If he is sick for a few days, can a substitute be called in to do his work for him?

You really cannot use total comp as a measurement. It depends on whether a teacher is single or married, or has children, and whether or not they are covered on the district health/dental plans. It's a meaningless measurement for comparison.

@Compare a lot of people don't realize that teachers don't get paid for the summers off. That is unpaid time and rarely will a company hire someone temporarily for the 8 weeks during the summer. People also don't realize that the classroom teacher has to write lesson plans for the substitute and gather all of the materials that the kids will need for the day. As a teacher in the district I can tell you that it doesn't matter if it's food poisoning, stomach flu, or surgery, teachers come in and spend hours creating plans for their substitute. Then when we come back after being ill, we have to clean up the mess of reteaching the missed lessons if an inadequate substitute was in the classroom. Having a substitute and the missed income in the summer is not a benefit of the job. It is actually a complete nightmare.

I agree. A teacher's "summer off" is not paid vacation time. The rest of us would love jobs that offer the option of a pay cut for that extra time, but only the the world of K-12 education stops, not the real world. So join the real world, we'll do year-round school like some other districts do:

A. You'll still have more "vacation" than the rest of us.
B. Kids won't lose ground over the summer.
C. We can hold more students in the same facilities, so less future construction.

Work 48 weeks a year, with education and benefits, no limits on working hours, and with at least 20 years experience, you too can earn $100,000 or more in gross salary (at least before payments for health insurance, dues, travel, etc.)

Welcome to the REAL WORLD!

Breaking news. The District settled with the Union.

Mr. Lopez, if you are a teacher please learn how to proofread and write more effectively.

@Old Steve, yes I agree, year round schools make much more sense than this antiquated agricultural model.

@MVWSD Teacher, teachers can have their annual salary divided into 12 monthly paychecks or into 10 school year paychecks, correct? saying "teachers don't get paid for summer off" is misleading and inaccurate.

@Steven Nelson, what in the world does the fact that Tom Sayer attended Cal and Greg Cima attended Stanford have to do with this conversation??? and what does your son's personal income have to do with anything? you have this most annoying habit of including irrelevant information that makes you sound boastful or like a name dropper.

@Observer, what is the source of your breaking news?

@observer, I am in fact a very successful teacher and teach in fine arts as well as the ciriculum relevant to the needs expected of me as needed by my surperior. I am dumbfounded by the accusations you entail in your detailed report and find the finding completely and utterly insensitive as well as ridiculously circumstantial all. Furthermore I will exodus the premature tellings and leave behind a few words of wisdom, "you can paint a black wall white,it will take many coats. But at the end of the day? It's still a black wall". This system is flawed and until it's fixed, it will still be flawed.

Sincerely, Alex Lopez

MV Mama said: "You really cannot use total comp as a measurement. It depends on whether a teacher is single or married, or has children, and whether or not they are covered on the district health/dental plans. It's a meaningless measurement for comparison."

It's interesting that when we look at data that shows teachers are making more than we are told (50 teachers making more than $100,000), then apparently those numbers are "meaningless". However, when we get data that shows teachers in our school district are making less than our neighbors in Los Altos, then apparently those numbers are the relevant ones???

If you want to be completely fair when you look at salaries, then you need to put the salary data in context. When doing the calculation, also report on the average home price in the school district that is being reported on. And, if you want to be completely fair, include API scores too. That will give you: Salary, Cost of Living, School Performance.

Of course, the teachers reading this are upset. But perhaps they can step back, take a deep breath and answer the following questions:

Should a school district that is significantly cheaper to live in provide salaries that are equivalent to school districts that are more expensive?

If a school district is more high performing than another, should salaries be equivalent?

I'm sure that API scores will be bashed as inaccurate or unfair, but if we are going to use data to support a point, we have to use all the data we have available. Picking and choosing data that only supports a single perspective is a fallacy. (example: Global Warming is not real, because it is cooler this week than it was last week.)

Mr. Lopez, I must join "Observer" in encouraging you to proof read, and not just try to use fancy words to impress.
Your second entry is equally difficult to understand with the incorrect and ungrammatical use of words. Simple sentences and straight forward opinions make more of an impact.
I am curious to know where and with what school system you teach.

Alex Lopez... What? Who is this guy? Strange that he has the same name as me and is supposedly in living in North Whisman as well. I am not this guy who says he teaches art. I am a professional digital artist and art director. I would like to know who this so-called Alex Lopez (If that's his name) is and if he is really an art teacher. I was the one who posted the letter to the Trustees: We Need Leadership Not Hired Hands, not the non-sense he posted. My children all go to Stevenson.

kinda redundant when you say you're a digital artist in the art field and in a previous post you say fine arts. but whatever you say bro.

@Data, do you know how much your employer pays for your benefits? I know what mine pays, and it is over $30K a year. Despite me paying towards my healthcare premiums, and paying a $5K deductible before insurance pays anything. Insurance rates are going up between 10-30% a year. Should I see it as a huge raise that my employer is paying that increase? Is it fair to include the benefits I use as a number that is used for comparison to my colleagues? Am I paid 50% more than my younger colleagues who have a similar salary but do not use the medical benefits because they are covered through a spouse (while I cover my entire family)?

Good points MVMama. Let me try to answer them for you:

"@Data, do you know how much your employer pays for your benefits?"
Yes.

"Insurance rates are going up between 10-30% a year. Should I see it as a huge raise that my employer is paying that increase?"
Yes.

"Is it fair to include the benefits I use as a number that is used for comparison to my colleagues? "
Yes.

"Am I paid 50% more than my younger colleagues who have a similar salary but do not use the medical benefits because they are covered through a spouse (while I cover my entire family)?"

I don't know if the number is 50% or not, but in principal then: Yes, you are being paid much more.

It seems that your questions assume that the health care (and other) benefits you receive from your employer are to be taken for granted. What you (and others) fail to realize is that it is actual money being spent by the employer to have you on staff. If you are costing your employer much more than a colleague simply because you have more dependents, then you must realize that this cost is affecting how many staff your company may employ and also the compensation that existing staff are being paid.

Personally, I think health insurance should be nationalized. Obamacare is a good first step and will hopefully evolve to single-payer for all. However, until this happens, the non-salary components of total compensation must be part of the discussion.

Now, answer my questions that are relevant to the issue at hand:

Should a school district that is significantly cheaper to live in provide salaries that are equivalent to school districts that are more expensive?

If a school district is more high performing than another, should salaries be equivalent?

@ Data, ah- now this last logic I can understand. And as a person who votes on the Budget - I also really care about TCOE (Total Cost Of Employment) - the cost of an employee to the district Budget. I think the back and forth of MVMama and you is pretty good. This are all issues of public policy discussion/ community discussion. There are those 'several ways' of looking at the problem. Because there really are several different truths. Can I (single teacher) pay my rent (In an extremely affluent community where I want my kids to Go to Public School)? Can I (trustee) continue to pay all the teachers? [different topic - under litigation - can I let go the poor performers?]? Can I (teacher 2) use my spouse's healthcare and join a district with higher "take-home' rather than 'higher benefits'?
Data - I still like the BANG (Merc) database better, it is much finer-grained data (like the spreadsheet I got from the District) and I can answer the take-home-pay / benefits questions I may want.

Steven Nelson is a trustee of MVWSD, and this is how he thinks about data and budgets.

@Data, Trust me, I don't take benefits for granted. I have a career built on them. I just think looking at the TCOE, it's misleading to say "these teacher make over $100K". No one is comparing TCOE to TCOE in the private sector. If we were you'd have to add in all those free meals at Google ;)

@MV Mama: "No one is comparing TCOE to TCOE in the private sector."???

Actually, it is done all the time. Benefits like free meals at Google, stock options at a small startup, moderate salary, but no stock at a stable public company. When looking at jobs, these are all looked at along with salary.

I think it is misleading to only look at the salary value when discussing teacher compensation. There are so many other factors, some that we have discussed: school performance, affluence of the school district, health benefits, retirement benefits, job stability, # days worked in a year, available supply of teaching applicants. To ignore all of these factors is troubling.

@Steven Nelson: Thanks for your comments. I know your job is tough. On one side we have voters who are uncaring, uninformed or, at best, biased to their own interests. On another, we have the unions who seem to only care about raising compensation for their clients: the teachers. (To be fair, that IS their job. To fight for money.) And then, there are the kids... I'm sure everybody wants to have a well educated student population, at least in the abstract. When it comes down to make hard decisions, self-interest of the above parties takes over and it becomes a big battle. Voters: Uh, I don't want my taxes to go up! or Teachers: Uh, I want my salary to go up no matter what! or Trustees: Uh, why did I sign up for this thankless job?! :)

Sorry, should have said no one is publicizing TCOE numbers from the private sector in a public debate for comment. Better?

I've heard that the district and teachers' union have reached an agreement and that the district has issued a press release.

Interesting chart some Teachers make under 30K a year. 7% of 30k is a lot different than 7% of 100k

@Data

Having only worked in the private sector, from startups to larger companies, I've always been offered jobs at "$nnn.nn salary plus benefits" without any specific dollar amount applied to those benefits. When I have asked for or been awarded a raise, it has always been in salary terms, not in terms of benefits or TCOE. The TCOE number is fairly foreign to the majority of employees and is a metric more important for management as the benefits side scales more than the salary side does.

So for school districts, TCOE can be a useful metric to look at when working out funding - a difficult job for any school district's leadership. When focusing on TCOE so much, one can start to confuse it with the value to employees of take home pay ($ for for housing, food, transportation, entertainment, etc.). Over the last several years, costs for health plans have increased with an associated increase in TCOE but that is hardly the fault of employees whose choice of health plans is often limited by what the leadership arranges to offer and what the employees can afford to have deducted from their salaries.

If we are to hyper-focus on TCOE, then we should also include a similar metric TCOL (Total Cost of Living) for Mountain View. To address your question about providing different salaries based on cost of living: private companies include cost-of-living differentials in their compensation packages, as does the federal government. Why should funding for school districts be allowed a cost of living adjustment?

As for comparisons with other districts, there are several issues.

First, back to TCOE, not all benefits are easily compared. With health benefits, for example, some districts require a greater contribution by members to health plans than others and at different scales for similar sizes of families covered. Different districts also belong to different pools (e.g. district-wide, county-wide, state-wide) that can affect which insurance providers are offered and what specific coverages those providers include. The differences between districts in health benefits alone can amount to several hundreds of dollars of take home pay and varied coverage.

"If a school district is more high performing than another, should salaries be equivalent?"
Maybe you aren't getting an answer to this because it is a very incomplete hypothetical question. How are you measuring performance in your question? Challenges faced by different districts aren't necessarily the same. Take your example of using API's. Even those publishing the API know that the score alone isn't valuable. The state breaks down API scores with categories like students socio-economic status, racial identity, english language learners, students with disabilities... What about household income levels, parents education levels, cultural backgrounds, access to technology? These should be included in comparisons as they directly affect results - even between schools within the same district! If children are incredibly important inputs to the system, shouldn't we be including their information as well? Different children require different skills from their educators. Here, it's important to understand the difference between "equal education" and "equitable education" but that's another big discussion. In any case, I think you need to qualify your questions because I think you'd find it is difficult to find perfect analogues for any given school or district.

@ Jaded Parent: Sorry you feel the way you do about MVEA and CSEA. They only feel that way because of the treatment they have received from management.
Yes, I would be very careful what you say because you don't know who is listening and who are moles that go back to the administration or just plain out gossip.

It is probably best to just not speak at all about the whole situation.

@ Alex Lopez: Your comments are terrific and I hope that Goldman has read it, over and over again so he can hopefully penatrate it into his heart.

@ Nelson: yes, the numbers are wrong on the first page. They don't even match the salary schedule. Makes you wonder about the people in the Business Office who are reporting the numbers. Do they know what they are doing? I bet the miss Cathy Nelson. She was great at her job even with all she endured at the DO. So sad.

In my humble opinion: It is a sad sitation over all. Sad for the teachers, all admin staff, custodians, para-professionals, management and the board.

Maybe the key is to pay everyone (all staff including para-professionals, custodians, admin staff, management and the board $30 per hour and only allow each person to work 40 hours per week. That would mean hiring more people, which would also help the unemployment numbers and make each person equal. :)

@Data, mr_B et al, There are many truths. So there are several forms of comparison that I think a good (Board) Compensation Committee would consider. But - I cannot fullfill a 2012 campaign wish - without a Board majority agreeing. So, let's just continue. TCOE helps explain how the salary + benefits + pension + local pension + other impacts the Budget. (important). Take home pay (salary schedule- important) can be compared to other elementary school salary schedules [a bit more complicated, pick two or three comparison teachers]. There are also a very few (IMO) 'other measures', a few of which a community-based committee could sort through, discuss, choose, and then compute.

Note: "by the people" not by the hired staff. We have plenty of local residents (5?) that I bet would be willing to work on this for 'homework' and 3-4 formal meetings a year. As an elected Board member - I long for this type of direct and formal community involvement.

@Compare - sorry I missed your questions earlier. ( they were rhetorical, right? :) My son took a "salaryman's" job. His work is not unionized. He does not get overtime for 80 hr weeks (those occasional customer deadlines). He has no 'employer' pension (but does get some employer match to his 401K - his 'self funded' pension). His vacation weeks are modest. He is forced to fly out-of-town a lot! [OK now ... this apples to oranges comparison obviously makes little sense! I'll stop it! Just teachers-to-teachers]

@Data - the fun is in the graduations, middle school and English Language Fluency especially. There are tons of happy families there.