PRPE President’s Message                                                                                       June 2010

     As this year ends, our students are our greatest reward.  The state and federal government see us as a diversion from their collective failure to support our children’s future.  We see a landscape full of bailed out institutions that produce nothing but materialism, while our future is reduced to a beggar’s role.  I know everyone from students to teachers to support staff to administrators and school board members are profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering we have all felt, but most importantly for the staff members who have lost their jobs.  We continue to work with the district administration to bring back as many people as possible, but even the loss of one educator is a tragedy and that loss has been compounded many times over.

     On Monday May 10, 2010 Brigid Woods and Jim Lynett attended the annual SISC (Self Insured Schools of California) health benefits update meeting in San Luis Obispo.  SISC is a joint powers authority that administers health benefits plans for hundreds of school districts in California.  They primarily contract with Anthem Blue Cross for the service provided to their members.  All of the school districts in San Luis Obispo County are members of SISC and they were also represented at the meeting.

The PRPE Negotiations team met with the District representatives on Monday, May 17, 2010. The district reiterated their initial proposal for negotiations as presented to the Board of Trustees on March 23, 2010.

  Your PRPE negotiations team met with the district representatives on Saint Patrick’s Day and discussed the outstanding issues for the 2010-11 school year.  The district informed us that they would prepare a sunshine proposal for the March 23 board meeting that will include significant take-backs.  Please attend this board meeting and show support for our teachers, because it will also include the reductions in services and the positions affected.