{"id":36935,"date":"2013-05-22T09:41:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T16:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=36935"},"modified":"2013-07-23T18:26:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T01:26:42","slug":"palmdale-teachers-parents-stage-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/05\/22\/palmdale-teachers-parents-stage-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Palmdale teachers, parents stage protest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The protest started around 3:15 p.m. Tuesday and continued until just before the school board meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 Nearly 300 teachers and parents gathered for a protest at the Palmdale School District Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey hey! Ho ho! Gallizzi\u2019s got to go!\u201d the group chanted, referring to Palmdale School District Superintendent Roger Gallizzi.<\/p>\n

\"Palmdale<\/a>The latest protest, which was organized by the Palmdale Elementary Teachers Association, is one in a string of demonstrations to voice disapproval with what they say are unfair contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe District would like for us to take a cut on our health care benefits, they would also like to have nine days of instruction cut off for the next two school years, they also want teachers to take a pay cut, and they want this to be ongoing\u2026 But teachers are standing up for themselves and not taking it anymore,\u201d said Kathy Vanderzee, Lead Negotiator for the Palmdale Elementary Teachers Association.<\/p>\n

\"Palmdale<\/a>\u201cWe feel disrespected, we feel like there is no need for cuts, and I think that our superintendent keeps getting raises while he continues to want to cut our days and benefits and student time too,\u201d said Leticia Merrill, Fifth Grade Teacher at Cimarron Elementary School.<\/p>\n

Parents are also fed up with the Palmdale School District, said Nichole Harris, whose children attend Cimarron Elementary School.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have parents here that are donating extra things, they\u2019re bringing in paper, they\u2019re bringing in pencils, stuff that should be funded by the School District but it\u2019s not because they say there\u2019s not enough money,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI watch these teachers struggle every year and they haven\u2019t had a pay raise in I don\u2019t know how many years, whereas our superintendent, he gets a raise every year, so something has got to be done,\u201d Harris continued.<\/p>\n

During the protest, the group distributed a leaflet<\/a> chronicling Palmdale School District Superintendent Roger Gallizzi\u2019s compensation from 2007 to 2013.<\/p>\n

A portion of the handout<\/a> reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cRoger\u2019s W2 form shows his taxable income from PSD in 2012 was $241,045.45. This does not include his health insurance or long term care dollars paid by the district.<\/p>\n

Now think about what the board has been saying to teachers over this same time period and that we have had no raises (except health care increases) during this same time period. Roger has been given annual raises that amount to an increase of $66,045.45 more this year than he received in 2006. This is more than a 37% increased during the \u201cHard\u201d years at the district. How can the board of trustees talk to the teachers about money problems and continue to give the superintendent additional dollars and benefits (not included in that percentage is additional sick days, the additional life insurance, the long term care premiums and the right to sell back vacation day[s] for cash ($801.31 per day).<\/p>\n

These board members are not looking out for the students or the teachers; they are taking care of Superintendent Roger Gallizzi.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire handout here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sitting in his office Tuesday afternoon, Gallizzi said he was well aware of the protest raging outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re protesting a proposal, and it\u2019s only just a proposal, for nine furlough days and an eight percent across the board pay cut that would apply to me as much as it applies to any other employee in the District. It\u2019s not just the teachers,\u201d Gallizzi said. \u201cLast year when we had furlough days, I took the furlough days and the pay cut as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Palmdale<\/a>Gallizzi said the union has tried different tactics for several weeks to voice disapproval for the School District\u2019s proposal, which would affect approximately 2,500 employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to Board member\u2019s properties, passing out leaflets, and now they\u2019re doing this,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been packing the board meetings for the last couple of board meetings\u2026 and at some point along the way, they attack the superintendent, that\u2019s what they usually do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallizzi said he had received raises over the years, but not in the last two years.<\/p>\n

\"Palmdale<\/a>\u201cOver the average amount of time I\u2019ve been superintendent, they amount to about four percent per year,\u201d Gallizzi said. \u201cThat\u2019s not outrageous, but when you make a big salary, that adds up to be a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd teachers, their salary creeps up every year as well, it usually creeps up more than four percent,\u201d Gallizzi added.<\/p>\n

He said furlough days were not unusual to balance the budget, and several neighboring school districts have had furlough days for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, Lancaster has had 15 furlough days, Hughes-Elizabeth Lake has had 15 furlough days, Westside \u2013 four furlough days, Eastside \u2013 seven furlough days\u2026 so everybody\u2019s had furlough days except Palmdale School District,\u201d Gallizzi said. \u201cSooner or later you\u2019ve got to pay the piper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallizzi said the District had run out of money and spent down its reserves, therefore the proposed cuts were necessary to move forward and reduce projected deficits for the upcoming school years.<\/p>\n

District officials have created a report on the District\u2019s current budgeting challenges and the effect of those challenges on negotiations, Gallizzi said. That document is available on the District\u2019s website. (Read it here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

For more information on the Palmdale Elementary Teachers Association and updates on the status of their negotiations with the Palmdale School District, visit their website at www.avpeta.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 Nearly 300 teachers and parents gathered for a protest at the Palmdale School District Tuesday afternoon. \u201cHey hey! Ho ho! Gallizzi\u2019s got to go!\u201d the group chanted, referring to Palmdale School District Superintendent Roger Gallizzi. The latest protest, which was organized by the Palmdale Elementary Teachers Association, is one in a string of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}