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Show TTTTT-.T A-14 Letters to the Editor. THE PARK RECORD WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1997 Support for Jeannine Editor: I am still awestruck at the outpouring of support I experienced at Jeannine Siemon's benefit luncheon held last Wednesday at The Yarrow Hotel. Almost 150 men and women showed up for lunch and a silent auction. Together we raised over $12,000 to assist her in offsetting the expenses she has incurred in her recent breast cancer surgery and ongoing rehabilitation. reha-bilitation. My heart is full of gratitude to those who assisted in the event, donated valuable items and money, and to those who joined us for the benefit. If I have left any of you out, please excuse this error and know I appreciate your efforts. Thanks to Paula Etherton, Rhonda Sideris and Mary Demkowitz for your countless hours of help with the fundraiser. fundrais-er. I couldn't have done it without your energy and love. To my mentors who gave me courage and shared their fund-raising experiences Meeche White, Suzanne Harris and Sue Wagner how could I have gone wrong with guidance from the best? Thank you to my wonderful husband, hus-band, our children and the staff of Resort Property Management for helping with phone calls and understanding my absenteeism. absen-teeism. I wish to acknowledge all my power women ticket sellers and auction hustlers: Susan Townsend, Claire Pierre, Linda Karz, Apolonia Hopkins, Bernadette Martinelli, Kathy O'Brien, Susann Courtney, Kristy Banberry, Greg Balsh (token man), and Rhonda, Mary and Paula (again and again). The number of attendees and financial success is a testimony tes-timony of your hard work! Thanks to the media for their coverage and help in getting the word out: The Park Record, Kimball Junction Journal, The Ear and TV 45 you did your job well! St. Mary's Church, PC. Community Church, Rotary, Ambassadors, Park City ChamberBureau, PTOs at McPolin and TMMS, thanks too for your prayers and support! My list of fabulous auction and raffle items exceeds 75 of you who generously donated wonderful gifts in support of Jeannine please know the huge difference differ-ence you have made in the life of a special woman. Thank you from my heart! The event program speaker, Jerry McCoy, and the music by local pianist, Rich Wyman, added a special meaning to the event. Many thanks! We live in a very special community where, quite simply, people help people, supporting their dreams, encouraging their growth and standing by one another in times of need. I am blessed to be a part of the magic and spirit of Park City. Thanks for living here with me! On a final note, to my beautiful and courageous friend Jeannine, her husband Scott and the three boys, do you get it that Park City loves and supports ya? With gratitude and love, Kym C. Meehan Grateful patron Editor: In reflecting on their first-year anniversary, anniver-sary, I would publicly like to thank the Body Tech Fitness Center at Kimball Junction. I owe my sanity and healthy body to Body Tech and its great classes, fantastic instructors and its collection of fun-loving gym junkies. As a mother of three girls all under three years old, I have a real need to relieve the stress of motherhood with a good workout. Because of my exercise program at Body Tech, I have a positive attitude about myself.. .and I feel terrific! So, to Body Tech I say, thanks for coming to Kimball Junction. Also, thank you for providing us with excellent child care at an affordable cost. Finally, thanks to Carrie, Randy, Steve and Patrice and all the fabulous instructors for providing us with energetic and smiling faces while commanding us to squat, lunge, grapevine, sculpt, stretch, step and push ourselves into blissful agony. No pain, no gain! Laura Huggins T K. W A City, r jy Fish So Fresh, THEY PRACTICALLY SWAM HERE. From Alaska, Hawaii, Chesapeake Bay and beyond, we have the freshest seafood available. ALL DELIVERED DAILY. Oyster Bar at 5pm Dinner at 6pm 649-3140 Closed Sundays and Mondays. Moving toward a workable solution Editor: During the past several months, many of you have read about the teacherschool district negotiations in the paper and listened lis-tened to the developments on the radio. I would like to clarify a few points as I reflect on this recent round of negotiations. negotia-tions. First, I would like to thank Board of Education President Colleen Bailey, who has maintained a dialogue with the teachers' teach-ers' association (PCEA) throughout this process. I would like to make clear that the issues throughout this process have never been about the personalities involved but it has been about the teacherdistrict relationship as it exists in Utah. As a teacher and association vice president pres-ident in New York state, my colleagues and I had a very different relationship with the board of education and district than exists here in Park City and in Utah in general. Here there is much more rhetoric espousing the support and admiration admi-ration of teachers, as opposed to New York, but the reality is that teachers are second class to management in Utah. The difference in salaries is compelling evidence evi-dence of the inequity. In my old school district, there was a difference of $16,000 between the top step teacher salary and that of the business administrator and $25,00 between that teacher and the superintendent. Here the difference is $48,000 and $53,000 respectively. Throughout this entire negotiation process, the PCEA team presented proposals pro-posals that would begin to address the financial inequity. When the process stalled at the local level, we pursued the only legal means available to labor in this state. Mediation was followed by factfinding fact-finding that produced a non-binding recommendation, rec-ommendation, that the teachers said they would recognize and abide by despite the substantially lower compensation package relative to the PCEA proposals. The Park City Board of EducationDistrict have not ' fully recognized and offered proposals based on the recommendations of the fact finder. The board of educationdistrict maintain that implementation of the full recommendations would negatively impact the school district. The difference between the board of educationdistrict proposal and the fact finder recommendation recommenda-tion represents between a $70,000 to $80,000 price tag to taxpayers, which is minimal. However, the increased cost represents rep-resents a 0.4 percent of the total operations opera-tions budget for the school district, but to the individual teacher this difference represents rep-resents over $50,000 in lifetime earnings not realized by that individual. . The board of education has said that it has been negotiating fn good faith. It is impossible, though, to negotiate in good faith when one group perceives the other to be of lower status. This board of education educa-tion and district cannot be totally faulted for this perception because this view is systemic throughout the state. Negotiations can be collaborative and productive but only if there is parity between the two groups. Ultimately the goal of the board of educationdistrict and the teachers is the same and that is to provide pro-vide the best possible education for the children of Park City. The sooner we can work together as equal partners, the sooner soon-er we will realize this goal. Charlie Matthews PCEA lead negotiator Re-elect Mayor Olch To Mayor Brad Olch: It is my pleasure to endorse your reelection re-election campaign. You have unselfishly served Park City for more than the eight years I have lived here. I feel that we are extremely fortunate to have committed, intelligent appointed and elected city officials offi-cials such as you. As mayor, you deserve a large measure of credit for the excellent city staff that runs our city on a day-to-day basis. All the way from city manager through the various departments, Park City has been able to retain highly skilled personnel as well as hire new managers and employees with exceptional experi J -TP T ence. Residents benefit from this every day in the form of great recreation programs, pro-grams, prompt snow removal, resurfaced streets, carefully reviewed planning applications, appli-cations, special events, responsive police protection, fiscal soundness and in many other ways. Secondly, you have always provided fair and reasonable forums to discuss and resolve the concerns of residents. As you know, I have attended numerous public hearings at which you have presided. I have always felt that the public input process was open, thoroughly considered and dignified. I only wish more people would attend public hearings and get involved in the issues that are important to them. Your challenger has said "it is time for a change." With all due respect, I dont think so! Clay Stuard Park Meadows resident P.S. If you are new in town and would like to meet Mayor Olch in a personal setting, please call me at 649-5336 to attend an evening reception at my home on Oct. 28. Seeking clarification Editor: The editorial in The Park Record of Wednesday, Oct. 15, 1997 has left me rather confused. I did not realize that comments about the "ghettoization of Park City's neighborhoods due to the influx of Latino workers" (Lowry) and "the drinking habits of the Latino community com-munity workers in a negative context" (Olch), as reported by Kirsta H. Bleyle in The Park Record Oct. 10, could be interpreted inter-preted as anything other than biased and mean-spirited. I assume these are the comments which your editorial addresses in stating: "The only thing they might be guilty of would be making an isolated politically-incorrect statement to the press." Can you imagine how you would feel hearing these statements made about you family, friends and home? If these comments were misinterpreted as you suggest in the editorial, Ms. Lowry and Mayor Olch certainly deserve the opportunity of explaining themselves. Perhaps you could print the entirety of the text in question, along with their explanations, explana-tions, before the election, in order for the majority of us in town who care about all people to make an informed decision whether we are going to vote for Ms. Lowry, Mayor Olch or "none of the above." I think the issue is much more than politically-incorrect statements. Vivian Latimer Cropper ' A change in attitude Dear Colleagues: This is hard, but I think we need to all find the terms with which we can live and each of us then take a job action that will help drive the point home. Because I don't serve on any district committees (and practically no school committees), my personal action is going to have to be different dif-ferent from that of my friend and partner, Craig Jacobs, who recently resigned from his voluntary position as faculty liaison with Community of Caring. My time is spent preparing for three different subjects including the necessary planning, ordering and scheduling for Showstoppers, and reading my students' writing. I spend 12-14 hours per day here ' in my classroom on average, and am here usually at least one full day on the weekend. week-end. I love making a difference in how my students write, and it has been worth the time and frustration to see that outcome in the past. The support from you, from our incredibly supportive principals, and from my students and their parents has been rewarding, but my exhaustive effort appears to be perceived by our board as "cheap." When I calculate the time I spend working during my personal unpaid time, my salary hovers near minimum wage. I know I'm not telling most of you anything any-thing new, for you, too, are equally dedicated dedi-cated and devoted to doing what's best for kids in your own sacrificial ways. But V A Public House 1 naWfJflff I m Dine Out Overboiling Main Street ffs Wednesday - Myou can eat Crab ounaay - Warbeque $12.35 Carvery Lunch Daily . Jast, JrugaC, jUUng $5.95 Afternoon Tea & Tunes Saturday 3:00 pm - 530 pm OPEN DAILY AT 11:30 AM Main Street Mall 655-8655 Tarfi City's Romantic Ttace to Dine Craig's letter is telling and has struck a raw nerve. How can we continue such beyond-the-call-of-duty performance without at least the semblance of respect from those who employ us? Without even trying to do so, our enthusiastic performance perfor-mance should one day decline; it's only to be expected. For that reason, and for the sake of my students whom I dearly love and respect, I am going to join Craig but in my own way. From now on, the essays I grade will be read during the time for which I am contracted con-tracted by our Board. (I will even donate some extra, personal time...but it will not compare to the time spent in the past.) This time frame will probably enable me to give little more than a cursory glance before a subjective-type "feeling" grade is delivered. I will no longer spend huge quantities of my own personal time writing writ-ing painstaking suggestions for improvement, improve-ment, writing notes which ask students to rethink words and sections in their writing pieces, correcting the sentence structure and spelling of their pieces, and writing elaborate specific compliments on students' stu-dents' papers. I will do the best I can within with-in the time frame for which I am paid, and will then train myself to stop when my contract time is up. Am I deliberately punishing students? I guess so, and I hope it wont be for long. The alternative is to get slowly burned out and very bitter, and that will be far worse in the long run. If any one of you can see another, more effective alternative, please share this with me soon, because resorting to this breaks my teacher's heart. But barring bar-ring an acceptable alternative, I'm praying that our Board will again look at our plight, only this time with the scales removed from their eyes. I love you all. Iris Durfee, 8th grade English and Showstoppers teacher, TMMS Skewed priorities Editor: It is simply too much to read in the paper as school board members continue with the rhetoric that if teachers received the salary increase they believe they should, that Park City School District would quickly be bankrupted, unable to provide for our children. The board states that soon programs would have to be cut and teachers would be laid off in order to continue. This is a Big Fat Lie! In fact, it is one of the worst kind of lies; a lie that preys upon the ignorance of the public, the very public these school board members mem-bers are supposed to represent. Teachers are asking for what the "factfinder" "fact-finder" said they should get: a fully indexed step for all lanes on the based-on-existing-salary schedule., The board refused, holding the teachers hostage with the professional agreement and giving only a half-indexed step instead. The total dollar difference is approximately $75,000. Even if it is costed out over five years, this half-indexed step represents less than one percent (.01 percent) of the budget. Let's ignore the fact-finder; let's squeeze the teachers and show them who's boss. Oh yeah, let's change the health insurance package, too; save the district $60,000 (at teacher expense) and squeeze them even harder. Teachers will then be paying for their own raise. Yeah, this board is 'pro teacher.' After all this, the board can't understand under-stand why teachers are angry and so emotional. emo-tional. Duh, get a clue! These are all facts. An additional fact is that the district office is over 500 percent above the state average for expenditures. Yet, when attention is drawn to this top-heavy top-heavy expense, the board still maintains its priority for cutting expenses would be academic programs and teachers being laid off. Programs and teachers cut first. District office-I think not! Where are their priorities? How can teachers continue contin-ue knowing the district office is the highest high-est priority, even higher than kids or teachers? This summer the district office got new computer hardware and software, $187,000 worth from the Technology Bond monies. (I thought that was for kids, and monitored by a district committee, didnt you? Wrong!) All the while, both the high school and Ecker Hill started the 1 M I I Cover lifting mmvuniiiriii nir" OlOne fc. vxjO J J. Generator 5"" Mention CStay $15.75 4 person Sauna r Reg. 4995 ,4495M Call for details This Ma rw" no,aer J , ' . ! -.1 I -J year without their ordered computers. A month later, all is still not in place. The district office, of course, was up and running run-ning before school started. Again, perceptions percep-tions and priorities. The school board must be accountable for this. Finally, if the board cannot find the money to fund the half-step and return the health insurance package for this year (because they say it would break the district), dis-trict), then we need to get a new business administrator. $135,000 in a $17.2. million budget is .007 percent of the budget. Are we in that much trouble financially? Clearly, the answer is we are not. It never has been about money. What it is about, is a lack of value and respect placed on teachers and the arrogance of the boarddistrict office, their own agendas, their skewed priorities. Sincerely, John A. McDonaid TMMS teacher Less than adequate compensation To all my colleagues: I am in my third year of teaching at TMMS and I feel very privileged to work with such a fine staff. All of you have shown such support for me and my development devel-opment as a teacher. As most of you know, I am teaching with a provisional teaching certificate. I am currently a full-time student at Westminster College as an MED student. I attend classes Mondays 4:30-10 p.m., Tuesdays 4:30-7:30 p.m., Thursdays 4:30-7:30 4:30-7:30 p.m. and sometimes Saturdays 9 a.m.-12:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. I will be receiving, no, earning, my certificate by next summer (I hope) and I will have a master's degree by next fall. Apart from career ladder, the school district does not compensate me for tuition at all. I took out over $12,000 worth of student loans for graduate studies stud-ies at Westminster in addition to the $40,000 worth of loans which paid for my undergraduate studies at the USC School of Music. I plan on continuing with my education and my career as an educator, but I am disheartened by the value this community (or certain members of the community) gives teachers. For the past two years, I received no benefits and less pay because I was part-time (I only taught five classes, which, according to the district, is part-time.) part-time.) I am sure you are all familiar with the phrase "full-time work, part-time pay." Now I am full-time with full "benefits." "bene-fits." I teach seven classes which includes five different curricula, but I have one prep period for all these classes. Is there a phrase which applies? Perhaps "over-time work, full-time- pay" would work. More succinct, however, is "Park City School District teacher." While the majority of you are at various vari-ous meetings, negotiations, etc., please feel free to explain to the school board why I am not there: either I am teaching or learning to teach better. The support for educators is frighteningly underwhelming under-whelming and I only wish I could voice my opinion more often. You the staff and the school administrators adminis-trators are the reason I am still a teacher. Without your support and support sup-port from parents, the school board could deny my provisional certificate and, thus, end my teaching career. Please see that this does not happen. I look forward to teaching alongside my former students as many of you are right now. I am very grateful to work with such dedicated and thoughtful educators like yourselves. I know the value of teaching because I had such excellent teachers: Orr, Mac, Huhnke, Christensen, Smith, Fleming, Preston (now Huhnke), Sevier and all the others taught me if you want to lead a rewarding life, you must teach. As most of you know, I am also a successful suc-cessful composer and performer. Next time you go to a symphony concert, read the program notes. The composers' biographies always state with whom they studied, their teachers. It is teaching that makes a difference in people's lives, and it has certainly made a difference in mine. Thank you to all my teachers, past and present. 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