School board hears from teachers about contract impasse, considers changes to magnet school policies, and rejects contract with rezoning consultant
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their September 17 Regular Meeting, the School Board of Alachua County heard from teachers and their supporters about the current contract impasse, discussed changes to their policy for magnet programs, and rejected a contract for a rezoning consultant.
Teachers ask for a 3.2% raise; district is offering 1.6%
During citizen input, 10 teachers’ union members and their supporters asked the district for higher salaries in their contract negotiations; according to the speakers, the district is offering a 1.6% raise, far below the rate of inflation, with no retroactive pay. One teacher asked for a “very reasonable 3.2% with retroactive pay, which is, by the way, the standard we have had for multiple years.”
Alachua County Education Association (ACEA) President Carmen Ward said the union has declared an impasse because the district’s offer of a 1.6% increase is “too small… You cannot unilaterally decide on what the raise is for this district; it has to be negotiated with the union… You can do better.” She said there are “millions and millions of dollars” available in the district’s fund balance, and “not spending the public funds on the public school teachers and staff is not responsible… We are going to continue the pressure until you do better.”
ACEA Instructional Vice President Crystal Tessman read a letter from an Education Support Professional (ESP); the letter said, “I have had to recently start getting food from store dumpsters. Yes, I’m ashamed to say that, but it’s my reality… ESPs are the employees that deal with and interact with the students and the parents throughout this district on a regular basis. We are the group of people that are underpaid. A majority of us have to work two or three jobs.”
After 12 people spoke (two spoke on other topics), Chair Diyonne McGraw announced that the 30-minute citizen input period was over and that others could speak at the end of the meeting. She added, “I just want to say that when the ACEA declared impasse, we were at 2.6%, just wanted to put that on the record.” We asked ACPS Public Information Officer Jackie Johnson for clarification, and she said McGraw was adding the 1.6% raise and the 1% step increase that teachers and ESPs get every year.
School choice/magnet policy
The board considered the first reading of an update to the district’s School Choice policy; there will be a public hearing on October 15 at 6:30 p.m., and then a second reading after that. The amended policy can be found here.
The amendments remove Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs from the options in the School Choice policy. For magnet programs, applications will now begin in late November or early December instead of January. The amended policy also removes ineligibility criteria for the magnet lottery process, including having 10 unexcused absences in the previous semester, having one or more major referrals within the current or previous school year, having five days of out-of-school suspension within the current or previous school year, and not meeting the minimum academic requirements. Instead of having these criteria in the policy, the amended policy states that criteria will be posted on the district’s magnet website.
Member Kay Abbitt asked why the eligibility criteria for the magnet program lottery had been removed from the policy. Deputy Superintendent Cathy Atria said the Magnet Review Committee felt that “if that language came out of the board policy, it would provide consistency across programs and also provide flexibility, should things need to change in the future.” Abbitt responded that information on the website can be “changed for anything, so there is not really that consistency there.” She said she would prefer to have the eligibility criteria in the policy.
Member Tina Certain agreed with Abbitt and said she was also concerned that the amended policy said, “Amendments to this policy are necessary for alignment with current practices and processes recommended by the district Magnet Review Committee.” She asked whether the current policy was being followed and asked why “the policy is being changed to align with practice.” She also said this was the first she’d heard of the Magnet Review Committee and said the policy is “too vague, and I think we can have favoritism and things of that nature going on.” Certain said that the district is “set[ting] students up for failure” if they’re not specific about admissions criteria, especially for academically rigorous programs. She also asked why CTE programs were removed from the school choice options.
Atria said that has “caused confusion because we have CTE programs that are not magnet programs… So if we strike the ‘CTE’ and we refer to just ‘magnet programs,’ that is inclusive of both academic and CTE magnet programs and eliminates that confusion.”
Kim Neal from the Office of Student Assignment said the district has been following the current policy. She also explained that all students who apply for magnet programs are considered: “There’s no automatic ineligibility.” She said the lottery algorithm uses the eligibility requirements, but all the applicants are also sent to the school for review, and a school can select a student even if the student doesn’t meet the eligibility criteria.
Certain also said that transportation for magnet students has been a “holy grail for a long time,” but “we have a dwindling pot of money right now… So this may be one that we need to have some conversations around, whether or not we’re going to continue to offer transportation for magnet programs.”
Member Sarah Rockwell supported keeping at least some eligibility criteria in the policy, with additional criteria listed on a website; she also opposed removing criteria about truancy: “We’re talking about a kid who just didn’t show up to school for no reason… for 10 days in the semester. That’s not a student that should be in a magnet program. I think we need to revisit that.”
Currently, 50% of magnet seats are allocated through the lottery process, and Rockwell said that if that percentage increases, she would like to bring back teacher recommendations because “one of the big concerns is that a student may not have the disposition for what a particular magnet program requires, even though they might meet the minimum requirements.”
Certain disagreed “because some kids may get a bad rap from a teacher… I know students who have been quote-unquote ‘blackballed’ by instructional staff because they were difficult. But these are children… We don’t give children the grace that we give adults who work for this organization.” Certain added that she opposed removing a line in the policy that said students would be ineligible for the lottery process if they do not meet the academic requirements of the program: “I think that needs to stay in the policy.”
The policy passed unanimously on first reading, with the understanding that staff will make changes before the public hearing on October 15.
Rezoning
Chief of Equity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement Anntwanique Edwards reviewed the comprehensive rezoning process, which was paused in January. She said the district team has been working to find a company to lead the process, and they unanimously recommended entering into a contract with WXY architecture + urban design to provide a hosted web application with zoning maps and boundary analysis for $236,860.
Certain said she didn’t want to move forward, but McGraw interrupted to say she needed a motion first. Member Leanetta McNealy made a motion to approve the contract, but there was no second, so McGraw said the board could discuss the contract.
Certain said she had reservations “due to cost and after reading the scope of this.” She said the timeline in the proposal was “a whole year out, and so… that would put this in, like, 2027, and that’s just way out and it’s a lot of money… I do believe rezoning needs to get done; I just don’t know if – are we going to spend $240,000 and get a product? I don’t want to get to the end of that and punt again.” She also said the district team said they would bring back two companies but only brought back one.
Superintendent Shane Andrew went through a list of schools that are over capacity (a complete chart of student counts per school as of August 26 can be found here), highlighting Newberry Elementary, Newberry High School, and Buchholz High School.
Abbitt said, “I think we need to do comprehensive rezoning. There’s never been any question about that. But I think the way it was handled the last time was a complete fiasco… $200,000 is a lot of money, especially when we have teachers sitting in here that need raises… A year-long process, I think, is way too long, and I have no confidence that… it would run any more smoothly than the first one did.”
McGraw interjected, “Yeah, I agree.”
Rockwell agreed with Abbitt that the money could go to raises for teachers; she was also concerned with the price tag for the software and “what I consider a lack of transparency. I know that, because this is primarily a software product, it doesn’t have to go through the RFP process.” However, she said, Edwards had promised to bring back two options; she also said that rezoning updates should be in writing so the public can review them without having to find a verbal update in the video of a school board meeting.
Rockwell said that the Strategic Plan process was a recent example that illustrated her concern: “We spent a lot of money on a consultant firm for strategic planning, and when we met two weeks ago at this dais, none of us were satisfied with the product we had.”
Although McNealy had made the motion to accept the contract, she said, “I cannot agree with the amount given in this report.”
Certain said she would support buying a software tool that staff can use in-house to evaluate various rezoning scenarios without needing a consultant.
Strategic Plan Implementation Plans
During board member comment, Abbitt brought up the discussion at the previous meeting about the strategic plan and the promise from staff to send the implementation plans to board members: “I was under the impression that we were going to get that stuff emailed to us right away, but I… don’t have anything. And so I’m thinking that if the plan was developed enough that it was brought to the board for approval, that those steps underneath that would already be in place.”
McGraw said she had spoken to staff about that, and they were “working on providing some updated information that we needed to have, to make sure it was clear.”
Chief of Teaching and Learning Jacquatte Rolle said the theme leaders are going back and doing the work the board requested. She said, “The strategic plan cannot be implemented until the plan is fully approved, and we will bring that back to the board, including the implementation plan… so that the board can see the activities that will be implemented in Year One for each of those critical initiatives.” She said she would bring that to the board on October 1.
McGraw said, “Just for the record… our Strategic Plan is not trash. It’s not garbage… Everybody’s not as strong as somebody like me who can take it when people say such negative, horrible things in the paper, but I… appreciate all of the work that [staff and administrators] are doing.”
Abbitt responded, “That’s why I think it’s really important to be transparent – because what was brought before the board was not even in a format that we felt comfortable approving. And that’s what the public sees, right?… From a community member looking in, you know, they’re saying, ‘Well, the board’s not even going for this, and so it’s wasted time.’ And so that’s why it’s very important to have everything out so that the community can understand where we’re going with this plan.”
Duval Early Learning Center
In response to a request for an update on the VPK programs at Duval Early Learning Center, Andrew said there are now 118 students enrolled at the center.
A 1.6% proposed raise is 💩, though the teacher’s unions universally endorse democrats, who’ve gotten us into the inflationary mess we’re in anyway, so let them eat their cake.
The covid pandemic – which tanked Trump’s economy to the tune of the 1st president since Hoover to lose jobs and a negative GDP – along with government spending to combat the hit, by both Trump and his GOP congressional allies and the Democrats, caused inflation. That is obvious and confirmed by the fact that it was worldwide and the US has come out of it faster and in better shape than almost any other country. The universally predicted crash never happened and is now no longer expected, and the economy is strong and in good shape for the fututre. That is why the Fed just lowered interest rates (the head is a Trump appointee).
I know inflation is the GOP mantra, but Trump caused it as much as Biden, which is to say, hardly at all. Government spending to get out of the crisis is a no brainer now for serious politicians and is better than the alternative, which would almost certainly have been a depression to dig out of, with the much worse deflation. Remember, people, both customers and employees, were willingly staying home from work – only a very small per cent were forced to over vaccine mandates – and shortages were common for many items and expensive for an extended period. As a builder, I saw lumber, concrete. and steel go up by 100-200% overnight, with very long waits to get some manufactured products like windows and appliances. If you think or thought this wouldn’t seriously impact the world economy, you were dreaming or a fool.
Don’t forget, there were many businesses that shuttered their doors because of locally imposed mandates as well as nationally.
The idea of a soft landing is still in the cards but it isn’t assured as of today, only time will tell. Depending on which economist one listens to, the Fed waited too long, they didn’t reduce the rate enough, or they reduced it too much.
To complicate matters more, once the federal government funds are depleted, there’s going to be a scramble to find a way to find other sources of funding; or any positions that were funded by those funds will, and should be, terminated. They should be, we didn’t have them before COVID, and chances are we sure don’t need them now. I found it amusing to hear how often staff, locally, had to insert the need to research in order to determine if stimulus funds could be used for certain “projects.”
As far as people willingly staying home during COVID, who wouldn’t if given the opportunity? Even after it was declared no longer a public health hazard, there were many who found staying home to their liking. Work your own hours, accrue lots of sick time and vacation time, not to mention no fuel expenditures, no wear and tear on your vehicle. Just the other day it was announced Amazon is requiring nearly all employees to return to the office for 5 days a week beginning in 2025. So while many benefited by working from home; the people in the trenches, you, your employees who bang the nails, dig the ditches, clean the buildings – they were not so fortunate. Some jobs don’t have the luxury of working from home. I’ll even add this, if there’s a reason for an increase in compensation, those having to go in on an everyday basis, they deserve it more. Unless someone can explain to me why not spending $200 – $300 per month in fuel costs isn’t financially beneficial to the person sitting at home in their lazy boy. Only a fool wouldn’t think so.
More importantly than employees staying home – those who worked at home were still productive members of the economy – customers willingly shunned many businesses out of reasonable fear of catching covid.
My business was able to keep going because Alachua County and the city building departments devised work arounds for inspections and office work. It meant new projects might be held up as clients had a wait and see approach to the economy, but we had enough on-going to keep on keepin’ on.
I could shop at every surrounding County mask free, without shopper quota limitations. The wokeness of Gainesville really stood out. They love the power to control freedoms. Still do.
National chains like Walmart limited shoppers, so going to another county would not have helped with them.
This was in the early days of Covid and no one knew exactly what they were doing, except conservative and safe behavior would logically keep you safer. Hard to do a study on if shopper quotas helped or not, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt and was not the cause of the economic slow down. People freely pulled back from crowds.
Since it’s over, don’t you think those employees need to return to their office environments?
Don’t be naive if you think the world stopped and people didn’t get sick or have other appointments, engagements, or want gym time. They still had those things, they just covertly went, hence the continued accrual of leave time.
Mixed and maybe a case by case issue. Certainly for downtown urban real estate it’s a problem, but it was soon discovered that much modern white collar work could effectively be completed at a home computer. No one is forcing businesses to keep workers at home.
Punt.
It’s that time of year.
🐷🐽🐖😷😳
A picture paints a thousand words!
Class dismissed ‼️
Any local parents who care about education of their children need to yank them out of this snake pit of a system and find a better place. Just sayin’ yo?
America was unique in providing public education almost from our beginning as a nation, and that tradition is a matter of both pride and an assurance that we aspire to providing equal opportunity for all our kids. That doesn’t mean it is easy and no problems exist, especially in a changing culture affecting kids and their parents, but thoughtful and resourceful Americans know this is an important tradition we should continue.
There are currently 4 elementary schools, 0 middle schools, and 2 high schools over capacity. One elementary school’s problem will be solved after remodeling. The other five schools that are over capacity could be solved with some tough decision making instead of spending $236,860 for comprehensive rezoning. It’s hard to determine who is more incompetent: the school board or administrative staff.
It requires someone with minimal problem-solving skills to tweak the boundaries for a few schools. They want to be able to say that some grand poo-bah of racial equity and grievances set the boundaries. It probably wouldn’t be correct then, anyway, in addition to costing a ton of money and taking forever.
Diyoooooone McGrath has pushed for major improvements in how stuff is done. She push for change but got beat back by certain people’s on the committee. Let’s get Diyooooone back.
$236k for software is nuts. How and why local government typically hires out of town and state experts for everything from this idea to architects, when we have a world class University within our borders with both expert faculty and grads in town who love the place enough to stay here at lower wages, is ridiculous. Hiring “in house” except when otherwise impractical, should be the 1st rule and UF should be brought into a partnership on this effort.
Why don’t they give raises to cover Bidenomics cost of living? Aren’t they proud of the last 3-1/2 years?
How much of the State’s raise for teachers also go to ESPs, teacher assistants? I hope DeSantis included them too…
The school board should cover the difference.
It’s Covidnomics dude, except for the fact that Biden has brought us safely home from that to under 3% inflation, near full employment, and no predicted crash and depression.
Under 3% inflation? You mean from last month?
“The annual inflation rate for the United States was 2.5% for the 12 months ending August, compared to the previous rate increase of 2.9%…”
Wrong! 2.5% is from last month (August).
The 2.5% was for August 2024, July was 2.9%, June 3.0%. 2023 annual US inflation rate (per US Inflation Calculator (.com), was 4.1%.
Here is the link for this data:
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
Fact check it! Here is the same 2023 rate from the CIA Factbook. According to the CIA, US had the 87th lowest inflation rate for 2023:
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/inflation-rate-consumer-prices/country-comparison/
Hope you don’t break your arm patting FJB on the back next time you see him, or the newest Democratic puppet!
AC SBAC is just following the Democratic playbook when it comes to dealing with the people who work and pay taxes: piss on their heads and tell them it’s raining! Give the money to locally favored interest groups! Now they are wondering how to avoid paying more money for legitimate needs (paying competent teachers) when the Federal pig trough is drying up: Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund!
SBAC is as incompetent, and corrupt, as any other local governing body in Alachua County!
You are publishing the same information:
““The annual inflation rate for the United States was 2.5% for the 12 months ending August, compared to the previous rate increase of 2.9%, according to U.S. Labor Department data published on September 11, 2024. ”
I see that Bora Bora ranks higher than us for 2023 inflation, but Israel, Norway, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Ireland, Australia, the UK, and Portugal all did worse. All of those countries would love to have our current economy.
Hey everybody, jazzman say inflation only 2.5% over the last year. Yes he did say it. He did.
“The annual inflation rate for the United States was 2.5% for the 12 months ending August, compared to the previous rate increase of 2.9%, according to U.S. Labor Department data published on September 11, 2024. The next inflation update is scheduled for release on October 10 at 8:30 a.m. ET, providing information on the inflation rate for the 12 months ending September 2024….”
That is the ending rate for those 12 months.
Spin it however you want, here’s the reality:
“The current annual inflation rate is 2.5%, the lowest since February 2021. Prices are still 21.2% more expensive since the pandemic-induced recession began in February 2020, with only about 6% of the nearly 400 items the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks cheaper today.”
I have quoted facts. Yes, inflation from the pandemic was serious – like the pandemic – and impacted the entire world as well as the administrations of Trump and Biden, and both US parties voted to crank up federal spending to prop up the economy. We are past the inflation crisis under Biden’s administration and it is a bald lie that we were better off 4 years ago as it is that inflation was uniquely Biden’s fault. We are much better off in terms of inflation, GDP, job growth – including manufacturing – than most all other developed economies around the world.
PS Keynes was right and all politically and economically experienced people know it. Government deficit spending stimulates the economy by circulating more money. Both parties in America know this and practice it. The smart way to do it is during recessions and before possible depressions, but not when the economy is humming – then you are supposed to raise taxes or cut spending to get back in balance. The Trump tax cut – like Bushes – pumped money into an already hot economy that didn’t need stimulation (Trump’s term until Covid was pretty close to Obama’s last 4 in terms of GDP) and felt good for a couple of years, while the debt increased ($8 trillion total during his administration).
We need McGraw.We need change. We need change. We need change.
I know how they can save $236,860.00 plus about 1.5 million right off the bat. This would also save hours and days of useless conversation that lowers the bar for students. The bar has already been lowered for staff and this outdated school board. Going backwards and wasting money is they only thing they are good at.
“The strategic plan cannot be implemented until the plan is fully approved, and we will bring that back to the board, including the implementation plan… so that the board can see the activities that will be implemented in Year One for each of those critical initiatives.”
Anyone else getting fed up with the constant word salad?
Most of us can attest that Ms. Certain knows all about “blackballing” people. It was highly likely she was instrumental in the termination of district personnel during the prior superintendent’s tenure, as well as the superintendent who proceeded her. She may have been instrumental in McGraw’s ouster as well.
My bad, should have been “preceded” with respect to the prior superintendent.
Are you referring to Simon, who is in Juneau, Alaska, because that is the best job she could find?
Unfortunately even a 1.6% raise is irresponsibly high–we need to save all possible taxpayer funds for the people that teachers and labor unions overwhelmingly vote as truly mattering in this world: the illegal aliens flooding into our country.
Did you know that in 2024, there are still non-American countries in the world where people must literally work for a living? In these oppressive nations, people have no choice but to get jobs or grow their own food, or else they risk starving.
With the aid of college liberals, lazy union parasites, and deranged cat ladies, the glorious Democratic Party will one day achieve its vision of relocating every human on earth into this country. In this glorious utopia, a small minority of taxpayers will have the privilege of working themselves to death paying for the needs and creature comforts of illegals.
I know that I speak for all teachers and public sector labor unions when I say that their salaries must be immediately dropped to minimum wage in order to save money for the greater good.
Simple math question: have the state’s portion + the school district’s portion added up to the 23% Bidenomics cost of living increases last 3.5 years?
___ Yes
____No
Eat it, board.