Writer is 'outraged and disgusted' with school board

Well, here we go again. It's another school year and another round of broken promises and poor decision-making by the Pleasant Valley School Board.

Last year, the school board stood before us on multiple occasions and told us that in order to give the teachers in our district the raises they deserved, three schools would have to be closed. Without this action, the raises would not happen, but if we all bit the bullet and accepted the closures, the teachers would receive their raise and all would be well for the Pleasant Valley School District.

The choices the school board made concerning which schools to close were questionable at best. The board initially picked the three alternative schools among those slated for closure or relocation. These schools not only gave the parents in this district a choice of philosophy and focus for their children's education without incurring the expense of a private school, they also happened to be the schools with the highest STAR9 scores. It made no sense why these schools would be even considered, much less chosen; has the school board not heard the adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

The result was one of the schools filing a lawsuit against the school district and one school essentially leaving the district to create a new charter school so their program was protected. The third school, Los Primeros Structured School, whose parents felt it was important to "play nice" and not threaten, has been moved to a smaller location and told to accept more students. The school has no auditorium for their musical, which has been produced for some 15 years. Los Primeros was also turned into a neighborhood school, making it much more difficult for parents throughout the district to choose the school for their children.

The message the board sent to teachers and the public last year was that money saved because of school closures and relocations would be used for teacher compensation. This has not happened. I, as a parent of Los Primeros students, am very concerned that the board and district moved our school with the idea that funds saved would be used for our teachers. As of now this hasn't happened. The old site kindergarten is being leased out to a private preschool for around $1,800 per month. The rest of the school is empty. It is not generating any revenue for the district. We are almost halfway through the school year with no funds coming into the district other than the small preschool lease. The school board is at least letting our Los Primeros Education Foundation use the auditorium this year for two weeks in February to put on our production of "Grease Jr.," but there is no guarantee that we will be able to use the site after this year.

I hear from my friends who are teachers in this district they have been trying to work with the school board since the start of the school year. Since the school closures last year the board has heard from many teachers requesting that the board support retaining high-quality teachers. I hear that the school board does not seem to be listening to their employees, the teachers.

I have to ask, where did all the money go that was supposed to be saved with these moves and closures? How come the teachers haven't seen their raises?

As parents of students at one of the schools affected by the closures and relocations/ reconfigurations, I am gravely concerned by the ongoing pattern of poor decisions and empty promises. If we do not take care of our teachers, they will leave for districts who respect them. This will only hurt our schools, our children and, ultimately, the financial health of our community.

Our community was hurt enough last year with the school closures and relocations/ reconfigurations. I, for one, tried to come to peace with it all because I believed the teachers would benefit from the extra funds; I should have known better with this board than to think they would honor their word and actually make a decision that benefited the teachers or students rather than their own personal agendas.

I am outraged and disgusted. I challenge the school board to prove me wrong and do what it knows should be done. Unfortunately, based on past experience, I can only remain hopeful but not optimistic. I offer my sincere apologies to the teachers of this community and to the children who will ultimately lose most when the teachers leave. Cheri Kurman Camarillo