BOE: Tell Us the Whole Story

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Do your homework...":

The community OKed Ryan Ruf's raise when they voted for the budget. Numbers indicating a raise were on documents handed out at BOE meetings during budget discussions.

For obvious reasons, Mr. Ruf's increase wasn't included as a highlight in the budget mailing that went to the community. But if you requested a full copy of the budget and took the time to go over line by line, it was there.

Teacher givebacks weren't detailed in the presentation the lawyer made on behalf of the BOE. That focused on how much the PCT demands would cost and that they were unaffordable in comparison to the BOE offer. The presentation talked about current steps in salaries and used calculations to show them to be very generous.

Anything additional that the teachers were expected to do for the BOE offer or givebacks were not discussed, therefore leading to the assumption that everything was the same. The conclusion was that teachers were being unreasonable.

Labor contract negotiations are not my specialty. But it's hard to even be knowledgeable when only select information is made public or highlighted by the source of my information- the BOE and details care coming out of the woodwork from blog tirades and youtubes.

I'm disappointed that our BOE doesn't tell a complete story and puts obstacles (like telling parents to FOIL information that was publicly discussed) in the way of getting those facts.