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Custodial Worker Resource
Stump Zone
Found the following on the online version of the Los Angeles Times
May 2, 2002:
HUNTINGTON BEACH Independent Mailbag
Local Headlines...EDITORIAL
Sounding Off
Cutting at the campus level no the answer
OK Moms and Dads here we go again. . . budget cuts. And who gets the chopping block? The staff that cleans our schools, runs our schools on a daily basis, works to get the kids to read more and eight aides that help the handicapped.
I didn't read about any cutting of the fat from the district office, is that off limits? Is the district offices' budget slim?
When you see our schools looking trashy, the bathrooms don't work, lights are blowing out in the classrooms, you can't get in to see a vice principal or principal because they are too busy and short staffed, your kids can't use the school library because there isn't a librarian or your handicapped child isn't receiving the help that is required for them on a daily basis -- you will know why.
We have major issues at each of the high schools and budget cutting in the "trenches" is not the answer. I didn't realize that these were luxury items we had as employees of the Huntington Beach Union High School District.
The district sacrifices the teachers and students each and every time. We still, in this district, have classrooms that stink because of poor air quality. In the it's infinite wisdom, the district didn't let any of us parents know we had air quality problems because it would have cost money to notify us. Ask any parent that had a child at Marina High School in the science portables between 1999 and May 2001. Remember the teachers and kids are not the No. 1 priority.
So teachers, when you see what the district office is spending and you think is a waste of money, remember these are your leaders that have no concept of what it is like in your day to day classrooms. Teachers, kids and parents are the backbone of the district, not just a few elite employees that think they know what is best for you and for our kids.
In my "kingdom" the kids and teachers come first. In the union high school district, teachers and kids are way down the line.
DENYSE SCARBERRY
Huntington Beach
The Union Steward
Who are these of lowly pay
With haggard look and hair of grey?
They get no rest by day or night.
They're always wrong. They're never right.
They do not have a law degree,
But go to bat for you and me.
Though seldom have they been to college,
They must possess the widest knowledge,
Of labor grades and when to grieve,
Vacation pay and sickness leave,
Of overtime and who's to do it,
Of coffeetime and who's to brew it,
The how and which and why and when,
And all the problems of women and men.
If, with forepersons they agree,
Then they're rats who've got weak knees.
If to the workers they try to cater,
They're branded as agitators.
Those who have to take this slop
Are called the STEWARDS of your shop.
--Anonymous from The Legal Rights of Union Stewards by Robert M.
Schwartz, revised edition 1994)
~~~
A shop steward knocked at the heavenly gate
His face was scared and old
He stood before the weigher of his fate
For admission to the fold.
What have you done, Saint Peter said,
To gain admission here?
I've been a shop steward, Sir he said
For many and many a year.
The pearly gate swung open wide,
St. Peter touched the bell
Come in and choose your harp, he said
You've had your share of hell.
--Author Unknown
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