Part of digital story:"Santa Monica Unified & Community College Districts"(Pages 84 to 87)
Manuscript Page 86

Manuscript Page 86

be too much and a new President was hired.

This new President was an ambitious energetic man who began immediately to under cut the Superintendent. His scheming worked because the Board finally fired the Superintendent and divided the College from the Unified District. I thought the whole problem could have been solved by the Superintendent changing his attitude toward the college. That institution did very well when compared with other Community Colleges. It could not honestly be compared with elementary, junior highs or senior high schools. I decided the Superintendent was seeking early retirement and he chose this way to get it.

During all the twenty nine years I spent as a Business Manager in California School Districts I had the responsibility of handling salary negotiations with employees both certificated and classified. This process gradually became more and more complicated as labor unions began to concentrate on school employees. What had been "Associations" became "Bargaining Units" and required more and more of my time. The teachers in Santa Monica District became quite militant and I was finally unable to spend the time necessary to work with them without getting some help. This same situation prevailed all over California. Teacher's groups became "unionized" to such an extent that there were some strikes in many districts.

When it became apparent that I would have to bring in some one to help handle the work load, I decided that the new person should not be in the Business Division. Many of the items we were discussing were not matters of finance but were more properly "working conditions." I therefore talked the Superintendent into putting the new man in the Personnel Division.

It took a great deal of time to revise the organization and to find a qualified person for the new position. Meanwhile I was meeting with teacher's representatives and their labor lawyers and listening to complaints about "extra duties" imposed on the teachers. They did not want to supervise students in the hallways or on the playgrounds or before school or after school or during lunch time or any time or place outside or their classrooms. It was obvious to me that the teachers were trying to get away from the students and to narrow their responsibilities for supervision of students just as much as they possibility could. This whole movement was pushed by the union leaders and endorsed by quite a number of teachers. It was obvious to me that many parents try to get away from their children in just the same way and with both teachers and parents evading their responsibilities it is no wonder that the behavior of many of our children and young people is so horrible.

Having made all these statements, let me hasten to add that teachers cannot take the place of parents. Both parties are required to do a proper job. Teachers can supplement the work parents do with children but when parents fail to do their jobs teachers cannot do it for them. Today teachers are trying to work with too many children of extremely diverse families and cultures but mainly they have too many children of all kinds in each classroom. At the same time they are being severely criticized by

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