I don't teach at Sheldon, but I do teach at Foulks Ranch Elementary. I have not and will not participate in an unsanctioned sick out.

If the teacher's union called for such action to try and send our intransigent district a message that we will not allow our salaries to be slashed or our health care capped while the district sits on a $65 million reserve and grants 5% raises and enhanced health care packages to the top administration officials at the district office, then I'll participate.

But I will also write highly engaging and meaningful lesson plans and arrange for a sub so as not to leave my students in the cold. My kids deserve my best effort. I'll reserve my anger and contempt for the district officials who are refusing to bargain in good faith with hard working teachers throughout our district.

Part 1.
Teachers have families just like everyone else, and when your family is threatened you stand up for them. The school district wants to give its own family a permanent pay cut by imposing a hard cap on health care. So for everyone out there that thinks the teachers were wrong today for taking a sick/mental health day (10 a year by contract), think about this. What would you do if you knew that you ...would lose 10 percent or more of your salary each year from that point on forever? Ya, I thought so. You would stand up for your family too. See the problem is healthcare not the teachers, because healthcare traditionally has gone up each year double digits for about the last five years or so. Healthcare providers can raise fees as they please and that is the real issue that we as voters need to fix! Also, there are other monetary items that both the district and teachers' union can look at to resolve this impasse. Unfortunately, the district is unwilling to do so with a 60,000,000 million dollar reserve they just don't have enough money.

Part 2.
This is why the district and the teachers' union are now in the "Fact Finding" stage of bargaining, which is not where we want to be! Why, because these proceedings are non- binding. Simply put, it means that at the end of the proceedings no matter what recommendations are made by the “Fact Finding” panel, the district does not have to do any of the panels’ recommendations and therefore, may impose their last best offer of a hard cap on healthcare and permanent loss of lottery stipend. Here’s where the rub lies with the teachers, and that is this. They are 18 months into a 2 year agreement that all parties signed and were ratified by a vote. Now the district wants to add the healthcare cap and lottery stipend to that agreement, which was negotiated in good faith. Folks, if you believe these actions of the district are right and the way to treat professionals that truly do care about their students, then I have a wonderful ice fishing hole in Arizona to sell you! One last bit of insight and that is simply this, the teachers’ working environment is your child’s learning environment and don’t you think they deserve the best?

I hope all of you post on Elk Grove Online as well. These are facts that people really need to know. KCRA's coverage was atrocious. CBS 13 was more fair but still missing facts that I wish could have been heard.