By Mary-Justine Lanyon
The teachers who addressed the Rim of the World Unified School District at the March 13 board of trustees meeting did not mince words about the recent negotiations between the district and the teachers.
- Nicholas – the vice president of the Rim Teachers Association who teaches theater at Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School and Rim High – enumerated a number of things she said she did not need to tell the trustees: How smart, skilled, talented and educated Rim teachers are. How they go above and beyond. How they show up and work tirelessly.
“You watch us succeed every day. Why are you sending the message you have no interest in whether Rim teachers stay or go?” Nicholas asked. Her feeling is that the district has no interest in providing a fair and adequate salary.
“If the district wants to continue hiring and retaining teachers, you had better start showing some interest in fair wages and class sizes,” Nicholas said.
Cassandra Zamanis, who teaches English at Rim High, told the trustees she is “deeply disappointed in how this district is treating its teachers. How can you sit here and say you value the outcome of education but not those providing it? Schools can’t run without us. There is no learning without us.”
Zamanis went on to say the teachers continue to face overcrowded classrooms. Research, she said, consistently shows smaller class sizes improve student outcomes – “research you are either unaware of or choose to ignore. We are left to struggle with overwhelming rosters.
“We’re not asking for anything extraordinary,” Zamanais said. “Just fair wages. I didn’t realize being a public school teacher would mean I wouldn’t be respected by my school board. That’s not something that sits well with me.”
Rim High math teacher Ashley Chaney – who noted she has experience teaching in three other districts in California – told the board she had constantly heard how difficult it is for Rim to hire and keep qualified teachers, staff and administrators. “The way you’ve been doing it isn’t working. Enrollment is declining, test scores are not increasing,” Chaney said.
“Many teachers choose to drive more than an hour (to another district to teach) rather than drive 10 minutes (to a Rim school). Our salaries are among the lowest among neighboring districts and districts of a similar size yet we are not the lowest performing.” Chaney also noted that Rim “refuses to consider all the years of experience when teachers transfer here.”
“We are overworked, underpaid and disrespected,” Sydney McCook – who teaches at Valley of Enchantment Elementary School – told the trustees. “This district continues to show us through its budget and its actions that teachers and students are not the priority.
“Where is the investment in us?” McCook asked. “There is never enough for fair wages, reasonable class sizes or even basic respect.”
Referencing lawsuits the district has faced, she asked the trustees if they are “hoarding funds” in anticipation of future lawsuits.
“The reason we are here is the students but somehow they are always the ones paying the price. What kind of district do you want this to be? One that values its teachers or one that watches them walk away?
“I am demanding this district prove through actions, not just words, that we matter,” McCook said.
Amanda Markovich, president of the Rim Teachers Association, then addressed the school board. “I trust you are having a better month than the teachers are,” she said, quoting an old adage: “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break and forever to repair.”
Markovich reminded the trustees of the impasse that occurred during negotiations in 2018. “Trust was completely broken between the school board and RTA,” she said. “We felt like it was being built back up. But after RTA got the board-approved proposal, the trust is gone.” This recent proposal, she said, this year, seems very similar to 2018.
Markovich said the proposal includes the offer to decrease class size at one level only to increase it an another – something she called divisive, that would pit teacher against teacher.
Rim teachers, Markovich said, are 33rd out of 33 districts in the San Gorgonio group in pay.
“Things don’t have to be this negative,” she told the trustees, “but it’s hard to have good faith in negotiations when there is no faith left.”
Speaking for the California School Employees Association – which represents the classified employees – Julie Perkins noted they are exhausted. “We have more workload on our plates.” There are some key classified positions that sit empty, including four bus drivers, Perkins said. “We are also down in security, landscaping and custodial workers. You are taking away classified positions and adding more work to other classified employees.
“We are a minority – we are a number. We know that. But we should not be a number,” Perkins said. “We are more than that. I hope you heard us.”
The trustees respond
The trustees who were present responded to the comments made.
“Every year it’s the same thing,” said Trustee Scott Craft. “It’s tough. We are looking for everything we can to fund this district and fund the teachers and staff the way they deserve. I hope we can come up with agreeable numbers.”
Craft went on to say the state does not fund Rim “the way our neighbors get funded. It takes grace from both sides to make it work.
“I want to express my gratitude to the teachers and staff for their hard work. I was a student here, a teacher here. Our teachers are among the best in the state. We are trying to do our best for our teachers and staff.”
“I know we have board members who ask what is the most we can give to our staff in spite of having limited resources,” said Trustee Bill Mellinger. “It is troubling how limited they are compared to other districts.
“I know ‘thank you’ doesn’t go far enough. We appreciate the staff, administrators and teachers. Everyone matters. We do respect you,” Mellinger said.
Trustee Cindy Gardner thanked everyone who “spoke and poured their hearts out.” She thanked all those who sent her letters and emails, expressing her frustration she can’t have “back-and-forth dialogue” on them because that, she said, would be negotiating away from the table. “I read every letter,” she said.
Gardner added the California School Board Association is having conversations with Congressman Obernolte to make sure federal funding sources are protected. “Anything cut from us is potentially catastrophic,” she said. “We have to fight at those higher levels to protect our funding at the local level.”
Jordana Ridland, the school board president, expressed her appreciation for everyone taking time out of their busy days to “log on and talk to us. We are working hard on your behalf. It makes me sick to my stomach how we are getting shortchanged in our district.
“We are getting 80 cents on the dollar while districts down the hill are getting $1.20 on the dollar. We have higher expenses,” Ridland said. “We have costs associated with snow – an added expense on our shoulders. We have higher per capita transportation expenses.
“We are doing everything we can to provide a safe and thriving environment – as the teachers do. We’re in a stranglehold with what we have available to us. We have less to work with and have to do more.”
Ridland expressed her appreciation to the “hardworking staff. From top to bottom, they are loving on our students and making sure they have a wonderful experience. You’re not invisible – you are being heard – you have a school board that cares.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Ridland said.
Superintendent Dr. Paul Sevillano added his thoughts: “The board has had to make some difficult decisions about the budget. We understand those impacts on people.
“We are deeply about all our staff. This district is underfunded by the state. Funding is not equitable and needs to be corrected.”
Dr. Sevillano noted that the district established a budget committee in April 2024. That committee, he said, has identified reductions that don’t impact the classroom. “That is a big priority for all of us. We will continue to look at ways to reduce operational costs.”
Editor’s note: Next week we will share additional information from the March 13 school board meeting.
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