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Letter to the Editor: Support our teachers

Letter to the Editor:
Like many of you, I’ve been reading the articles in the local media about our teachers working without a contract.

I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t fully understand or explore what that meant until I found out about a meeting that the Chelsea Education Association held at the library shortly before the holiday break.  I attended the meeting and was very distressed to learn that our teachers are dealing with a self-funded health care system that is not functioning at an acceptable level.

I heard first-hand testimony from teachers who have had to deal with severe health crises along with the added stress of not knowing if their health care coverage would come through for them.  Are these stories we’re hearing from people in other professions?  Yes.  Unfortunately, they’re not unique.  Our family has had to deal with similar situations and we were fortunate enough to have other employment and coverage choices.

I realize there are those who would ask, hey, we’re all facing these challenges, why take special notice of it happening to our teachers?  Because, as someone so eloquently put it at the CEA meeting, they are not building widgets, they are shaping the lives of our children.  This is not comparable to any other business.  We have amazing teachers and we do not want them to have to leave our school district to get reliable coverage for their families.  The Chelsea School District is one of the most desirable in the state.  A school district is the backbone of a community.  Not only do they shape our children’s lives, but having a good school district opens up community programs, improves home values and brings business here.  We do not want our schools run like corporate America.

After attending the CEA meeting, I emailed our school board members and superintendent, expressed my concern over the situation and asked for a response.  The response I got absolutely floored me.  Mr. Steve Olsen, the school board president, returned my email.  He was condescending, he made disparaging remarks about the CEA (which by the way, the teachers did NOT do at their meeting), and he shared many points that I felt contradicted the reality of how a Health Savings Account works.  Our family used an HSA for many years.  It is self-funded, what you can use it for is strictly regulated, you are the only one with access to it and at the end of the year if you have a balance it rolls over to the following year.

Mr. Olsen stated in his email that if the teachers were allowed to have an HSA with a balance that they stay in control of that they would somehow be able to pool that money to mount some sort of political coup.  Untrue.  As pointed out, it can only be used for very specific health costs.  It is important to note that with this current health plan, the board can take funds from the staff health care account and use them elsewhere.  When I replied to Mr. Olsen’s email with these points, his next email simply accused me of being a political lackey for the CEA, a group I didn’t even know existed until I found out about the meeting a few weeks ago.

I’ve since found out that I was not the only community member to reach out and be responded to in this manner.

At this point, I felt that it was prudent to attend the next school board meeting, which was on Nov. 24.

Again, I heard first-hand, emotional testimony about the hardships this coverage has caused.  There were also community members who stood up to express what the teachers and the schools meant to them, as they did at the CEA meeting.  After each person spoke, no matter what they said, no matter how emotional they were, they were not acknowledged in any way.  Mr. Olsen would simply ask for the next person to speak.  When a community member pointed this out to him, Mr. Olsen stated that the school board meeting is not a public meeting, but a meeting held in the public and that it would be inappropriate for him to interact with the speakers.

I would like to respectfully suggest that saying “Thank you” is always an appropriate interaction.  I was also just appalled to see that some of the board members did not even bother to pretend to give their attention to the people speaking.  Instead, they typed on their laptops or used their tablets.  It was one of the most incredibly disrespectful displays I have ever witnessed.

I strongly urge all of the board members to give their full attention to the teachers and community members speaking at future meetings.  For those of you who consistently do, thank you, it is very much appreciated.

As a parent with two children in this school district, I know first-hand how often these teachers go above and beyond.  Our oldest child suffered through a devastating medical problem when she was still in preschool.  Even after determining the problem and going through surgery we had a lot of emotional fallout to work through.  The teachers, administration and staff in this school district helped us take our daughter from a child who’s goal when starting at 1st grade (she was too ill to attend kindergarten) was simply to try to be at school for the day, to a happy, confident 8th grader on the honors roll.

Every single day they went above and beyond.  They were innovative, they were caring and they were fully on her team.  Our youngest child thankfully never had to deal with those same challenges, and guess what?  Every single day her teachers have gone above and beyond for her.  They’ve been innovative and caring and are fully on her team.  This is what every single person working in our schools are about.  And, clearly, their voices are not being heard.  I find this unacceptable.  If we do not address this situation, we will lose our great teachers and we will not get them back.  You don’t have to have children in this school district to be affected by this.

If the morale, health and well being of our teachers are undermined, our students are affected.  If our students suffer, our school district’s viability and reputation diminish.  If that happens, it affects our programs, our home values and our local businesses.  I hope no one makes the mistake of thinking this is just someone else’s problem.  This affects our entire community.

There has been a lot of talk about hearing our teachers and valuing them.  But this is really about human dignity.  There have been emotional testimonies given at several meetings that this current, school district held, health insurance is causing hardships.  It’s my understanding that the plan the teachers are asking for, MESSA, is what many of our surrounding school districts are already using.

It is necessary for our school district to be fiscally responsible, but not to the detriment of the quality of our teaching community.  I obviously am not privy to the intricacy of all the negotiations.  And I am not naïve about the challenges the economic and political climate place on our school board’s decision making process.  However, these teachers are clearly telling us that their families cannot function under the current contract offerings.  In which case, if MESSA or something comparable is not offered, we will lose good teachers.

We had so many knowledgeable and well-spoken community members stand up at both meetings.   Someone at the CEA meeting suggested that our real fight was with Lansing.  While I fully agree there are many things we need to change on that level, it should never be a distraction from what we should and can change here in Chelsea.  We can’t afford to lose these amazing people.

If their morale continues to be eroded, if they cannot get the benefits they need for themselves and their families, they will leave our school district.  That is a long-term damage that no surplus fund can ever cover or make up for.  Not only will they leave, they will remember how they were treated and we won’t get them back.  Other potential applicants will hear about the situation as well and may apply elsewhere.

So many community members expressed their willingness to help at both meetings.  I would love for us to be able to meet, share our knowledge and discuss this more.  Someone mentioned at the school board meeting that negotiations are over.  As a parent and a community member, I disagree.

Please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. We could arrange to meet, share information and plan to attend board meetings.  Thank you to every single one of you who spoke up in defense of our teachers.  I want to do whatever we can to resolve this issue and keep our teachers.

They fight for our children every single day and they need us to fight for them now.

Thank you!
Susanne Vanden Bosch
Chelsea

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8 thoughts on “Letter to the Editor: Support our teachers”

  1. Susanne, I’m in for whatever we can organize to demonstrate our support of Chelsea teachers. Your letter is so articulate and informative, I am planning to share it as widely as I can.

  2. The board has said they need to protect our resources but aren’t our teachers our most important resource? Chelsea High School was ranked 26th out of over 3000 high schools in Michigan. ( Best High Schools in Michigan – US News & World Report. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/michigan )

    If we value the education our children receive shouldn’t we value our teachers who provide that education? In my opinion our teaching staff is our most valuable asset and should be treated as such!

    Thank you for an informative letter Susanne!

  3. Thank you Susanne for your well thought out and written letter. I think you are voicing what most if not all of the parents of Chelsea schools would say if given an opportunity. I’m very disappointed to hear that elected board members weren’t listening with their hearts – as we teach children to do. For them to be obviously “not listening” is so disrespectful. I love this community. I love Chelsea schools. But I don’t love that we are not taking care of our own people. Health care is important. I taught in Ann Arbor and we had MESSA. I didn’t need to spend brain space on worrying if my medical needs were going to be covered. Shame on Chelsea.

  4. Thank you for such a informative letter we need to do everything we can to keep the wonderful teachers we have in Chelsea!

  5. As many have mentioned the teachers in Chelsea go way beyond most to help our students. I attended a School Board meeting a while ago and was furious that these people are elected to represent us. Ignoring us and not responding to any citizen who speaks is beyond disrespectful to the Teachers, parents and our students. Chelsea Schools are suppose to be Bully Free. It sounds to me there are some bullies and they are not the students and not our Teachers.

  6. Thank you so much for such a wonderful letter and for standing up for our teachers. I admit that I am still learning about all the details but it was clear to me that our teachers need this community’s support. You are absolutely right that this affects everyone in Chelsea, not just those with kids in school. Let’s show them our support!

  7. SUSANNE — I was most impressed by your remarks regarding Chelsea teachers, the Board,
    and health insurance. You have done what a good citizen should do, be active in
    local issues and let the Board of Education — elected by the voters — know the opinions and feelings of many of the electorate.

    Among their responsibilities, Board of Education members set policy, should see to it that the budget is handled properly and audited yearly by a reputable firm.The Board hires a Superintendent to run the schools, and evaluates the Superintendent . The Board should always show respect and listen to the various constituencies. Board of Educations members should serve the public, the electorate. If members fail in any duty, a recall effort would get their attention as well as the attention of the general public.

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