Forward Together KLSD Response to KLDTA Executive Board

Written by: Charity Brotmann, Sherrie Goldstein, Cynthia Schmitt, Sara Weale, Josephine Ziegler

As community members, we have a right to communicate freely and respectfully with members of the KLSD community and are puzzled as to why you would find that “presumptuous and insulting.”  These are collectively our schools – they belong to district homeowners, parents, employees, students – and we have a right to voice our concern about their future.

Our group grew out of a shared concern that the acrimony that has characterized the relationship between the superintendent, BOE and the KLDTA for the last ten years is a true impediment to making progress on critical structural issues facing the district in a tax-cap environment.  We’ve always felt that Point #5 of our petition (www.ForwardTogetherKLSD.org) which calls on stakeholders to “Transform the tone of the dialogue about each other from adversarial to collaborative” is the essential prerequisite for addressing all of the other critical points outlined in the petition.

We are, as you state, “well-intentioned individuals in the community,” but we have not made a request to “intervene” in labor negotiations. Rather, we wanted to share the sentiment that many in the community currently share – that it is beyond time for KLSD stakeholders to move forward together towards workable solutions that preserve our district’s excellence and financial solvency.  Upon our invitation, the other KLSD association representatives attended the BOE meeting on May 9th and warmly welcomed the opportunity to hear our positive message that is supported by 860 community members who signed our petition.  Unlike KLDTA leadership, they have not found our community input into district affairs to be “counterproductive and illegal.”

As community members, we know that the May 23rd side agreement with KLDTA to switch health care carriers resulted from the BOE’s recent engagement (September 2012) of a consultant to find an alternative to the district’s current carrier, POMCO, in order to lower benefit costs for district taxpayers.  The health care consultant likely presented options to the district at the end of December 2012/January 2013 whereupon discussion of viable options with KLSD labor associations ensued.  After several months of these meetings, we are encouraged that KLDTA and the BOE finally reached an agreement to switch carriers and are assured that KLSD employees will continue to receive high quality health care services through NYSHIP, a health care purchasing consortium.  

What we don’t understand is why the KLDTA negotiated for retirement incentives in order to change health care carriers.  Changing health care carriers will save district taxpayers approximately $3 million dollars a year going forward.  So many of us in the community have been asked by our employers to switch carriers over the years as health care costs have risen and our employers have been forced to find ways to control costs.    

What we also don’t understand is why it took this long for the district and KLDTA to switch carriers – when most other districts made this cost-saving switch 8 to 10 years ago. Just consider for a moment - if the BOE and the KLDTA had reached an agreement to switch carriers just two years ago, perhaps fewer KLSD teachers and staff would have lost their jobs.  Maybe our elementary students would still be learning Spanish and our middle school students would be studying Mandarin or Latin?  Maybe the arts would not have experienced programming cuts?  Or maybe, just maybe, the resulting lower per-pupil cost would have meant a lower tax rate for district residents during these difficult economic times? 

With approximately $3 million dollars in health care savings anticipated for each year, the district still comes out ahead if it pays out $350,000 (estimating that 20 teachers take the $17,500 incentive) in retirement incentives.  But in these difficult financial times, why did the KLDTA require retirement incentives for many teachers who probably were already planning on retiring in the next three years regardless of the incentive?  Shouldn’t those taxpayer dollars earmarked for public education be spent on investing in younger teachers? Enhanced academic programming?  Smaller class sizes? Or again -- lowering taxes for district residents?

As a grassroots, community group, we will continue to inform and educate the community about KLSD district issues and their impact on our schools, our property values and our taxes. We expect that all district stakeholders are working together in a way that is positive, collaborative and professional.
We welcome open and respectful communication about the critical issues facing our district and look forward to hearing from all stakeholders about moving forward together -- for the sake of our students, employees and taxpayers. 

This letter was written in response to the Katonah Lewisboro Teacher's Association letter to KLSD Forward Together.

KLSD Forward Together first published an Open Letter to the KLDTA on May 28.