Word has it that Arlene Ackerman did not announce that she is leaving at the School Board meeting tonight. Who knows whether the rumors were true or not, but most were saying that she was going to announce her departure. Wade Randlett from SFSOS even called a press conference about it.

SEIU Local 790, my day job, is in the midst of intense negotiations with the School District and the lead negotiator, LaWanna Preston, is indicating that a strike is in the works. In an editorial published last month in the Bay Guardian, she wrote,

“Local 790 is currently in negotiations for a new contract. But it doesn’t feel like a negotiation. Arlene Ackerman, superintendent of the school district, has made offers to us that show how little we are regarded. We have not had a raise in three and a half years, she is not offering a raise, and she has told us to pay for our own retirement and pay all increases in medical costs. She’s also given us three work-furlough days (which means we don’t get paid at all), and has laid off nearly 100 workers. How much worse can it get?

It can get worse. Ackerman could have avoided laying off those workers if she had agreed to implement an initiative passed by the voters a couple of years ago that allows the workers in the classification where there are layoffs to do early retirement. The city and county of San Francisco have implemented this initiative, and nearly 200 people who would have been laid off were able to keep their jobs. It is simply heartless to not implement this initiative.

But it gets even worse. Ackerman refuses to give us, the lowest-paid workers in the district, a raise, while giving herself a hefty raise, to $270,000 a year. That means she is making $22,500 per month! She also got a raise in her expense allowance, which went from $800 to $2,000 a month. So every month, she takes home close to $25,000, while the lowest-paid workers get no raises, pay more for retirement and health, and get three unpaid days off over the course of the next year. It is positively shameful. “

I did hear that a number of people called in sick on Monday at the school district.

Watch for fireworks over the next month…