Written by Justin Culetu
In light of Gov. Newsom’s flimsy deal for school reopening, multiple California school districts have proposed using the state and federal relief funding to give out bonuses to teachers and staff members, some of which have not stepped foot on campus since the start of the pandemic.
“Reopen California Schools,” a Facebook group started early in the pandemic, released multiple internal memos from numerous California school districts, exposing their selfishness regarding the use of federal aid money.
Clovis Unified School District in Fresno County allegedly discussed using the funding for one-time teacher bonuses as high as $6,000 per employee.
The Dublin Teachers Association, a union for the Dublin Unified School District in the Bay Area, went as far as proposing one-time $2,500 bonuses to teachers as well as “an airplane trip to Hawaii” once the pandemic is over.
San Juan Unified also suggested a one-time, off-schedule 1% bonus for teachers (based on their 2020-2021 salaries) – on top of a $500 stipend.
For just about every student and parent facing the hardships of remote learning, this information serves as a massive wake-up call on the level of trust that should be put into the teacher’s unions and school boards. Rather than focusing on the wellbeing of students, which has significantly deteriorated since the start of online learning, teacher’s unions and school districts have shown their lack of responsibility by refusing to do their jobs as educators.
Photo via YourCentralValley
