Whitney Muziani-Holland
President Ben-Naim and members of the School Board-
I come to you today to share my concerns about the changes from House Bill 1.
Most importantly is the deliberate exclusion of our transportation workers in the allocated 1% raise. It is my belief that anyone employed by LAPS is an educator, this includes the people who greet our students first thing each morning and safely deliver them to school each day. It is baffling to me that transportation would be excluded from receiving a raise when they too will be asked to change how they operate as we re-open our schools in the midst of a pandemic. As I have discussed with you before, I feel it does us a disservice to enter the mindset of valuing one classification of employees over another. I would highly encourage the School Board to prioritize the funding needed to provide a 1% raise for all members of the bargaining unit.
The second issue at hand is the addition of ten extra days to the school year calendar. A change to working conditions such as this one would need to be negotiated with our bargaining teams. I am happy to participate in this discussion as there is a pressing need for flexibility and creative thinking as we begin to look critically at how we make up for the lost time when our doors closed in March. I ask that as you determine if this is a conversation worth us having, we proceed with some clarity from the state about the availability of funding for additional compensation for these days.
Thank you for your continued work on doing what is best for all staff and students in Los Alamos, especially during this time.
Sincerely,
Whitney Muziani-Holland
President of Los Alamos Federation of School Employees
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