There are several more issues being negotiated than just "an additional half-percent raise" (which, by the way, I wouldn't mind accepting although I deserve more than they could offer. My family claims I make minimum wage because of the time, effort, and money I put into teaching.) Why are these not mentioned? Also, the other unions know that they'll get whatever we get.... so mentioning their acceptance of the lower raise is meaningless!

By the way, we teachers do not work in a relaxed, quiet office sipping coffee and chatting with colleagues. We have a high stress job, especially in schools where the state is breathing down our necks. Many of us work 9-10 hour days and spend money out of our own pockets to help our students. Of course, we wouldn't want to be anywhere but in our classrooms with our students.... just without all the political garbage that continues to be piled on us almost daily and that has no value to the student!

Why is the Fresno Bee so one-sided? Your editorial opinions on this issue really irritate me as I put my heart and life into my important job as an educator.

P.S. What happens to these posts? I wrote one last weekend and thought it would appear online here but have yet to find it.

Kay, a lot of generalities and no specifics. What's your pay, benefits, sick days, vacation days, teacher growth days and any other perks? How many hours per week at school, how many outside the school?

Folks in the private sector are tired of the whining when we have to provide all our own benefits while the public employees and their unions bleed the state dry. What a bunch of ingrates.9-10 hour days would be a short day for me and increase in pay on jobs is based on efficiency and improvement.

Education professionals' line of garbage may fly within your thug union membership, but not with folks who have to produce to survive.

Fresno Unified School District has always had issues with the unions. The classified union (CSEA) as well as the teacher's union. At one time I was employed as a substitute in a classified position within a school environment. But prior to this I had always worked in the private sector. What an awakening to the politics of just applying for a position within the system; but more importantly, after watching not only the teachers but the many administrators on campus, (the principal was never at the school), it was impossible to see any positive results for the students and/or their parents at the end of the day. Very few teachers would take on "extra pay contracts" to work with student clubs or youth leadership organizations. Parents were offered very little respect by the office manager - no one could move her out of the position due to the union - I became extremely disillusioned with the attitude towards the educating of the youth. Yes, there were teachers who gave their all, very few; the majority bitched about what was expected of them and how little they were compensated. Very few careers offer lifetime emplpoyment (tenure) and retirement packages as those available in education. Yes, there are difficult youth and difficult parents but this is the nature of the beast! If you do not like it or enjoy it; better yet if you find you are imposed upon at every turn of the road, then leave the profession and make room for those who understand you will never be rich by being a teacher but if this is your true calling you will find a sense of fulfillment and pay your bills at the same time. FUSD teachers have allowed the union to dictate not only to the board but to them and by doing so have allowed a great injustice to occur not only to themselves but more importantly to the students of every school, every classroom and every family of the community. Mr. Moore is a paid employee of the union - and he doesn't have tenure.

Brian Murray writes:…lot of generalities…no specifics…

Here are your specifics Brian,

Average teacher salaries rose less than 3% in the last 10 years when adjusted for inflation. Everybody else averaged more than twice that. Average teacher pay in California is consistently lower than occupations requiring the same education level.

Sick days and health benefits a perk? Exposure to communicable diseases, environmental hazards, the potential for violence, substandard sanitary facilities and cold if any running water are part of the job. But the costs are personal and teachers consistently have opted to forgo pay increases if doing so preserves their heath benefits. For this they are skewered as greedy budget busters.

Let’s talk about efficiency. Teachers have a contract year of about 180+ days with 6-7 contract hours per day. It totals about half the hours you and I have to do in the “real” world. Yet elementary teachers spend all but a half-hour in direct contact with their “product”. When compared to the average time-on-task in other industries, teachers are putting in as many hours as anyone and that doesn’t count the silly nonsense like teacher growth days.

Improvement? In 2003, when this community subjected FUSD to a deluge of criticism, 84% of FUSD schools posted such large increases in test scores their teachers qualified for bonuses under the API program. Didn’t get them though because the state was bled dry but not by teachers. Since the beginning of the API program FUSD posted increases, never a loss, in excess of the state average.

Did you ever hear of these successes? Not likely. These are facts, available to anyone who cares to look and there is no excuse for anyone, including this newspaper, to spout off on FUSD issues in ignorance of what’s actually happening in its classrooms.