School board: Teachers seek pay increase, district plans new pool, trustee resigns
Teachers and parents protest outside of school board meeting for pay increase
Teachers and parents protest outside of school board meeting for pay increase– About 60 teachers, and parents demonstrated along Niblick Road Tuesday afternoon near the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Office. The teachers are upset about the impasse in contract negotiations with school district administrators. Superintendent Curt Dubost offered teachers a 1.5-percent pay increase and one time $3,000 stipend for teachers. Justin Pickard of the PRPE Teachers Union says the teachers want a 5-percent Cost of Living Adjustment. (COLA.)
Justin Pickard, a teacher at Paso Robles High School, in the foreground, and district officials Curt Dubost and Jen Gaviola.
At their meeting Tuesday night, the board accepted the resignation of trustee Jim Reed. The board also approved a two-year contract for PRJUSD Superintendent Curt Dubost.
Jim Reed
Despite calls for “schools over pools” by some teachers, the board gave Chief Business Officer Brad Pawlowski the go-ahead to develop plans for a swimming pool at Paso Robles High School. The plan is scaled down dramatically from the Aquatic Complex proposed by former Superintendent Chris Williams.
Pawlowski says the plan was developed after the Grand Jury raised questions about more than a million dollars in equipment that was purchased, and hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for the Aquatic Complex, but not pool manifested.
Pawlowski will further develop the plan for one 38-meter pool to be built at the high school. The current budget surplus will pay for the construction, but Pawlowski admits the “elephant-in-the-room” is the operating costs that will occur once the pool is built. He says the pool design company estimated it will be $255,000 per year, but a teacher told the board Tuesday night that the operators of Sinsheimer Pool in San Luis Obispo estimated that it will cost $800,000. The pool discussion will continue at future board meetings.
