By B.C. Manion
Semi-truck drivers honked to show their support.
So did drivers in SUVs, four-door sedans, pickup trucks, PT Cruisers, foreign compact cars and min-vans.
But the most insistent honking of all came from school bus drivers, who laid on their horns when they rolled past a string of more than 100 protesters who lined up along SR 54 in Wesley Chapel on Friday, March 4.
The protesters gathered in front of Republican State Rep. Will Weatherford’s district office to send a clear message to state legislators.
“We are not going to roll over and play dead,” said Frank Roder, a vice president of the United School Employees of Pasco.
The crowd chanted “save our schools” and waved protest signs.
Organizers revved up emotions by chanting through bullhorns, but this crowd didn’t need much encouragement. They were obviously pumped up.
The rally was timed — just before the Legislature convened in Tallahassee this week — to let lawmakers know teachers and support staff want them to help, not hurt, schools.
“Some people think it is a done deal,” Roder said. He hopes that it’s not. “We’re out here to let people know, we care our about kids, we care about our jobs and hopefully, we’ll get some of their attention,” he said.
He cited several concerns, including Senate Bill 736, which he characterized as essentially a rewrite of Senate Bill 6, vetoed last year by Gov. Charlie Crist.
Roder said he’s not opposed to all forms of pay for performance, but thinks any change along those lines should be done after testing it out in pilot schools and tweaking it to be sure it works.
Roder said district employees are scared about potential layoffs.
“The custodians, the people in the lunchrooms, are afraid of what’s going to happen,” he said. Teaching assistants are worried, too.
Concerns about layoffs are legitimate because personnel is the district’s biggest expense and the district faces a $60 million shortfall, said Roder, who is on the district’s budget review committee.
The layoffs have human consequences, he said. “You’re talking about families in our community who are going to be out of a job.”
Collective bargaining is another big issue, Roder added.
Wisconsin and Ohio have already captured national headlines regarding efforts to dismantle collecting bargaining — with opponents claiming states simply can’t afford the benefits granted to public employees through collective bargaining.
“I don’t know how we became public enemy No. 1,” Roder said. “I’ve been in education for 36 years. I’ve always been very proud to say I’m an educator. Suddenly, to say you’re in education, to say you’re a firefighter, to say you’re a police officer, has an ugly connotation — that we have it made and we have all these cushy benefits.”
Besides lining up SR 54, public school educators held similar protests near Sen. Mike Fasano’s office and Rep. John Legg’s office in Pasco County. Teachers in Polk and Pinellas also held similar rallies, Roder said.
Anne Bertugli, a behavioral specialist at Centennial Elementary, took part in Wesley Chapel.
The Zephyrhills resident said she’s worried about the impact that cuts will have on education.
“I’m concerned about the violation of the spirit of the Florida Constitution which protects the right to collective bargaining.,” she added.
She’s also concerned about a proposal to mandate a change in the way teachers are evaluated and paid, she said.
“I’m not here for myself. My day is done,” she said, noting she has signed up for the Deferred Retirement Option program.
“I’m out here in support of the people who paved the way for me and for the younger teachers,” Bertugli said.
“The governor, when he was running, promised there would be no cuts to education. Now, if I’m understanding correctly, he’s talking a 10 percent cut,” she said.
“I think what you are going to see is a lot of support services cut.”
Jillian Kornick, a special education teacher at Centennial Elementary, said in four years she hasn’t received a raise.
“I don’t feel that we’ve gotten the respect that we deserve,” said the woman who graduated from Saint Leo University with a bachelor’s degree and also holds a master’s degree from Saint Leo.
Anita Altman, a teacher at Quail Hollow Elementary in Wesley Chapel, said children are the ones who are paying the price for inadequate school funding.
“This is what I want to know: Why are you picking on the unions? Wall Street did more to hurt this economy and I don’t see much punishment going on, on Wall Street,” Altman said.
