Editor, Manteca Bulletin

For quite some time, I have read your articles attacking teachers, administration, and the school districts of the Manteca Unified School District and Ripon Unified School District. Your article, “Things get a tad heated in negotiations between RUSD & teachers”, was misleading and uninformed. Not once did you quote a source from either RUSD or Ripon Unified District Teachers Assocation, or reveal how you came about these “facts”. You only added to the hearsay that has been surrounding the topic, while adding your own reality to support your own preconceptions.

Education is one pillar of small communities and you are constantly trying to take a hatchet to it. Teachers negotiating salaries is not a new topic of discussion. As California educators, we are given meager resources from our districts and we do the best with what we can with what we are provided. Countless hours dedicated to our students go uncompensated and we, too, are trying to make a living that can keep up with the rising cost of living in the community we love. The discussion of money, available funds, and raises is never a pleasant one in the public sector, but as the economy changes, so do the demands of salaries. 

As a member of the RUDTA, I can say we have been adhering to the appropriate guidelines of the negotiations process for over a year and a half. We are careful not to cross boundaries; we are educators and we follow rules. We employ the support of our community members, but we do not pit students against the District. You are stirring a pot and attempting to pit community members against teachers, rather than reporting the facts and informing the public. You are doing a disservice to both communities and the hardworking educators of MUSD and RUSD. 

Nichole Meyer

Ripon teacher