Silkwood Takes on Teachers

Continuing her fight against the very individuals who teach Sumner County's children, Vanessa Silkwood on Tuesday unveiled an immediately unpopular plan that would prevent the payment of certain retirement benefits to Sumner County's teachers. 

Silkwood was the lone "no" vote on a retirement proposal presented and recommended by the Director of Schools in November 2011.  The proposal passed 10-1, with many Board members lamenting that it was not adequate in terms of the medical coverage, but was the best the Board could do under current circumstances. 

Nevertheless, as the School Board again faces budget challenges, Silkwood has proposed ending these retirement benefits for teachers. 

She has also proposed decreasing a proposed raise for teachers and eliminating a proposed raise for 666 classified employees who haven't seen a raise in 4 years. 

She further proposed revisiting the recently rejected idea of outsourcing custodial services, a proposal voted down three times in the last four years because of uncertainty about cost reduction projections. 

In all, her proposal would allegedly save the district $1.1 million this year, while surely further eroding teacher and employee morale.

She couched the plan as a "tough decision" necessary to put students first.

The Director of Schools noted he had not seen this proposal prior to the meeting. Silkwood's plan would seem to run contrary to recent statements by Board Chair Don Long and others that the system needs to be moving toward making additional investments in its personnel. 

The Board will address Silkwood's plan and other budget options at an upcoming study session.