Dear Editor,
I was raised in Morgan Hill Unified School District. I am raising my children in the district. I work for the district. I am disgusted with the district.
I am a library clerk at Paradise Valley School. My job is a classified position, and we are currently negotiating a raise. The district has offered classified staff a fraction of what the certified staff received. A fraction of what we deserve. Did you know that library clerks in other school districts start at a higher salary than I make after five years of service? The same goes for most, if not all, of our other classified positions. This is in spite of the fact that our superintendent’s salary ranks among the highest in our area. In addition, several years ago, my position was cut 20 days a school year so we could balance the budget, and I never got those days back.
I process more than 300 books a week through the library at Paradise Valley. Every day I read a story to the students. After that, I help students choose “just right book” for them and help them check it out. My job also entails ordering, processing, shelving and repairing the library books. If it were not for parent volunteers, I could never get all of this done in five hours a day 162 days a year.
All I want is to be paid a fair wage for my efforts. Without library clerks, bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, food service, student aides, this district could not function.
Catherine Stockam, Morgan Hill
