Message from the President, Pete Cook
Greetings, SOSCA members. We, as your SOSCA Board, look forward
to serving you in the upcoming year 2007. If you have any suggestions
or questions, please feel free to contact me by phone (636-4509).
As your SOSCA President, one of my distinct pleasures is to tell you all what a promising and exciting year 2008 will be for our Association.
I must also tell you that the upcoming calendar year will also be a challenging time for KCSOS, our districts, and our schools. As most of you are aware, education will be taking a big hit in funding for the 2008-2009 fiscal year due to the current California budget woes. Schools throughout the state stand to lose billions of dollars they were counting on for next school year. Kern County Schools will be no exception. Here at KCSOS, this is the time of year when your SOSCA Board would normally be gearing up to negotiate higher wages and improved benefits. But we all know we are here ultimately to serve our students, the children who are the future of our fine county and great State. To this end, this year we must focus on digging in and trying to maintain what we currently have. While we all remember the thrill of obtaining a 6.31% salary schedule increase as recently as two years ago, there will be no COLA this year. While this is undeniably disappointing to you, we must remember what we do have. We must also remember that we have been through tight budget years before, and we did then what we will do now-- make the best of it.
With this in mind, your SOSCA Board will be working harder than ever this year on negotiations to achieve two main goals:
-No loss of classified positions.
-No increase in the cost of our benefits.
If we are successful in those areas, then it will be a good negotiations year, considering the current budget circumstances.
And what can you do to help as an employee?
Participate in your Association. Come to SOSCA General meetings. Talk to your site representatives about ideas you have, or even better, volunteer to be a site representative. Present your creative ideas for negotiations items, which are needed in this tough year. The more ideas and support we have, the stronger we are, especially during hardship. On the job, keep your chin up and stay focused. Go to work each day and do what you do best-- a job well done. Though it is in our nature, don't worry about things you have no control over. Fiscal matters are cyclical; we have seen bad times before and there will be good times again. It has been said that in troubled times, true character appears.
I am confident the true character of the classified staff of KCSOS will carry us to better times.
Last update: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 2:14:25 PM
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