Teachers want better pay

COSTA MESA — Hundreds of Newport-Mesa teachers protested outside and inside district headquarters Tuesday to demand higher salaries.

The organized protest, which led to the most densely populated school board meeting in recent memory, came after months in which the teachers union has been negotiating with administrators for higher pay. A report in January showed that Newport-Mesa pays the lowest teacher salaries of any unified district in Orange County.

Around 5:30 p.m., teachers began gathering at Baker and Bear streets, waving picket signs declaring “No teacher left behind,” “Is average too much to ask?” and other slogans. The school board meeting began shortly after 7 p.m., and the crowd moved inside, with more than 20 teachers stepping to the microphone to air their dissatisfaction.

To help get their point across, nearly all the teachers wore black.

“Some of us are getting to the point where we can’t live in Orange County any longer,” said Susan McVeigh, a Sonora Elementary School teacher.

Throughout the meeting, a number of teachers claimed that the district had offered them a 1% pay increase in addition to the 2% they received at the start of the year. Frank Oppedisano, the union’s executive director, said those numbers were correct, but Asst. Superintendent of Human Resources Elizabeth Novack declined to confirm them.

Regardless, many teachers said the offer the district had made was insufficient. The union contract, signed in 1999, pledged to get teachers’ salaries between the mean and the 75th percentile for the county.

“To be sure, a 1% salary increase won’t cover the 2% increase in my property taxes,” Wilson Elementary School teacher Cara Boyd told the board.

After the public comment session, which lasted well over an hour, Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard admitted that the district and union had clashed in recent months, but said he hoped an agreement could be reached soon.

“We are in a bit of a storm right now,” he said. “I acknowledge that. But good relationships weather storms.”

To see video of Newport-Mesa Unified School District teachers protesting, click here.