ALERT: LWIP pro-charter clique trying to fire beloved kindergarden teacher

The Administrative Council (AC) running our Waldorf Inspired Program (LWIP) have unilaterally decided to fire Krista Augustaitus the kindergarden teacher who has been in the program longer than many of our children. In fact, Krista has effectively been serving as the primary kindergarden teacher for as long as I've been here, two years, with far less than full-time pay. In the email attached below sent to us LWIP parents on June 16th the AC unilaterally announced its decision to fire Krista without any discussion among the parents and teaching staff. Sound familiar? This same clique also made the expensive and ultimately defeated decision to try to ramrod through a charter petition to turn our program into their own private school. They are still at it.

The problem is that the AC doesn't have any power to hire and fire despite what they claim in the email. According to what I was told by Principal Laura Shain one of the reasons the AC is exempt from the California Brown Act which mandates strict rules about transparency in government is that the AC cannot hire and fire. Someone needs to inform the AC. 

We hear a lot of jargon about "heart center" education from some of the LWIP parents, especially those on the AC. Even in this email we are told that "it is in the best interest of the LWIP children and for the longer-term viability of our program." Krista is a single parent with 3 children, one of whom is in the program. How is firing her in the best interest of her son or her family? How "heart centered" is it to give her no warning that she would be out of a job. Isn't it hypocritical to protest our dear Mr. Kobabe's being laid off without any explanation but then a few weeks later also fire Krista without cause? 

The way the AC is treating Krista is a foreshadowing of how they would be treating the rest of the teaching staff had the charter petition not been utterly defeated. The teaching staff would have been totally at their mercy without tenure, seniority, and collective bargaining rights.

Power has corrupted those on the AC and they should resign immediately. We are still waiting for them to issue personal apologies to the entire District community for their charter folly that is estimated to cost the District about $59,000 in excess legal expenses and stirred up a hornets nest of animosity within and towards our program. Now they think they are the District upon themselves. Time for them to go.

The Board of Trustees will be voting whether to lay off Krista this Monday morning, July 2 at 8 am. Help us stand up for our teachers and be there to say No.

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	LWIP: IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Date:	Sat, 16 Jun 2012 10:57:49 -0700
From:	Greg Brown/Jen Rousseau <jengreg2000@gmail.com>

Dear Parents, 

The LWIP Administrative Council, Faculty and the Lagunitas School District Administration have been reviewing configurations for our program for next year. Currently our configuration plan is: a full time Kindergarten teacher (Kindergarten teachers cannot be hired as part-time teachers.  Our full time K teacher will support the grades in the afternoons), Dorothy in class 1/2 and a .6 teacher for class 3/4/5.

At the June 12^th board meeting, the board voted unanimously to allow our program to have the flexibility to use program-raised funds to augment the .6 certificated teacher position to a full-time position for one year.   This means that our program will use parent-raised funds to supplement .4 of the salary for that teacher. We are very pleased with this decision, which will enable greater enrollment and further stabilization of our program.

We feel very strongly that next year's 3/4/5 class needs a full-time teacher in order to have a successful educational experience.  It is also more likely that we will attract a quality teacher by offering that person a full-time position.

We have been looking at the budget and the fundraising we have been able to achieve and what this .4 will cost our program. The cost to our program is nearly the same as what we pay to support the current Kindergarten aide (Krista's) position.  We have just been approved to hire an amazing, experienced full-time Kindergarten teacher for next year and will therefore no longer need the same level of aide support in the Kindergarten.  We now need to use those funds to ensure that the 3/4/5 is supported with a full-time teacher.

We do not have enough in our parent fundraising to support both the .4 and the current Kindergarten aide position.  We are sad to have to make this decision, but we believe, considering the circumstances,  it is in the best interest of the LWIP children and for the longer-term viability of our program.

We have spoken with Krista about this and will continue to have conversations about how she might still be involved in our program.  No matter what decisions are made about this difficult situation, we will be sure to honor Krista’s amazing dedication to our program and love for our children.

We want the parents to be informed of these latest developments.  Please contact us with any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

the LWIP AC

lwipquestions@gmail.com