June 4, 2010
RTA wants you to know . . .
RTA will hold it’s final Board meeting of the year this Saturday. If you have any questions or comments for the Board, please notify your Site Rep today.
If you are interested in CTA’s recommendations for candidates or initiatives in Tuesday’s election, they are now posted on RTA’s website. CTA voted to only ‘Support’ or ‘Oppose’ initiatives that would directly affect teachers. For additional information you can go to CTA.
Thanks to all of the teachers that updated their home e-mail address.
June 2, 2010
RTA wants you to know . . .
There may be a lot going on in the summer regarding the budget and negotiations, RTA plans to send out updates to teachers through our HEART home e-mail system. If you have a new e-mail address or wish us to send the information to a different address than we may already have on file, please take this opportunity to update your e-mail address by replying to this ‘Ramblings’.

January 27, 2010
RTA wants you to know . . .
Many of you responded to our inquiry about RTA using Facebook and/or Twitter as additional means of communication. The overwhelming majority of you prefer that RTA continue to use our current e-mail systems, RUSD and HEART. We thank you for your input.
January 26, 2010
RTA wants to know . . .
Do you ‘tweet’? Are you on ‘Facebook’? Do prefer to you use either of these sources for information and updates? RTA is considering adding one or both of these technologies as a way of delivering information and soliciting comments from membership. RTA wants your opinion. Would you like communication from RTA available through either Facebook or Twitter? If so, which one or both? Please let us know by responding to this e-mail.

June 11, 2009
RTA wants you to know . . .
We thank you for all of your support of RTA over this last year. We are continuing to work on your behalf this summer and will be keeping you apprised of any developments.
We wish you a relaxing and fun summer
with family and friends.
June 10, 2009
RTA wants you to know . . .
Thanks to all of you who sent in your home e-mail updates for HEART (home e-mail system).
Retirees: Your information will be deleted from our HEART list. If you wish to receive communications from RTA this summer, please let me know ASAP. Thanks!

March 27, 2009
RTA wants you to know . . .
An editorial in the Sentinel March 19th has generated a number of calls to RTA leadership. A response was written but will not be in this week’s paper. Our response will be published in the April 2d edition. We wanted our teachers to see it sooner rather than later.[/size]
Response – Ramona Sentinel Editorial (3/18/09)
[It was a proud moment for all of us. If you were there you sensed it. If you drove by, you recognized it. Drivers that went past us expressed their approval by hitting the horn. There were hundreds of cars honking and friendly faces behind the wheel smiling and waving. For that one moment, those few hours, we were all on the same page and it felt good. The day was Friday, March 13th and the place was the corner of Hwy. 67 and Dye Road. Parents and children, teachers and students, management and labor and other interested citizens gathered there to shout out with one voice their concern for the continued health of our schools. Superintendent Dr. Robert Graeff and four members of the Board joined administrators, PTA, teachers, educational support staff and students for a common purpose. When was the last time you saw that? It really did feel good. On that corner, on that day, everyone was working together because for us – and I say this loudly, proudly and unashamedly – it is all about the children.
It was disappointing then to see our efforts so cavalierly mischaracterized and our motives so meanly twisted in Editor Mitchell’s March 18th opinion piece. The editorial was such an oddly scattered collection of inaccuracies that it is hard to know where to start. How about this, “Last year final notices went to 13 RUSD teachers who were all rehired.” Is it possible that the editor thinks there is anything about last year that remotely resembles this year? Has he looked at his 401(k) lately? Does he understand why our state legislature crafted an unprecedented 18-month budget in the middle of a fiscal year? We all hope what he is suggesting about rehiring teachers is right but those who know the harsh reality of our current situation, managers in human resources and the financial office, have made it clear – he is wrong.
The paragraph about school finances was obviously written by someone who is struggling to get up to speed on the very topic he was addressing. He is off by a million dollars in his statement about the increase in salaries and benefits! There are reasons why those who write budgets overstate expenses, especially in challenging economic times. Privately, labor and management have had discussions about this. We all get it and no one thinks that now is a good time to wrestle over this issue. Our concerns for the health of Ramona’s schools override other interests.
The piece finishes by asking the readers to suspend disbelief and accept that Mr. Mitchell is omnipotent, “… why hasn’t the school board or the teachers suggested a re-negotiation of their contract to freeze compensation…?” It seems a bit premature for the editor to begin making wild accusations about what is or isn’t in a document that hasn’t been created yet? California law says that the parties must share proposals with the community before we can begin talking. That will be done at the April 16th Board meeting. If Editor Mitchell will just take his time and not rush to judgment he might find that the people in this town, especially those who have dedicated themselves to the welfare of Ramona’s children, are reasonable and caring folk. That was what we were all trying to say when we gathered on March 13th. We care about our schools. That message was not just on our signs. It was on the faces of those teachers, students, parents, administrators, trustees and community members who exuberantly waved those signs. Maybe next time Editor Mitchell would like to join us. Ramona’s schools could always use another friend.
Michael Harrelson
RUSD Speech Pathologist/RTA member

July 18, 2008
Mid-Summer Update is now available. Click on link in RTA News

January 29, 2008
RTA would like you to know ...
Any teacher that has a few moments after school today is welcomed to come by the RTA office and help with the sign making. We will use the signs at mediation on Thursday. The office will be open from 3:00 to 4:00. We apologize for having left the information about time and date off of the last message about sign making.

August 24, 2007
Welcome to the new 2007-2008 school year. We would especially like to welcome our two newest RTA members, Sara Steadry and Maytrott Toccara of Ramona High School.

10/31/06
Your negotiation team would like to thank you! On Monday we worked positively toward an agreement with the District. There are some enhancements to the previously stated proposals (sent to home emails last Sunday.) We'll have more concrete information when our discussions have been communicated to the Board. As soon as we are able, we will update you! We would not have come this far without your support, thank you.