For Thursday, February 11, 1999 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 731 words

Heads up

My wife is a union rep for the Benicia Teachers Association. We are experiencing some nasty turmoil over our lack of a contract. I don't have to tell you that, if you are a reader of the Herald. It is clearly written.

If you drove your children to school this week you saw first hand that teachers are marching in the streets carrying picket signs. It's ugly. It taints our days. The only time I don't think about it is when I'm inside the classroom teaching.

Some people ask me why I don't speak out for teachers in my column. How can I write about SimCity 3000, they ask, when the educational institution in Benicia is unraveling. They want me to write up a list of grievances, articulate them in silver tongue, and rally the masses.

I don't do that. I'm no good at that. I don't like to do that, at least not directly.

I'm a teacher, not a politician or a budget analyst. I'm also a Different Drummer by trade. I'm supposed to be on a tangent. It's my job.

I prefer to spend my mornings writing on my chalkboard. I prefer to spend my lunch hours sharing lesson plans and talking to kids about writing. I prefer to stay after school to get the next issue of the student newspaper out.

I don't want to spend my time on picket lines, at after-school meetings, or in front of my keyboard trying to understand district budgets, COLA percentages, and who hid how much money where.

I have to trust that someone who is better at that is watching out for me; someone is protecting my financial interests so I can go into a classroom and do my thing. Seeing as that special someone, in this case, is my wife, a union leader, I have exceptional trust. I know my strengths, and I know hers.

Susan is the money manager in our household. I haven't seen a paycheck in seven years, ever since direct deposit. I don't even know how much I earn. I wouldn't notice the effect of a 4-percent raise on my monthly income unless she highlighted it for me with a yellow marker and bought me an extra bag of my favorite Colorado malt vinegar potato chips to celebrate.

I guess that's part of the problem. Most teachers probably get buried in their medieval poetry, their civil war history, their baking clay, their mosquito gestations, or whatever their passion happens to be, and forget to look up. Next thing they know, they're behind on the pay scale. Someone whose passion it is to manage money has found out that employees who love their jobs will often work for peanuts, if it's done quietly.

Well, things aren't so quiet any more. We've lifted our heads, and they won't go down again until this contract is resolved.

I'll just say two things directly. One: If we had back all the money we lost on construction and budget mistakes in the last ten years, and found a way to earmark that money into teacher salaries, teachers could be paid in cashews.

Two: Benicia teachers deserve some cashews. I've seen the kids on graduation day. I've seen them ten years later. We develop a fine product.

I'll close now with a story from SimCity, where construction begins in the year 1900. The first city I built was plagued with pollution, unemployment, ill health, and high crime. I took out loan after loan, raised taxes, cut budgets, and created ordinances, but nothing worked. By the time the year 2000 arrived, I had gone into permanent debt. Eventually, I lost the game.

My second city, Gibbsville, I approached differently. (You have to believe me on this. I'm not making it up.) I funded schools generously from the beginning. Whatever financial difficulty I faced, I never cut my school budget.

What happened? Hi-tech industries became attracted to my educated citizens. They bought out the polluting factories. Pollution decreased and employment increased. This boosted my tax base. Higher education and lower pollution led to better health, saving me money on hospitals. A dramatic drop in crime saved me money on prisons. I began to show a profit. By the year 2000 Gibbsville was a thriving metropolis.

I owe it all to the teachers, but it's only a game, right?