Chris Amico: Journalist

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The day after losing her seat on the Palmdale School Board, Shawny Barcelona was back at work, running her salon, trying not to let the loss get to her.

She was frustrated but hoped to get back on the board when another seat opens up. She says she’ll at least stay active.

“I ran a good, positive campaign, and I’m very happy with that,” she said. “I think everyone else is more sad than me.”

Barcelona lost her seat to newcomer Jeff Ferrin, a vice principal at William J. “Pete” Knight High School. Both had the backing of Valley Republicans, and Ferrin had state Senator George Runner, R-Lancaster, behind him. Republicans also endorsed incumbent Sheldon Epstein.

Ferrin, Epstein and Sandy Corrales, the current board president, all of whom won seats in Tuesday’s election, were on the slate of candidates endorsed by the California Teachers Association. Barcelona drew the union’s wrath for supporting Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger, whose propositions the union adamantly opposed. She came in fourth, finishing 466 votes behind Ferrin.

The big winner in this election, locally and at the state level, was the California Teachers Association. Read the rest of this entry »

PALMDALE — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Monday night fund-raising dinner put at least two Palmdale School District trustees in the awkward position of supporting the governor but opposing a pillar of his “Year of Reform.”

At the same time, two other trustees from that district were marching in protest outside the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. Read the rest of this entry »

PALMDALE — By almost a 3-to-1 margin, teachers in the Palmdale School District rejected a tentative contract agreement reached two weeks ago after nearly two years of negotiations.

If approved, the contract would have maintained no-cost benefits for teachers until the 2007-08 school year, when the new contract expires. Teachers again would have given up a pay raise on the exchange, as they have since 2000.

Whatever the cost of the most expensive health plan offered to teachers in 2006-07, that amount would become the maximum district contribution for the next year.

The sound rejection by teachers, 602 voted no; 218 said yes, throws the process back into uncertainty. Read the rest of this entry »

PALMDALE — Teachers in the Palmdale School District will vote on a contract today and Thursday after nearly two years of negotiations, but one hated word threatens to derail the tenuous deal: Cap.

The Palmdale Elementary Teachers Association and district negotiators announced last week they had reached a tentative agreement at the end of their final negotiating session of the school year.

If approved, the contract would maintain no-cost benefits for teachers until the 2007-08 school year, when the new contract expires. Teachers again gave up a pay raise on the exchange, as they have since 2000. Read the rest of this entry »