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By Branda Gorgies
Photos from Branda Gorgies, Brenda Ramirez and Creative Commons via Google Images
September 6, 2023 (Spring Valley) - Teachers at Steele Canyon High School, a charter school in the Grossmont Union High School District, are seeking a salary increase because many of them feel they’re not being paid a competitive salary. On August 16, at the high school’s library, Steele Canyon’s independent governing board held a meeting with public comment from five teachers. On Monday this week, students held a walkout to show support for the teachers.
At the meeting, the first teacher to step up for public comment was Kirk Haltermann, a math teacher. Haltermann made it clear that he was aware of the salary of teachers in other districts. He claimed that Steele Canyon teachers are paid, on average, 10% less than what other teachers are being paid in the county. According to data from Indeed, the average high school teacher at Steele is paid $24 per hour. The average salary for teachers all over Spring Valley (including private and public schools) is about $28 per hour. In the Grossmont Union High School district, it’s $26. In Spring Valley, the cost of living is 50% higher than the national average; the same applies to El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove and Santee. So, while $24 per hour is well above the minimum wage, it’s important to compare that to the costs that come with living in a specific area. Haltermann said all he was asking for was an equitable salary for the teachers at Steele Canyon.
After Haltermann, humanities and social sciences teacher Terence Dougherty, spoke about his experience at Steele Canyon. He’s earned a CTE teaching credential, created his own original curriculum for two new law classes using his Harvard law degree as leverage, got the classes A-G certified for the UC school system, wrote the curriculum so the classes would be certified CTE pathways and worked with Grossmont college to make the classes count for college credit. He did all this on top of his economics and government classes last year. He was also the only advisor for the Class Council of 2023, which had all their senior year activities last year, the same year he took on his two new classes. These activities included the parking lot auction and painting, homecoming float decoration, senior banquet, senior sunrise and sunset, prom and more.
As he did all this, it was at the expense of his family time. He then stated he wasn’t even the busiest teacher that year, adding, “So many of us do so much to be the best teachers that we can be in our classroom and the best cougars we can be for our community.” He ended the public comment by stating that the teachers deserve to be compensated fairly.
Dan Franklin, who teaches physics and business, focused on how many unique experiences he brings to Steele Canyon. He’s an Air Force Academy graduate, he’s been all over the world, he’s taught physics, chemistry and a rocketry class in partnership with NASA and has led and evaluated teachers through the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching for their Teacher Advancement Program. Franklin has a principal certification, a master’s in education and in business administration. He currently teaches psychics for freshmen students and a business class in partnership with Cuyamaca Community College. Franklin is an advisor and a helper to many clubs on campus, notably the Class Council of 2026 and the rocketry club. The rocketry club wants to create a team to compete in tournaments, but Franklin described the extra time and effort that would be needed from him. Franklin closed by saying that the teachers are the “number one” impact at Steele Canyon and that they are worth what they’re asking for.
The fourth to come up, Charlotte Turrubiartes, came with a guest speaker, her son. Turrubiartes is the iAcademy teacher. iAcademy is the virtual independent learning program run by Steele Canyon. She is also the “tech mentor,” as stated on the Steele Canyon staff directory. She was originally a math teacher at Steele Canyon in 2005, so she witnessed the school’s effort to gain some independence from the Grossmont Union High School District and become a charter. After the chartering of Steele Canyon, Turrubiartes became more involved with the school. For example, she remade the entire school website as it was difficult to navigate for many. Since then, she became the school’s tech expert and has taught two classes. She’s also remade the school website again to be mobile-friendly and helps run the school's social media. Turrubiartes also manages the school’s “paw prints,” a weekly newsletter sent out to students and families to update on school events. Turrubiartes said, as Steele’s tech mentor, “While the Grossmont district has an entire department to support tech needs, Steele Canyon had me.” She freed up her time to be available to staff to help, at the expense of her personal and family time.
The COVID lockdown involved a lot more technology, she noted, she saw how exhausted the teachers were and how dedicated they were to being there and doing right for the students. The teachers have stepped up to meet the students’ and parents’ needs, she concluded, and now it’s the school’s turn to do so for the teachers.
The last speaker was Dominic Dirksen, a biology teacher and the president of the teacher’s union. Dirksen brought up a concern about the quality of future generations of Steele Canyon teachers. He mentioned that it’s the school’s job to “attract and retain” quality staff and that a competitive salary is imperative to do so, especially with a statewide teacher shortage. In the 2021-2022 school year, there were 10,000 teacher vacancies in California.
He believes Steele Canyon students deserve the highest quality education and higher quality teachers with competitive salaries and well-funded classrooms are necessary for that. Dirksen mentioned how the teachers at Steele Canyon go “above and beyond” with activities outside of the classroom to benefit Steele Canyon students. He wants the school to give the teachers a salary that “honors their efforts and responsibility,” which would benefit everyone. He then mentioned the school’s budget. Dirksen made a comparison between the projected budget and the actual budget for this year. According to the 2021-2022 budget report and multi-year projection, the budget for this school year should have been about $25 million. Dirksen said it’s actually become over $30 million. The 2021-2022 report said the school would have around $200,000 in deficit spending, but now it’s projected that it will have a surplus of $1 million. Dirksen said the school has a 37% reserve, coming out at about $10 million, and unrestricted funds, which the 2021-2022 budget report projects to be $4.6 million in the 2023-2024 school year. Dirksen asked for the matter to be settled soon, as the school can afford what the teachers are asking for. He believes the focus should be on the students of Steele.
An anonymous staff member at Steele suggested that the students who care about this topic speak at the next school board meeting during the public comment section. The next school board meeting is on September 13; as of now, the agenda for the meeting hasn’t been posted, but the speaker cards can be filled out here. The agenda will be posted on the Steele Canyon website at least 72 hours before the meeting.
Student Reception & Walkout
Students have reacted in many different ways in support of the teachers. Some have emailed the administration and encouraged others to do so as well. There are a couple of clubs that have also stopped meeting until the demands of the teachers’ are met. One student, Jennifer Hernandez Colin, decided to plan a walkout.
Hernandez is a Steele Canyon junior-year student. She heard about the salary issue early in the year and from the start, she didn’t think the situation was fair. But she felt the issue on a personal level. Hernandez and some of her friends were struggling with schoolwork, but couldn’t get the extra help usually offered. Steele Canyon offers a free tutoring service, “Beyond the Bell,” for all its students both before and after school, but the time that teachers put in at Beyond the Bell is completely voluntary. As of now, the Beyond the Bell tutoring is on hold. All the teachers are still doing their jobs, and many of them care about their students deeply, but some have decided to stop doing volunteer work such as Beyond the Bell and advising clubs until their demands are met.
Hernandez was hurt hearing about the effects of this issue on the teachers and she felt she “had the power to do something,” so she did so. While the idea of a walkout started off as a small joke with friends, she thought about it more in-depth and got help from her older sister to organize it. Hernandez’s sister has a history of activism at Steele Canyon. In past years, the school had issues with racism among the student body and some staff; there's even an Instagram account that lets students share their experiences with racism on campus. It was active during 2020 and run by students and alumni.
Hernandez’s sister helped advocate for that issue during her time at Steele Canyon. Seeing the activism from her sister, growing up as an Afro-Latina woman and having financial stability but some trouble here and there, the activism for this issue is “from her heart,” as she stated.
The walkout occurred Monday at the beginning of second block, which starts at 10:10 a,.m. According to a student who was there, Lain Rodriguez, approximately 100 students participated in the walkout.
Rodriguez participated in the walkout out of genuine care for the issue, but found that many of the students there didn’t share the same concern. Some wanted an excuse to “skip class,” and this was disappointing to organizers. Hernandez posted their speech on Instagram after the walkout, mentioning in the caption that her “concerns were not reached to everyone who attended the walkout.” Rodriguez said the walkout lasted about 20 minutes. They argued that while teachers are the “foundation of society,” even while often being taken for granted.
Comment from Administration
When asked about the situation before the walkout, principal Scott Parr stated the school is open to negotiations and has two bargaining units to deal with the dispute.
Steele Canyon is a charter school, so all financial decisions are made by the independent governing board of the school.
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