By Jeff Hudson
Enterprise staff writer
The Davis Enterprise

Cathy Haskell, president of the Davis Teachers Association, carries a nautical life preserver, the symbol of the Measure W campaign, into the Community Chambers for Thursday night's school board meeting. How much is at stake when Davis residents vote on Measure W, the Davis school district's new three-year instructional parcel tax, on Nov. 4?

Members of the Davis Teachers Association flocked to Thursday night's meeting of the Davis school board, in a visual demonstration designed to show how many teachers would lose their jobs if Measure W comes up short of the two-thirds majority required for passage.

Measure W would charge owners of single family homes $120 per year. Owners of multi-unit dwellings would be charged $50 per unit.

Some teachers - ones who got 'pink slips' during last spring's financial crisis in the Davis school district - came dressed in pink. Ultimately, these teachers were offered their jobs back - but only several months of uncertainty, while the Davis Schools Foundation mounted a rapidly planned fund drive that ultimately raised $1.77 million. That money saved jobs held by elementary music teachers, science teachers and librarians, as well as other positions at the junior high and high school level.

Other teachers came to Thursday's school board meeting dressed in black, expressing solidarity with their colleagues.

Local teachers are too well aware that the whole cycle of pink slips and judicial hearings to determine rank-order for layoffs could begin again in a few months, if Measure W is not approved.

Cathy Haskell, president of the Davis Teachers Association, kicked off the presentation, holding a nautical life preserver, which is the symbol of the Measure W campaign.

'This measure goes to support the teachers in your town, the people who are teaching your children,' Haskell said.

Jerry de Camp, an art teacher and former DTA president, said, 'Six months ago, we were in the worst situation I'd ever seen in 27 years with the district. We are facing the same potential next spring if Measure W does not pass.

'It's essential that we understand that Measure W is not 'something extra,' ' de Camp said. 'Measure W continues programs that we've had a long time. It's not extra.

'All the things that Measure W does are things we have come to take for granted. We've had the support of the taxpayers over and over. We must have it again now. What we have in this community is so precious and so good - and it's threatened if Measure W does not pass, because of problems with state funding.'

Scott Bell was one of nine teachers who got pink-slipped at Da Vinci High School last spring. The small learning community has only 12 teachers total.

'The community pulled together,' Bell said. 'Now we're calling on the community to help support librarians and teachers, all of this together. We implore you desperately to get this measure through.'

Janet Berry, co-chairwoman of the Measure W campaign, said, 'One of the teachers dressed in black said something that got to me. She said, 'There are not as many pink shirts here tonight as there might be, because some of them left. They didn't know if they were going to be able to come back, so some of our best and brightest took other jobs.'

'We need to preserve what we saved last spring' with the Davis Schools Foundation's drive, Berry said. 'It's all threatened again. We need to come together and vote for Measure W.'

Kevin French, assistant superintendent for human resources for the Davis school district, estimates the district lost as many as a dozen teachers as a result of the layoff notices that went out last spring.

'Perhaps 12 may have been so impacted by the reduction in forces process that leaving the district became a viable option for them,' French said.