Jim Read

Jim Read, president of the Polk Education Association, which represents teachers and other employee groups, said many teachers support the full week off because "very little learning goes on" the Monday and Tuesday before the traditional three-day Thanksgiving break.

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Jim Read, Polk Education Association

"It would do nothing for the middle and the top," said James Read, president of the Polk Education Association.

"They (school board members) would do like they wanted to do two years ago when they tried to put all the money into the beginning teachers' salaries," Read said."They wanted to go from $25,000 to $30,000 for beginning teachers, but we stopped them at $28,000 or there would have been no money for anyone else."

Read said raises should be by percentages for each pay step so that teachers of varying degrees of experience receive fair raises.

Jim Read, the head of the Polk Education Association -- the largest employee union in the district -- said the labor group stands with Thornhill.
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said Read, whose union represents the district's teachers, paraprofessionals and secretaries.

An appointed superintendent could be less susceptible to the concerns of employees, he said.

"The School Board is going to hire him, and the School Board will be the one to fire him.So, who are you going to be loyal to?"he said."Right now, we have a superintendent that works for the teachers and the public."

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The Polk Education Association says the teachers should be allowed to keep what they've been overpaid and has filed a grievance on their behalf, said Jim Read, president of the association.

"They are not happy about it, and that's the reason we're trying to fight this," Read said.

School officials say 114 teachers -- all hired from out of state -- were overpaid a total of $22,467 because of a "quirk" related to a new law.

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The PEA grievance deals with the fact that teachers were offered a certain salary and the district later backed down from those offers, said Read, whose group represents teachers, paraprofessionals and secretaries in contract negotiations.

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READ THE SchoolMatch report on Polk Schools.This .pdf file requires Adobe Acrobat to read.It's a large file and may take a few minutes to download.SCHOOL SCORESStories and charts on school-by-school performance:2001 FCATSchool Grades