I am the president of the California School Employees Association Kelseyville Chapter. We represent all of the “classified” staff which is made up of the custodians, bus drivers, food service, clerical staff, teachers aides, special needs aides, noon duty aides, maintenance workers, groundskeeper and mechanic.

While the teachers are the product we are the services that students and parents receive during their education.

We are the lowest paid work group within the educational system, we have had our benefit packages capped a long time ago, and it is nearly impossible for one of us to get enough work hours to even make us eligible for insurance benefits.

After working for the district for 25 or more years we get 25 percent of the insurance paid leaving our retirees to have to come up with 75 percent of the cost, which basically means that, like the general population, we have to work until we are of Medicare age at least!

Despite being the workers whose livelihoods least impact the district budget and despite being the workers first willing to sacrifice, we are also the workers first targeted for cuts even as managers and others enjoy costly insurance benefits without a cap and 80 to 100 percent benefits at retirement!

In essence, classified workers get stuck paying the bill for the cost of everyone else not wanting to rein in the expenditures. Our livelihoods may not be much in comparison to everyone else around the District but most of us depend on it and support families with it.

We wonder why the district has kept telling us about the pending financial doom but never imposed a hiring freeze, why furlough days weren't an option during our negotiation process, why a school closure was studied and shot down in November,why the unrepresented group hasn't imposed insurance benefit caps on themselves?

We wonder why the most compensated group (management) isn't willing to set the example and come live in our world and why any cost savings measures that would be fair and equitable to all has been overlooked?

We had a member stand and state at a recent board meeting that if all work groups were to live within the classified work group means; there would be no financial crisis, that was an extremely important and valid point!

We felt the compassion in your article for the people having to make these tough choices. However, knowing that these tough choices and more should have come long ago to avoid our current predicament and knowing that the classified workers will be paying the price, our compassion is more on the lines of frustration and outrage.

What we do impacts the Kelseyville students every day! We transport them, feed them, account for them, clean up after them, teach and nurture them while they are at school.

Despite the tiny price tag our group brings we have a mighty impact; we are valuable and it's painful to be treated otherwise by a district we all love.

Holley Luia is president of CSEA Chapter No. 638. She lives in Kelseyville, Calif.