Teachers line up for retirement incentive packages

<p>About 25 Santa Rosa City Schools teachers braved rain and temperatures that dropped to about 48 degrees to make sure they made the cutoff for a retirement incentive package that won’t be offered again for three years.</p><p>For the first time in the nearly 10 years of offering similar retirement incentives, the district and union officials negotiated a cap to the number of retirees who could accept. </p><p>The first 68 teachers who qualify will be eligible for about $45,000 paid over three years beginning in 2010. The deal will not be available for the next two years.</p><p>If all 68 slots are filled, the district could save $1 million in the salary difference between experienced teachers and those new to the classroom.</p><p>“I knew I was planning on (retiring) without the incentive, but the cap pushed me to come,” said Vicki Duggan, a 25-year Doyle Park Elementary veteran.</p><p>Duggan, how set up camp around 6 p.m. Thursday evening, was first in line.</p><p>Wearing snow boots, a fleece jacket and a down coat, Duggan spent the night sitting in a portable chair perched on the front step of the district office on Ridgway Avenue.</p><p>Other teachers arrived, one who pitched a portable awning to protect teachers from a steady rain that began around 4:30 a.m.</p><p>Associate Superintendent Doug Bower arrived nearly two hours prior to the scheduled start time, to open the district office doors to about 25 teachers wearing rain jackets, hats and gloves.</p><p>“I woke up in the middle of the night and heard it raining. It didn’t seem right, so I thought I would come down and open things up — pretty basic,” he said.</p><p>The deal is being offered an a first-come, first served basis to the first 68 certificated staff who are eligible.</p><p>The district is bracing for a budget year in 2009-10 that Bower says will likely be the worst in 30 years.</p><p>California’s 18-month budget deficit is projected to be $42 billion.</p>