The Newport-Mesa Unified School District got some jarring news on Tuesday, as a six-member task force declared that the district pays its teachers less than any other unified school district in Orange County.
The task force, consisting of three district officials and three members of the teachers union, formed in September and compared salaries and benefits at all 12 of the county's unified districts. Newport-Mesa's average annual teacher salary of $64,292 finished last, with Laguna Beach Unified leading at $78,988.
Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard and union President Jim Rogers said they would meet over the next few months to work out a new pay scale for Newport-Mesa teachers. In a 1999 contract, the union set a goal of bringing salaries between the mean and 75th percentile for the county.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Rapper pleads not guilty to illegal-weapon charge
Rapper Snoop Dogg's lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on his client's behalf at an arraignment Wednesday for charges of carrying an illegal weapon at John Wayne Airport.
The rap star, whose legal name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, was not present for the proceedings at Orange County Superior Court. If convicted of the felony charge, he could face up to three years in prison.
Broadus, 35, of Sherman Oaks, was detained at the airport by county sheriff's deputies on Sept. 27 when airport screeners looked in his laptop case and found a 40-inch collapsible baton, which California law classifies as an illegal weapon. Broadus' lawyer said it was a prop for a music video to be filmed in New York.
Firefighters battled the second blaze in a month on the fourth floor of the apartments at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort on Thursday. The fire sent one person to the hospital for treatment.
