[Editor’s Note: Here is the message the President of the Teachers Union sent to his 350 members after reaching a contract agreement yesterday with the School District.]
See the full text of the agreement below
Friends,
Your CCFT bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with CCUSD Management on Tuesday afternoon, bringing the 2011-2012 negotiations to a conclusion.
What happens next is that our union Executive Board must approve the agreement. We are meeting next Tuesday at 3:45 at La Ballona. If approved by that group, it will come out to the membership for a ratification vote. That could happen as early as Thursday of next week.
From the management side, the agreement must be approved by the CCUSD School Boar.
Here are the highlights:
• Full school year next year——no furlough days.
• Two more years of the 8 “meeting-free” Wednesdays to provide elementary teachers more prep time.
• Five new release days for Elementary Special Day Class teachers for IEP prep and planning.
• New contract language outlining a process for Special Ed teachers and Speech/Language Specialists to address caseloads that approach the state maximums. The new language requires CCUSD to maintain caseloads within Ed Code guidelines.
• A $200,000 annual block grant for athletic stipends at Culver City High School.
• A $5,000 annual grant to each elementary site for stipends for extra-duty assignments.
• Nurses
1. New language enabling nurses to qualify for a $3,000 annual stipend for National Board Certification.
2. Establishment of a nurse sub pool to cover duties when nurses are absent.
3. New language providing compensation for nurses in the event that subs are not available.
• The establishment of a joint Labor/Management Task Force to explore new evaluation procedures.
• A one-time bonus, equal to one day's pay, due on Jan. 1, 2013, if tax initiatives pass in November.
• Sick leave balances posted on Subfinder Website.
Our team will be recommending approval of this agreement. In a tough year, these are real gains. Of course we are disappointed that CCUSD has not offered us any compensation on an ongoing basis. When we get to the table again next fall, we will encourage CCUSD to take a second look at these “bonus” dollars and work to get them added onto our salary schedule so that they are ongoing.
We also are disappointed that we were unable to get CCUSD to agree to our proposal that future healthcare premium increases be split 50/50 between CCUSD and bargaining unit members. We will address this again in next year's talks.
We are also disappointed that CCUSD gave ongoing pay increases to just two employees, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Director of Security. You can be sure that we will remind them in next year's talks that those of us on the front lines could use an increase as well. We will also remind them that if CCUSD wants to attract and keep the best teachers, it needs to offer competitive compensation.
But all in all, this is a good deal in a very tough year. Don't hesitate to contact me or the other members of the team, Natalie Gualtieri and Casey Chabola at Lin Howe, if you have questions or concerns.
Finally, as we have reported before, we were relieved that we avoided layoffs this year and are happy to remind you that we'll be paid in 11 installments next year, with our first check arriving on Sept. 1.
The Tentative Agreement
May 22, 2012
2 p.m.
Article 25: Hours of Work
After School Meetings, which will be held on the Wednesdays not pre-designated as District-wide Elementary Professional Development (6), will be scheduled at the site by the Site Administrator and the leadership team/ or by a grade level representative committee in accordance with the educational needs of students and student achievement. Eight Wednesdays will be designated by the Site Administration and Leadership team as staff meeting free. Not to include Back to School, Open House.
(MOU for 2012-2013 and 2013-2014)
Elementary Special Day Class teachers will be given five school business days for testing, IEP meetings, and planning.
Article 26: Class Size
The Special Education Department which includes Resource Specialists, Special Day Class teachers and Speech Pathologists will have the following protocol to address caseload: RSP teacher: Statement of caseload amount (26- 27 cases) to Special Education Director and Site Administrator Meeting within 7- 10 school days will be schedule with teacher to examine caseload with the teacher.
Caseloads at 28 will call for immediate solutions to be implemented prior to receiving any one additional case.
Speech:
Statement of caseload amount to Special Education Director and Site Administrator Meeting with Speech team within 7-10 school days to examine caseload, solutions to be implemented before the average caseload is over Education Code guidelines.
Article 31: Health and Welfare
Sick leave balances will be posted on the Sub Finder Website by September 30th.
Article 32: Wages
Provide the Culver City High School Athletic Program $200,000 in a stipend block grant to be dispersed in accordance with the Stipend schedule created by the Stipend Sub committee that will be reviewed annually.
Provide each elementary school site with $5,000 in stipends to be used on extra assignments. Assignment of stipends will be decided by the site administrator in collaboration with a leadership team or by a grade level representative committee
Section H- Class Qualifications
The CCFT collective Bargaining Unit language will extend and include nurses as it relates to the National Board Certification for School Nurses (NBCSN) and will be granted an additional three thousand ( $3,000) per year prorated in monthly installments. The application fee will be reimbursed after the nurse has received the National Board Certification.
The District will establish a sub pool for CCUSD nurses.
In the event a nurse is absent, the District will make every attempt possible to utilize nurses from the sub pool. If a substitute nurse is not available, the attending nurses will cover the duties of the absent nurse and be compensated by equally dividing sub pay rate pay among the nurses that are present that day.
Contingent on the 2012- California Tax Initiatives passing in November 2012, a one time off salary bonus (equivalent to one day of salary) will be paid to all certificated bargaining unit members on January 1st, 2013.
Article 29 Evaluations
“CCUSD and CCFT jointly agree to establish a committee comprised of unit members and administrators to review and possibly recommend changes to the teacher evaluation process. Any recommendations will be presented to the CCFT bargaining team for negotiations and or ratification.”
Mr. Mielke may be contacted at davidmielke@ccusd.org
