The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District (SMJUHSD) and its faculty association last week reached a final agreement on teacher contracts, following stalemated negotiations and a fact-finding process.
On May 27, a fact-finding panel released a report siding with the tentative agreement reached by the district and association leaders earlier that month, though the agreement had been voted down by faculty association members. The report remained confidential for 10 days until June 6, when the association and district met again.
At the June 6 meeting, the district agreed to amend one part of its previous tentative agreement, regarding “in lieu” assignments. Originally, the tentative agreement required teachers to use one of their 360 yearly hours of preparatory time to substitute teach “in lieu” of a prep hour. The district removed this requirement and increased the maximum number of “in lieu” days a teacher can accumulate over the course of a year as well as the number of “in lieu” days that can roll over from year to year.
Faculty association members voted on this amended agreement on June 9 and June 10, with 76.5 percent voting in approval.
Santa Maria High School teacher and faculty association member Glen Goldin said that with the previous tentative agreement, he never felt that his preparatory hours were threatened by “in lieu” requirements.
“The district was not trying to take our prep time,” Goldin said. “They were trying to help with the shortage of subs.”
Goldin, the father of a student in the SMJUHSD, said the shortage of substitute teachers often means students have to go sit in the cafeteria during class periods when their instructors are out sick. “In lieu” requirements would ensure those classes are taken over by a certified teacher for a period.
“I don’t want [my son] sitting in the cafeteria because there’s no substitute,” Goldin said. “I would want one of my colleagues who’s trained and has a credential to cover that class. As a parent, we should all want what’s best for the kids and then what’s best for the teacher, not what’s best for the teacher and then what’s best for the kid.”
Last month, the faculty association voted in a new president to replace Mark Goodman, who had led the organization for a decade. Goldin said he expects the new leader, Matt Provost, to work more effectively with the district in future negotiations.
“He’s looking forward to having a more productive relationship with the district, and being able to actually sit down and talk with the superintendant and with the principals, something our former president was not able to do,” Goldin said.
This article appears in Jun 16-23, 2016.