Representatives from Lucia Mar Unified School District’s administration and teachers union are scheduled to meet June 22 with a neutral third party mediator to discuss the System for Teacher and Student Advancement Program (TAP).
Earlier this month, members of the Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association approved some minor changes to their general contract, but failed to pass an addendum for TAP.
Funded primarily by grants from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Incentive Fund, TAP is an educational reform program that aims to improve teacher and student performance through professional development, merit-based pay, and other resources.
According to union representative Donna Kandel, the union voted to implement TAP under the assumption that it would end on
June 30, 2012.
“That was the understanding of the teachers, because there were some reservations, that we could try it for a year and if we didn’t like it, we could vote it out,” Kandel said.
District administrators, however, don’t see it that way. Officials have already rehired the program’s master teachers for next year, and the grant the district received from the Department of Education has a five-year timetable.
Superintendent Jim Hogebook said the district and the union have “different interpretations” of what the addendum means.
“We’re hoping to work things out with the union this summer,” he said. “There’s been a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation about TAP. We hope we’ll be able to clear that up.”
He said the vast majority of teachers he’s spoken to at the TAP school sites are supportive of the program. He admitted that one of the sites has had trouble with the program, but said that changes to the addendum address that problem.
Kandel said that while some teachers like the program because of the incentives it provides, others are concerned the district is spending too much money on high profile projects, like New Tech High School and, to a lesser extent, TAP. According to the district, none of the money for TAP comes out of the general fund.
“It’s been difficult,” Kandel said. “Some people are upset with the quote-unquote union, but the union is the teachers. It’s a democratic vote.
“The main concern when we first voted on TAP was that it would be divisive, and that has proved to be the case,” she said. “But I’m proud of [the teachers] because the bottom line is we’re advocates for the students. Even if we disagree, we’re all trying to do what’s best for the students.”
This article appears in Jun 14-21, 2012.
