Post updated 9/8/17 (see below).
On September 5th and 6th SRTA and SRCS met for more than 25 hours (17 hours Tuesday, 8 hours Wednesday) to make their presentations to the Fact Finding panel and negotiating to come to a tentative agreement.

There will be a negotiations update forum Tuesday, September 12th at 4pm at Piner High School Auditorium to answer any questions about the tentative agreement. 

SRTA understands that this agreement is not what we deserve, but it the best the district can do at this time. SRTA will continue our diligence in compelling the district to become a destination spot for teachers, instead of a last resort.  We need to create an environment for bargaining that makes taking care of us central to taking care of our students.  The Executive Board and Negotiating Team members will be visiting sites soon.

The joint statement and tentative agreement are posted below.

New attached documents below: The special ed documents attached below are the starting points for negotiations about special ed caseloads and class sizes.

The following is from an email sent to members on the morning of 9/8/17. Minor edits made to fix an error in the original email.

Tentative Agreement Backstory

SRTA and SRCS signed a Tentative Agreement on Sept. 6, 2017 to settle negotiations for the 2016-2017 school year. The TA needs to be ratified by the SRTA members, SCOE, and the SRCS Board before it goes into effect.

The lead fact finder made it clear that her report would not show any more money available than what the district had put on the table in their first proposal. The district is suffering from poor fiscal choices and mistakes made by the former CBO, mistakes made by the former CFO, and the district’s inability to know where their money was going and how much they had. The district needs to be able to prove to SCOE that they will remain solvent for the next three years.  They are in deficit spending, and teetering on the brink of disaster due to these poor fiscal choices.

The parameters of fact finding were very narrow.  We were able to move the district on language in all areas that were originally “sun shined”.

Designated Hourly Teachers
The Designated Hourly teachers are SRTA members, but historically they have been treated horrifically. The TA moves these members onto the same salary schedule as the rest of us and folds them into our unit with the same rights as the rest of us. This includes their medical benefits.

Special Education Class Size and Case Load
The TA creates an agreement with the district to create a committee to implement the best practices in creating manageable class sizes for Special Education. Our proposal will be used at the starting point for the committee.

Adjunct Duty and Staff Meetings
The TA puts the existing MOU back in place, but we reserve the right to negotiate the terms.

Compensation
This is a turning point in the district’s attitude with regard to negotiations around compensation.The dollars for compensation were set up in such a way to prevent a negative status with SCOE and could not be changed or wiggled around. The district is obligated to prove to SCOE that they are financial stable three years out.

 Summary of Numbers:

• 2016-17 (last year)
  • 0.5% one time off schedule bonus ($400,000)
  • Restoration of 3 PD days. ($1,296,000)
  • Nothing additional on benefits.  

 

• 2017-18 (this year)
  • $500 total on benefits ($200,000)  
  • 0.5% increase ON schedule salary ($400,000)

 

• 2018-2019 (next year)
  • $500 total on benefits($200,000)  
  • 1.0% increase ON schedule salary ($800,000)
  
  
  

H & W Benefits are ongoing.  Now: $2500, next year $3000, and the year following $3500. 
​
 Couple Healthcare Benefits when both work in our district
Not included in the document, but agreed to during negotiations, is that these couples will be fairly compensated.  These couples had to choose to be on one plan, and only get one $2500 benefit, or be on separate plans to both get the $2500 benefit.  We had scheduled arbitration in our fight to correct this practice.  Now, they will receive back-payment for the $2500 that was kept from them, and they each will receive the full benefit compensation moving forward.

14.6 Special Education Caseload

School Psychologist Coordinator

16.6.3 Lead School Psychologist Coordinator/Lead Nurse Coordinator

14.6.5 Caseload/Class Size

Caseload/Class Size Proposal

On Wednesday, August 30th the Santa Rosa City Schools School Board held a closed session board meeting at the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country. Only two items were on the agenda, the performance evaluation of SRCS Superintendent Diann Kitamura and a conference with SRCS's Labor Negotiator. 

Thirty-eight SRTA members welcomed the board members to their meeting with signs and flyers to bring awareness of the current labor difficulties between SRTA and SRCS to the local community. 

During the public comments preceding the closed session twelve SRTA members shared stories of the hardships they and their colleagues face due to the woefully insufficient health care coverage currently offered by SRCS.

Please listen to their stories and share them with your friends, families, and colleagues.