Under a new contract accord, middle school teachers who agree to
teach an extra period will receive a salary increase
Gilroy – The Gilroy Teachers Association and the school district reached a tentative agreement during negotiations Monday and, while the union dropped its request for an across-the-board raise of 3 percent for all teachers, the contract includes a 17 percent raise for any middle school teacher who volunteers to teach an extra class.
The special middle school deal comes on the heels of a hot debate over the Gilroy Unified School District Board’s decision to lengthen the middle school day to make more time for math in an effort to improve the low math proficiency rate of students.
Teachers said they didn’t necessarily disagree with the direction – which will mean a 55-minute decrease in classroom time even though their days will be lengthened for instructional collaboration – but weren’t happy that the resolution was made with little input from the union.
Still, GTA President Michelle Nelson said the union decided to drop its request for an across-the-board salary bump – at least for now.
“The district team said they would need additional authorization from the board to discuss compensation, but the next board meeting was not until June 22,” she wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. “It was more a matter of timing than anything else. We decided that it would be better to completely close-out negotiations for 2005-2006 now, take a break, then begin negotiations for 2006-2007 with a clean slate. Having said that, when we do negotiate for next year, we will (be) asking for a substantial salary increase.”
Nelson said if she had not made the call to reach an agreement on Monday they would most likely be at impasse. Linda Piceno, assistant superintendent of human resources and the district staffer overseeing negotiations, did not return calls for comment.
The Monday compromise follows last week’s bitter negotiations session and a month-long debate over the middle school issue.
District officials were surprised by the GTA’s sudden request on Thursday for an across-the-board raise, particularly since the middle school change only impacts teachers at that level and the union had identified class size and work hours as the negotiable issues.
Nelson said she didn’t understand why officials were so taken aback by the request since teachers were simply asking for a portion of the district’s more than $1 million surplus.
“We didn’t think that our request to give an increase to everyone, not just middle school teachers, was that outrageous either,” she wrote. “When Gilroy’s elementary teachers lost 50 to 100 percent of their prep time in 1994-1995, everyone in the district got a raise. But that raise came at the cost of prep time. In that instance, the elementary teachers took a hit so that everyone could get an increase.”
Although Nelson said she’s “not completely satisfied that we’ve explored all legal options,” the teacher’s vote to approve or reject the new contract will take place today and Thursday. If the agreement is ratified it will head to the board for approval.
