The Gilroy Teachers Union requested an across-the-board raise in
response to middle school schedule change
Gilroy – Fairly peaceful morning negotiations exploded into a bitter debate when the teacher’s union returned from lunch and requested an across-the-board raise to compensate educators for a change that solely impacts middle schools.
The Thursday afternoon squabble followed a polite morning discussion between Gilroy Unified School District officials and the Gilroy Teacher’s Association. The only slightly tense moment occurred when the district’s lawyer Carol Stevens strongly stated the district’s aversion to teacher’s request for class sizes of no more than 34 students in grades six through 12.
Stevens said she must not have stressed the district’s opposition enough in past sessions so she needed to reiterate the point.
Although Union Representative Michelle Nelson mentioned the raise in the morning, saying a portion of GUSD’s surplus should be spread across the table, the issue wasn’t debated until the afternoon. Nelson said she talked to some middle school teachers at lunch time and then returned with some teachers to make the request.
“And then they blew up,” she said. “They (negotiations) didn’t end well. … I think people came in there with preconceived notions about what we were going to accomplish. I think that was the main problem.”
Nelson backed her request by citing a 1986 Elk Grove case wherein the district decided to change its school schedule without notifying teachers. The district ended up winning a suit filed with the Public Employment Relations Board and the settlement included cash for the teachers.
Nelson said she mentioned the 20-year-old case because of its similarity to the local issue and to drive home a point.
“What I’m trying to do is avoid filing an unfair labor practice charge,” she said.
On May 4, the GUSD board unanimously approved a schedule change, giving middle schools more time for math instruction to hopefully improve the district’s low math proficiency.
While the new schedule tacks on an additional period, educators’ instructional load will be 55-minutes lighter. But teachers aren’t happy that the district wants to oversee a new 75-minute instructional period every Wednesday.
Superintendent Edwin Diaz said the GTA’s request for an across-the-board raise is outrageous considering the schedule change only affects middle school teachers. The teachers’ attitudes at the meeting were rude and combative, he said, adding that their request for a raise is just a threat.
Diaz said the district nor the board intend to reverse its decision to increase middle school math instruction.
When asked why she didn’t simply ask for a raise for middle school teachers, Nelson said “all teachers are being asked to work more.”
“We said to distribute it across the district,” she said.
