Bargaining Report: April 2, 2025

Presentation

• The district’s lawyer gave a presentation about Certificated Discipline that overviewed EdCode requirements regarding just cause.  FCEA’s new CTA liaison is also a lawyer and helped round out the discussion.  This is part of a long term project to outline in the contract a process for site discipline that clarifies for administrators and staff how minor issues should be addressed.  Note, major issues still come under specific edCode prescriptors.   We also reviewed our Weingarten RIghts and how and when to use them.  FCEA and FCUSD agreed to continue to develop this language alongside existing article 19 language regarding complaints against FCEA unit Members

  •  FCEA will be expanding our Rep Council training on this issue starting next fall and include additional resources for Reps who are often called in at site meetings in these cases

Discussion

• We also had a rather lengthy discussion about generic job descriptions for facilitators in areas such as Psychs, Counselors, or SLPs. There is a desire to create new language in the contract for job description for district facilitators or leads to capture what this role would entail and standardize stipend amounts.  Psychs will take a lead and examine existing language and similar job descriptions and bring that back to the table in the Fall

MOUs

• There were two MOUs to replace last year’s Collaboration at the Elementary Schools, MOU #8.

  • TK and TK-K combo Collab Time.  Slip schedule coverage for the first 15 minutes and last 15 minutes of the day came up.  Although creative solutions were presented, this will come back to the table next month while some of those ideas are vetted by TK, K teachers and with missing members from the district team in attendance.

  • Planning Elem Colab and K2 Early Start.  K-2 testing at the start of the year is 1-1 and next year will include an additional dyslexia screener.  This will come back in May as well - need to see if we still meet required elementary instructional minutes and need to see if dyslexia screening might be addressed alongside ELPAC testing.

Updates

• We had a short discussion about how to adjust time schedules when requesting a substitute teacher for a half day on Frontline.  Bell schedules at the middle and high school were causing a problem with payment to substitute teachers when teaching either an AM-only or PM-only schedule with am and pm times differing by as  much as 40 minutes. The time disparity between AM and PM substitute teacher times will be solved for the 2025-2026 school year similarly to elementary schools - sub time will occur at ½ way through the day for Secondary regardless of site bell schedule.

• Peter Maroon was back to review changes to Appendix D. Most of what was covered were updates to Appendix D regarding payment of stipends for special services to students. We requested that Appendix D-6 (hourly wages for special services to students) was also subject to salary increases along with sections D-1 to D-5. We still have work to do on Appendix D that will be addressed during the 2025-2026 school year regarding equity in stipends for special services to students i.e. sports teams, music programs…A joint shared communication for Appendix D will be coming out once the final edit of Appendix D is ready.

Our response to the district’s offer for compensation and benefits:

• Here is a link to the bargaining team’s response to the district’s last offer.  No counter today.  Mostly questions and RFIs. Request for Information

• Tracy restated our understanding of where the monies are and how things are calculated.  It all comes down to philosophy, the money of today should be for the students of today.

• We are being asked to do A LOT.  Added stress and expectations have changed a full plate to an overflowing bowl.  Some in the district’s  control…some out.

• We would like to be the priority. Our concern is that money is going into programs that cost a lot, especially when you look at the big picture including conference/workshop/materials/PD .  Yes, some is coming from grant money, but there are still obligations from the general fund.  Where will the money come from when the grant money runs out?  [RFI#2 demands information on the amount left in the grant(s), intentions related to the HRS program in terms of expansion and areas related to working conditions and other related details - this is just one district initiative but it can  help us better understand district approach and priorities].

• More programs = more people at the district level = more work for teachers.  Where is the money going?

• Cert. supervisors and admin salaries have had large year on year increases that seem to outpace student population growth.  We are concerned about what this says about FCUSD priorities..  

• We feel ESC is expanding.  Perhaps too much for what it’s providing.  The percent change of admin salaries is a concern.  Money is going to the hydra that is district administration and support staff.  Each director at ESC is worth the salary of two teachers. [RFI #1 demands information on the number of management per dept over each of the last two years and projected for next year]

• Health benefits are a major concern.  A two year deal would paint us into a corner with prospective changes coming next year.

• We did not counter on April 2nd.  We are confident our offer is fair and can be funded by the district.

• We presented two RFIs [mandatory Request for Information] to the district.  We are focused on HRS as an example of the impact of what the district is working on and how it impacts teachers and clarity on how they have been using grants .  And a second RFI to get accurate numbers as to the growth of ESC administration and staff for the past few years and projections for next year..

• Our plan - focus on how to hire and retain quality teachers. The way the district is retaining teachers is not working.  People are leaving and being replaced at a high level year after year. 2.5% is not unreasonable. What is the district’s priority?