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La Cañada Unified School District

LCTA - LCUSD Negotiations Joint Communique

 

May 9, 2008

LCTA and LCUSD Negotiating Teams met on May 9, 2008.  After “check-in” and “rumor control,” the parties further discussed language on leaves and personal necessity.  The parties agreed that the “next steps” would be for LCTA to discuss the issue with Rep. Council and report back regarding progress at the next negotiations session.

Next, the parties reviewed and modified Extra Duty Extra Pay job descriptions.  The revisions and modifications will be electronically recorded in the contract to update the current language.  The changes will be tentatively agreed upon and signed at the next negotiations session.

The parties began to review and examine the Extra Duty Extra Pay schedules from comparable districts.  The information from these districts will be addressed during the negotiations sessions once the parties resume discussing the issues of wages and salaries.

May 5, 2008

LCTA and LCUSD Bargaining Teams met on May 5, 2008.  After “check-in” and “rumor control,” the parties created a timeline for the process of investigating issues and options related to an Early Retirement Incentive Program for 2008 – 2009.

The parties then signed a tentative agreement on contract language for a speech pathologists’ initial placement/entry level on the salary scale.

Next, the parties signed a tentative agreement on Column Movement and Unit Verification.

Representative members from LCTA and LCUSD on the Benefits Committee reported out on the progress-to-date of that committee.

The next action item was for both parties to identify and clarify interests related to Wages and Salaries.  The parties continue to agree upon tabling further discussion on wages until the May Revise is presented from Sacramento.

The parties defined interests on Leaves and Personal Necessity.  After these interests were identified, the parties worked to clarify them.  From the interests, related options were developed and narrowed.

The session concluded at 2:30 p.m. with the parties engaging in the “check-out” process and establishing the agenda for the May 9, 2008 session.

April 21, 2008

The parties met at 9:00 a.m. on April 21, 2008.  LCTA reported out of caucus from the last session and Superintendent Jim Stratton was present at the bargaining table to hear the report.  The LCTA report out of caucus focused on the Early Retirement Incentive Program that was presented by Keenan and Associates at the last negotiations session.  The parties discussed that it was not feasible to implement the timeline for the program this year, but agreed that the program was a priority interest for next year.  The District agreed to bring to the next session a master list of the information required for analysis next year, in order to fully investigate the program.  Additionally, a timeline for program review and potential implementation will be brought to the table.  Both of these items will be reviewed by the parties at the next session.

Next, the parties developed a straw design on the bargaining issues related to unit verification and column movement.  A sub-committee will develop exact contract language and distribute it to the parties prior to the next session for review.  Pending any editing and discussion, the goal is to reach tentative agreement on this language at the next session.

Options were narrowed on the topic of a speech pathologist’s initial placement on the salary schedule.  A subcommittee will also be working on this language to bring to the table for review at the next session.  The parties identified information required for the next session to further the discussion.

The next session will be held on May 5, 2008 at 9:00 a.m.  The parties set the agenda for this meeting.  Identifying interests regarding wages is a primary agenda topic for the session.  The parties calendared two additional negotiations sessions; a total of four dates are scheduled through June 13, 2008.  After identifying the talking points for the joint communiqué and after a quick “check-out” the session ended at 2:30 p.m.

March 20, 2008

The parties met at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 20th.  At this negotiations session, a tentative agreement was reached on both the 2009 – 2010 calendar, and contract language on National Board Certification.

The parties then continued to refine and narrow options related to Column Movement and Verification of Units.  LCTA presented data from their membership survey on potential column movement and professional development units.  From this discussion, alternative options were generated.  The parties reviewed the financial implications of various options.  At the next session, data on column movement and column structure from comparable districts will be reviewed.

Also at the next session, Keenan and Associates are tentatively scheduled to present information on Retirement Incentives.

Additional dates were calendared for LCTA / LCUSD negotiations.  The parties set the agenda for the April 3rd meeting, identified the points for the joint communiqué, and completed their check-out process.  The session adjourned at 4:00 p.m.


February 25, 2008

The parties met at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 25, 2008.  After approval of the minutes and check-in, the parties continued the discussion on column movement and verification of units for credit.  Options on these topics were clarified and narrowed.

Next, LCTA provided feedback on calendar options for 2009-2010.  The 2009-2010 calendar will be tentatively agreed upon at the March 20, 2008 negotiations session. 

The District reported out on the salary placement for speech pathologists on the schedule and the case load limits for the speech pathologists.

The District then presented that preliminary contacts have been identified with Keenan and Associates regarding their researching and presenting on Retirement Incentives.  The goal is to have a presentation from Keenan made at one of the next two negotiations sessions.

After setting the agenda for the March 20, 2008 session, and identifying items for the joint communiqué, the parties adjourned at 12:30 p.m.

February 11, 2008

The parties met on February 11, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. After check-in and rumor control, two calendar proposals for 2009-10 were reviewed. LCTA will solicit feedback from Rep. Council on the proposals. Steve Hodgson, LCUSD’s Interim Chief Business Officer, presented budget assumptions and projections for the second interim of 2007-08 through 2011. Due to the parties mutual decision to wait until more information is available on the state budget reductions from the state legislature, the financial information presented was not discussed further. The parties then resumed discussion of wages from the previous session, focusing on column movement on the salary scale and verification of units for credit. The agenda for February 25, 2008 was set and the parties adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

February 4, 2008

The parties met at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 4, 2008.  After check-in, the minutes of January 24th’s session were reviewed.  The next item on the agenda was rumor control.  No topics were surfaced in this area.  The parties opened discussion on Article XIII, Wages.  Under this Article, tentative agreement language on National Board Certification was reached.  Following this, options were discussed and narrowed in all of the following areas:

  • Movement from one class column to another
  • Clarification regarding the contract language on graduate units
  • Retirement incentive plans
  • Speech Pathologist.

Additional information related to these topics will be sought in order to further dialogue at the table.

The next negotiating session is scheduled for February 11, 2008.  Topics for this session will include those cited above as well as: Leaves, PN days, Evaluations, and Duties and Hours.  Preliminary budget information will also be presented in the next session.  The January 24th session concluded with a discussion of the governor’s proposed budget and both the District and the Association agreed on the importance of jointly encouraging the state legislature to ensure that budget reductions do not impact students and classrooms.

January 24, 2008

The parties met at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 24, 2008 to begin negotiations for the 2007-08 contract year.  After group check-in, calendar dates were reviewed and two additional dates were added.  The parties agreed to meet on all of the following days: February 4, February 11, February 25, March 14, March 20 and April 3 if necessary.

Next, the ground rules for the interest based bargaining process were reviewed and clarified.  Two points of clarification were:

  • To save time in negotiation sessions, the joint communiqué will be written by a sub-committee (Sinnette and Jordan) at the conclusion of each session.  Items for the communiqué will be bulleted by the parties as a group.
  • LCTA will share the specifics of each session with its Representative Council as well the District Team with the Superintendent and Governing Board.

Global Interests were then reviewed and amended.  The global interests are:

For the District, LCUSD has an interest in…..

  • maintaining fiscal solvency with a balanced budget
  • providing a physical environment that is safe and conducive to learning and student success
  • recruiting and retaining a teaching staff that is highly qualified and effective
  • providing an educational program of the highest caliber
  • providing class sizes that maximize student learning
  • restoring programs and services that were scaled back because of state funding deficits
  • using shared responsibility to control escalating heath care costs
  • providing FAPE to Special Education students while minimizing encroachment on the general fund

For LCTA, LCTA has an interest in…..

  • providing fiscal solvency for teachers that keeps up with the cost of living
  • maintaining and attracting quality teachers
  • providing new programs for retirees to ensure they can retire comfortably when they want to
  • providing health and welfare benefits so that teachers are secure in their wellness
  • providing a working environment that validates teachers’ professionalism
  • improving morale

*the final two items listed were added to the global interests at today’s session.

 

Lastly, the articles of the contract to be negotiated were prioritized as follows:

  • Article XIII Wages and related appendices
  • Article XVII Leaves
  • Article XI Duties and Hours
  • Article XXII Extra Duty/Extra Pay and related appendices
  • Article XVI Evaluations and related appendices
  • Article XIV Health and Welfare Benefits and related appendices
  • Article XX Public Complaints

 

Additionally, review and agreement upon the 2009-2010 calendar will be an item for discussion within the established negotiation dates.

To conclude the session, members of each team assigned and agreed to complete the research necessary to begin the work for upcoming sessions.  Joint Communiqué bullets were identified and the agenda for the next session was established.  Parties engaged in the check-out process agreeing that today’s session had been both promising and productive.

October 22, 2007

LCTA and LCUSD met on Monday, October 22 from 9:00 – 2:30 p.m.  The discussion was concluded regarding the bargaining of the mandatory subjects of bargaining related to new Board Policy 6162.5 and the effects on the accompanying Administrative Regulation.  Options were discussed and components of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) were agreed upon.  It was further clarified which options are addressed in the AR and which ones will be included in the MOU.  It was also clarified through the AR that the policy is only applicable to grades 7-12 and will be discussed at a staff meeting.  A subcommittee will meet on Thursday, October 25 to draft the MOU.  The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, December 3 from 8:30 – 2:30 pm. 

October 15, 2007

The LCTA and LCUSD negotiating teams met on October 15 from 9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.   The parties reviewed the Student Assessment Board Policy 6162.5 and clarified its provisions.   It was determined that there was a need for site administrators and LCTA unit members to engage in a similar process of clarification.  The discussions included the impact on the working conditions.  Interests were explored, direct impacts related to duties and hours and evaluation process were identified. Options were suggested to help the district with creating the Administrative Regulation for this policy.  An additional meeting will be held on October 22 to identify further options and to continue to negotiate impacts and effects.  The date of implementation for this board policy is Tuesday, October 23, 2007.

 
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