Sequoia Union High School District

The SUHSD and SDTA Bargaining Teams met in person on Monday, January 10.  Both sides made considerable movement, and agreement was reached on a new side letter defining the use of Learning Management System (currently, Canvas) in the District as well as on a handful of proposals, including planning release time and compensation for teachers in the Satellite and Satellite Plus programs, Minimum Days for Professional Development, enhancements and clarifications to the use of the Catastrophic Leave Bank, including the ability to use up to 10 days for the care of a child or family member in catastrophic need, and mutual approval by teacher and evaluator of the scheduling of evaluation observations.   The District's updated proposal calls for a 2% raise to the 2021-2022 salary schedule and a 2% raise for 2022-2023 within a closed, 2-year agreement.  SDTA's updated proposal is for a two-year contract with a 4% raise to the 2021-2022 salary schedule and re-openers on salary and two other articles per side for 2022-2023.  Additionally, SDTA has proposed a 2% raise to the salary schedule effective January 1, 2023, in recognition of the savings estimated from shifting health benefit providers from CalPERS to SISC.

 

The teams have additional meetings set for January 20th and 28th

NEGOTIATIONS JOINT STATEMENT

 

SDTA and the District have met in person on November 22 for a full day of bargaining and virtually on November 10 and December 2 for two half-days.  Throughout those meetings, the two sides have exchanged a series of proposals, identifying a number of areas where we have found an agreement to adjust contract language to bring it in line with current practices.  

 

Substantial progress was made in the areas of transitioning health benefits away from CalPERS and to a new provider, the Self-Insured Schools of California (SISC), for the 2023 calendar year, as well as toward establishing dedicated professional development time for several identified topics in the areas of social-emotional needs and wellness of students and staff, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, instructional practices across content areas, cultural responsiveness and proficiency, sexual harassment prevention, equity, inclusion, and similar topics.

 

Discussions continue in other areas, including compensation, staffing, and leave provisions.

 

The two sides will meet again on Monday, December 6, for a full day of in-person bargaining.

The District and the Teachers Association had our first negotiations session on September 28, 2021.  Both teams met and began discussion regarding ground rules and norms.

 

Both parties discussed their initial proposals. SDTA began reviewing their comprehensive proposal. We set our agenda for our next negotiations session.

 

Our next negotiations sessions are scheduled on October 14 and October 28, 2021.

On Wednesday, May 5, the Sequoia District Teachers Association and the Sequoia Union High School District bargaining team met to continue to negotiate the specifics of the Fall 2021 reopening of schools.  

 

With the current health and safety regulations the District continues to include in its proposal that 100% of staff and students would return to school full-time in the schedules that existed before the shift to distance learning occurred in March of 2020.  

 

The plan includes all protective measures (masks, increased ventilation, physical distancing) to be maintained to the extent required by the San Mateo County Health Department.  

 

The District's proposal assumes a fully in-person model for all students. SDTA is preparing a written response to the District's proposal, which will be discussed at the next scheduled negotiations session on May 20.

 

The District did respond to several items in their counter proposal.

 

Areas where we are still working out details of an agreement:

 

 

As we concluded the 2020 – 2021 school year, the District and SDTA met to discuss any possible health and safety protocol changes that would need to be addressed for the beginning of the 2021 – 2022 school year.  The District will be returning to the regular pre-pandemic instructional model with 100% of students in all grade levels attending classes every day.  As the restrictions and health and safety protocols evolve with the implementation of widespread vaccinations for staff and students, the District will monitor the situation and reconvene in August with SDTA to review the situation for the start of the school year and confirm what health and safety protocols will be required.

 

Also included in the discussions with SDTA were concerns raised by SDTA regarding the effectiveness of the concurrent instructional model (roomers and zoomers) that was used during distance learning.  Although there was agreement that there were issues with the model for both teachers and students, the District and SDTA did not reach an agreement regarding what instructional model the District would use if it became necessary to return to distance learning in the future.  

 

SDTA and the District did reach an agreement on providing support for teachers during the summer months to work on addressing the impact of distance learning and instruction on student learning.  The agreement allows for additional collaboration and/or curricular planning during the summer recess to address the impact of COVID-19 on student learning.  SDTA members will have the opportunity to receive compensation for up to ten hours of work at the curricular rates for work that is completed prior to the start of the 2021 – 2022 school year.  The work to be performed must address one of the following three areas.