Sonoma Valley Unified School District teachers started the 2024-’25 school year working without a contract. Negotiations ended in impasse last May when the Valley of the Moon Teachers Association’s negotiation team did not accept the District’s “last and final offer.” They are currently in mediation, declared by both sides prior to the start of the school year in August. The next mediation will occur October 1.
All 203 certificated employees in the District voted at the end of August to authorize the union’s Executive Board to call a strike if they cannot reach agreement. Union membership, which is not obligatory, includes 197 of these employees and the number is rising, according to Dennis Housman, VMTA Co-President. “This should say something to the District and to the Board,” stated Housman, adding, “We are wanting what’s best for our students, and we’re willing to walk for this.”
The main issues are longer work hours, salary, class size, and a new disciplinary policy. The request for compensation for additional work hours stems from the District’s discovery in late fall of 2023 that the elementary schools and high school were not meeting the state required minimum minutes of instruction. The short fall was 260 minutes of instruction at the elementary level, and 7,955 minutes at the high school. These minutes have been added to the bell schedules. The District says the additional time at the high school is the equivalent of 21 instructional days; the union requests compensation for the longer work hours.
For salary, the union is asking an increase of 8 percent for this year and 12 percent next year, “to get our teachers to the state-wide average for teacher pay,” explained Housman. “We are willing to negotiate, and we would like to see the district prioritize teachers in the school budget.”
The class-size issue involves combo classes (two grades in one common classroom) at the elementary level. At the high school, the issue is a concern for the safety of students, given that there are as many as 45 non-swimmers in a class to teach swimming. There are also safety concerns about the number of students in wood shop and metal shop classes where, as Housman explained, “discipline has changed over the years,” making the current class sizes untenable for the safety of the students.
A disciplinary policy that the District added to the proposed contract is a huge sticking point for the teachers. It provides for the unpaid, five-day or more suspension of a teacher deemed not doing a good job. This could be for, as an example, alleged “unprofessional behavior,” without an explanation of how that applies to the teacher in question, or without a meeting with that teacher. The union sees this as a lack of due process. Housman also pointed out that the policy would jeopardize that teacher’s ability to renew their credential. The union wants to keep the status quo, believing there is no need to amend the Education Code procedures for disciplining teachers that are in place. “We want good teachers,” Housman affirms.
The VMTA’s negotiation team is led by a representative of the Executive Board, and includes a representative from the high school, a middle school, two elementary schools, and a Special Education person. There is also a representative of the California Teachers Association (CTA). The District designates an administrator and a District lawyer to their team.
By Anna Pier
I feel for all parties involved. The terrible mismanagement during Covid on the state level only worsens the local problems. The district is nearly insolvent with so many families leaving. The teachers demands are valid and I hope they are met for their sake and the children they serve.