The Valley of the Moon Teachers Association has charged the Sonoma Valley School District with illegally acting in bad faith by denying the tentative agreement their team signed off on.
The District’s incompetence and failure to honor their commitment erodes trust with educators and community.
The Valley of the Moon Teachers Association (VMTA) has filed an unfair labor practice charge against Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) with the Public Employment Relations Board. The charge alleges SVUSD is bargaining in bad faith in violation of the Educational Employment Relations Act. The district’s failure to follow through on a tentative agreement shows a lack of foresight and understanding, losing credibility as a professional school district.
“On October 1, 2024, during mediation, SVUSD lead negotiator Rena Seifts, SVUSD’s attorney Matthew Juhl-Darlington and I signed a tentative agreement resolving negotiations. VMTA entered that agreement and as a democratic union, we put the terms to our members to vote. Our members agreed with what both parties agreed to and voted to win language protecting small class sizes for our students and our educators amid school consolidation,” said VMTA Bargaining Chair Drue Jacobs.
For SVUSD, negotiations with labor organizations are governed by Board Policy 4143: Negotiations/Consultation –
Once the final terms of the agreement have been ratified by the membership of the employee organization, the contract shall be presented to the Board at a public meeting for acceptance.
Since the Tentative Agreement was signed, two regular school board meetings were held on October 10, 2024, and November 14, 2024, and despite dozens of letters and protests, the board has taken no official action on the signed tentative agreement their own team signed off on.
“If the school district’s negotiation team reaches a tentative agreement, but the district later denies it, it signals a breakdown in communication or decision-making within their team. This is alarming to us and the greater community. This signals to us poor management, a lack of proper decision-making processes and leadership dysfunction. They have lost the trust of us, parents and students,” said VMTA Vice President Shelle Ryan.
“The district does not seem to know how labor agreements work, and instead would rather gaslight our community by refusing to acknowledge that mediation is over the moment both parties sign a tentative agreement. They are completely ignoring the process in statute and in their board policies. The process exists to ensure transparency and accountability so our families, educators and community can ensure our elected officials are following the law and respecting everyone’s rights. The board making irresponsible decisions does nothing to serve our students or our community. Instead, it’s a reflection of their incompetence and unprofessional behavior,” said VMTA Co-President Laura Hoban.
On November 18, 2024, coming out of closed session SVUSD Board President Celeste Winders reported that “The board has voted to approve a TA with VMTA for the terms reached in impasse mediation. The board will bring the complete TA and articles and CBA back to an open session at its next regularly scheduled board meeting.” Later that night, however, SVUSD Superintendent Jeanette Chien emailed VMTA notifying the union that the board had not voted on the Tentative Agreement reached with VMTA. Instead, it had voted on revising the terms that had not been negotiated with or agreed to by the Union, and those were the terms of the agreement that would be presented at the December meeting.
“This is not how labor negotiations work. This is called not bargaining in good faith. The board can’t simply decide to change a signed agreement. For us to move forward in the process, the board needs to take action on the terms their team signed off on and what VMTA members voted to ratify,” said Hoban.
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