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District teachers ratify contract

Brian Wilkinson

(Updated: Thursday, August 19, 2010, 11:46 AM)

90% say yes to new agreement

Teachers in the Yosemite Union School District showed solidarity Aug. 12 as more than 90% voted yes to the revised contract offered by the district.

Union representatives and the district negotiated details of the contract early last week. A previous contract was voted down in June.

Before the vote, Deborah Brown, Yosemite Unified Teacher's Association president, addressed teachers gathered at the performing arts theater on the YHS campus.

"This contract may not be the best in the world, but the world's not in the best shape right now," Brown said. "It's painful, but I hope you support it."

District superintendent Steve Raupp also addressed the group prior to the vote.

"We're dealing with tough times but don't forget we have a great staff, great students and great teachers. I appreciate all the hard work you do."

The district comprises Yosemite High School along with Coarsegold and Rivergold elementary schools and eight alternative schools. There are 95 teachers in the district and 67 are union members who voted on the contract.

Details of the contract include:

It's a two-year contact instead of a three-year contract that was originally proposed.

The contract eliminates three "buy back" days that elementary teachers had been receiving. They were staff development days that were previously included in the state budget but that are no longer funded by the state.

Teachers will have three personal days off during the school year, an increase of one day from previous contract.

Elementary teachers will have late-start Fridays for collaboration.

The contract includes a three-day reduction in the school year, reducing the instructional days from 180 to 177. This results in an estimated savings of $130,000 per year to the district.

"We appreciate the willingness of the both bargaining units to step up and make concessions that will allow us to deal with some of the district's budget shortfalls," Raupp said after the vote.

"We still face a number of challenges but we are hopeful that the recent jobs bill passage in the senate and the house will provide some additional resources. We are also hopeful the state budget will be adopted in the near future and that it may provide more funding for education that we had initially seen."

"It was time to take a global look at the health of the organization (district), and not a self-serving ideology," Brown said after the vote. "We have been a unified district for five years but all the teachers have not been unified. We are now all equal and will continue working on our common goal, which is working in the best interest of all students."

The teacher's bargaining team was made up of Brown, Denise Bausch, Victoria Glines, Matt Skeahan and Carole Calderwood.

Raupp and Srini Vasan, district chief business officer and assistant superintendent, made up the district's bargaining team.

On June 14, trustees approved an $18.3 million 2010-2011 budget with projected deficit spending of $2.1 million. The funds required to meet the budget deficit will come from the district's $4.4 million reserve fund.

Raupp said that goals for the district include improving student achievement, reducing the incidents of bullying behavior, implementing new common core standards and maintaining district financial stability.

At the same meeting, Dena Boortz, district director of food service, explained the free and reduced meal program to teachers and staff and asked for their help if they notice any students who may need assistance. She said 142,000 free lunches and 31,000 free breakfasts were provided throughout the district last year.

Boortz noted that 52% of students at Coarsegold Elementary School are eligible for the program, 38% at YHS and 34% at Rivergold.

All teachers and staff received a recently revised 72-page staff handbook, which includes district policies and procedures on a number of subjects including cell phone and Internet use, student supervision, evacuation, lockdown, student locker and desk searches, surveillance systems, field trips and discipline.