Lennox Teachers Association Bargaining Update #1 May 1, 2015 Your LTA Bargaining Team met with the district on May 1. The LTA team is led by Lisa Rubio (Huerta) and includes Sigrid Caballero (SpEd preschool), Fidel Lopez (Moffett), Jim Nadler (LMS) and Andrew Staiano (CTA staff). The LSD team includes Hiacynth Martinez (Personnel), Kevin Franklin (Fiscal Services), Lissett Pichardo (Instructional Services), and Steve Andelson (attorney). Your team presented comprehensive bargaining proposals, after sunshining the four articles that we are opening at the school board meeting on March 26. The district also sunshined four articles, although they have not presented concrete proposals yet. Our next meeting is scheduled for May 15, at which point we expect to receive written proposals and counter-proposals from the district. Your team is committed to improving the learning environment for students and the working conditions for teachers in Lennox. We believe our proposals will help meet the needs of teachers and assist the district in the era of Common Core and LCFF/LCAP. It is our desire to reach an agreement before the end of the school year, but not at the expense of achieving important goals that will help our students, benefit our members, and be consistent with the priorities of the Lennox community. Please be prepared to support our efforts at the bargaining table by wearing your blue LTA t-shirts again on May 15 and looking out for other updates and calls to action from the LTA Organizing Team. The full text of the initial LTA bargaining proposal can be viewed at lennoxteachersassociation.org. Proposal Highlights: ART ICLE 6: C OM PE NSATIO N & BE NEFIT S • Increase salaries by 7% • Increase extra-duty rate of pay to $40/hr • Increase health benefits across all medical plans, evening out contributions so the district contributes the same amount to the plans of each carrier (currently Kaiser and Health Net), and establish a mechanic so that district contributions to employee-only, employee-plus-one, and family medical plan options all increase each year relative to a reference plan in their own category • Increase service credit for prior teaching experience to 10 years • Grant full service credit for all experience in any setting to fully-credentialed Speech and Language Pathologists, and increase the SLP stipend to $4,000/yr to attract and retain teachers for these hard-to-fill positions ART ICLE 7: W ORK YE AR & H OURS OF EMP LOY ME NT • Add 6 work days to the calendar for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 – 3 before school begins and 3 pupil-free days during the year, paid at the per diem rate; at least 50% of each of these days would be teacher directed time • Create contractual language establishing 1 period of preparation time/day for middle school teachers • Create contractual language establishing 100 minutes of preparation time/wk for preschool and elementary teachers • Eliminate morning yard duty • Extend “first Friday” minimum days to all first Fridays, not just 9/yr • Clarify and reorganize existing language defining the teacher work day, student start and end times, minimum days, super minimum days, and flex calendars • Clarify and reorganize existing language on adjunct duties, as well as Back-to-School Night, Open House Night and after-school Parent Conferences ART ICLE 9: C LASS SIZE • Create contract language establishing the Class-Size Committee recommended grade span student-teacher ratios: o TK-1 20:1 o 2-3 24:1 o 4-5 27:1 o 6-8 29:1 (with a planning period) • Create class size maximums, in most cases 2 higher than the average stated above ART ICLE 21: SPE CIAL E DUCAT ION • Increase teacher input in the district special education program • Create caseload caps for SDC teachers, and lower existing caps for RSP teachers and Speech and Language Pathologists • Clarify and reorganize existing language on regular ed teachers’ rights regarding student IEPs
LTA/CTA/NEA