Teachers Demonstrate for Quick Resolution of Negotiations Impasse

CAMARILLO — Calling for a quick resolution to eight months of salary negotiations, more than 60 Pleasant Valley School District teachers demonstrated Thursday evening shortly before a school board meeting.

The demonstration in front of Camarillo City Hall, where the board meets, comes after an impasse in contract talks that started in February when district negotiators and teachers’ union representatives could not agree on a wage increase for the district’s 340 teachers.

Both sides have met several times since a state mediator was called in about three months ago and are now within one percentage point on a raise each can agree on.

“The demonstration is to let them know that our morale is slowly dying,” said Carol Marvin, president of the Pleasant Valley Education Assn. “We need to get this settled quickly, and it might mean making tough decisions, but we need to get them done.”

District officials said they might be able to settle on an agreement as early as Thursday.

“We’re very interested in settling, and hopefully we’ll reach a fair settlement by the 8th,” said Stephen Hanke, the district’s assistant superintendent.

The talks started in August, when the teachers’ union originally demanded an 8% pay increase. Negotiators for the 7,100-student district countered with a 1.5% raise and a onetime bonus equal to about 1% of a teacher’s 1996-97 salary.

The union also requested that teachers receive more preparation time for classes after the district decided to offer voluntary middle school attendance. Beginning this fall, sixth-graders will be permitted to attend middle school rather than elementary school.

The last raise for Pleasant Valley teachers was in September 1995, when they received a 2.5% increase and a retroactive increase for the 1994-95 school year of 2%.

The union--which represents 260, or 76%, of the district’s teachers--said that in a time when state schools are in a period of relative prosperity, teachers should be considered a high priority.

“We were very patient and that money is coming in,” Marvin said. “We need to be placed first in priority of spending, because we did our time.”

But with the push to pare class sizes to 20 students or fewer this year creating a demand for additional classrooms, school officials say the district faces tough economic times.

“Those [factors] need to be taken into consideration, but that does not say teachers are not important,” Hanke said.

Based on 1995-96 figures, a teacher starting at the district with a bachelor’s degree and teacher’s credential receives $27,018. The highest-paid teachers--who have a master’s degree or 60 units of additional course work--make a maximum of $43,096.

Ventura County school districts similar in size to Pleasant Valley include Rio Mesa School District, where teacher salaries range from $26,933 to $43,978 as of last year. The 1995-96 range for Hueneme School District teachers was $28,553 to $49,219. And Ojai Unified School District teachers earned between $29,261 and $43,978 last year.