Sweetwater Union High School District is pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement over a 3 year successor agreement between the parties. In the coming weeks both SEA membership and the Board of Trustees will be voting on the Successor Agreement.
Highlights of the Agreement include:
1. 3.75 % salary increase retroactive to January 1, 2017
2. Reopeners in the second and third year of the contract for wages and benefits, once the 2017-18 school and state budget are finalized.
3. Three additional days added to all 7-12 teachers for professional learning and collaboration, which will help cut down on all teachers’ needing to obtain substitutes where they will not be pulled away from teaching students.
4. Immediate additional support for special educators by placement of class caps and additional IEP days. Agreement to establish a special education committee to ensure a full review of the program and services in advance of further actions to the program.
5. Modified complaint procedure to ensure complaints are resolved at the lowest possible level with the site administrator and teacher.
6. Agree to teacher average of 51 students (with no more than 55 students) in High School Physical Education.
7. Joint Governance Panel developed changes to align our program with the new state requirements. Agreed to collaboratively develop Peer Assistance and Review Support (PARS) pilot next school year.
8. Parties committed to meet within 30 days of ratification to revamp extra duty stipends, creation, amounts, expectations, and processes for consideration by the Bargaining teams.
9. Increased amount for repair or replacement of employee’s personal equipment if it is damaged due to no fault of the employee.
10. Clarify that Written Assistance Plans related to employee evaluations must be in writing; and clarify when continuances of evaluations can be given by principals.
11. Incentivize teachers to get Biology and Bilingual Authorization credentials by agreeing to help fund tuition reimbursement.
12. Acknowledge that the District must consult with teachers before making changes to districtwide technology programs or implementation of professional learning communities.
SEA unit members will conduct hearings around the agreement later this week and will vote soon after. The Board of Trustees will take action on June 12, 2017.
We appreciate the work of both of the bargaining teams over the past year. We are proud of the significant language changes that we have agreed to, but we are most excited about the tone and tenor of the bargaining table this year. Both sides worked collaboratively to understand each other’s position and together we found solutions. While we still have a significant number of areas we want to work on together, these teams worked together to move us forward as a district. This bargaining was an example of our collective belief that truly We Are Stronger Together. We look forward to continued work with SEA leadership to implement the new agreements.