Lesson plans, red pens, inspirational posters - teachers have everything they need for the new year, except for one key element: a contract.
Worse still, Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers Union representatives and Morgan Hill Unified School District staff haven't been able to negotiate a meeting time to start negotiations for a new three-year contract.
Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers Union President Donna Foster said this is the first time since 1976, when the union formed here, that teachers could start a new school year without at least being in the throes of negotiation. School starts for students Tuesday, but teachers must return to work Thursday.
"I've been making requests (to start negotiations) since March 18," Foster said. Foster said the district staff who handle negotiations, led by Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jay Totter, and a group of teachers, led by her, had a date set in June to start negotiations but the meeting was canceled abruptly by the district.
"They called me the day before and said the time wasn't mutually agreeable," she said. "We've been available. We had that date on the books for weeks. I don't know why that suddenly became not an agreeable date."
Usually, Foster said, the district and the union begin working together in the spring or at least by the summer, and a contract is nailed down in the fall. Last year, for example, the yearly contract update was finalized in November. Until a new contract is finalized, the teachers will continue to work under the old contract.
But a lot has changed since the old contract was put in place. In the past three years more than 150 teachers have retired or left for other reasons, Foster said. In April, the school board approved $3 million in budget cuts.
"There has, in the past, been the spirit of improving working conditions when there's no money to give," Foster said. "Not sitting down and addressing working conditions, it makes you wonder what in the world the district is thinking."
Calls to Totter were not immediately returned.
Natalie Everett Natalie Everett covers education and city issues for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.
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