Teachers and classified workers in the Morgan Hill School
District have been working without a contract since the beginning
of July 2003, but that may soon change.
Teachers and classified workers in the Morgan Hill School District have been working without a contract since the beginning of July 2003, but that may soon change.
“Negotiations are ongoing, and we are expecting a successful conclusion,” Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said Friday. “The board will be discussing this at their next meeting, certainly during their closed session meeting.”
The next regular board meeting is at 7pm Oct. 11 in the District Office, 15600 Concord Circle.
Trustees held a special closed session meeting Tuesday night to discuss negotiations, as well as a personnel matter.
As negotiations between district officials and representatives from the three employee groups, the Morgan Hill Educational Leaders Association (MHELA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers (MHFT), continue, some members of SEIU want to be sure School Board trustees remember their pledges to the community.
During three years of district budget cuts, there has been no money for raises, other than “step and column” increases. Worse, many classified positions were cut and classified workers were given mandatory no-pay furlough days.
As they approved the cuts board members have made clear their desire to reinstate positions and days should the budget situation change.
Recently, rumors of a raise for teachers fueled speculation by classified workers that if a raise was negotiated, there would be nothing left to reinstate days and positions.
“’Rumor’ has it that the Board of Education is ready to reach a deal with the teachers’ union regarding a pay raise,” District Office employee Peggy Pappani and 64 classified staff members wrote in a letter to the editor of The Times recently. “We find this ‘rumor’ extremely difficult to believe, as we felt certain that Board members were of the opinion that no raises would be given until all classified employees received their positions; reduction in days; and reduction in hours restored.”
MHFT President Donna Foster was attending an out-of-town conference Friday, but Sobrato teacher Jeanie Wallace was staffing the MHFT office and addressed the rumor.
“We’re on a different negotiating cycle than they are, our union negotiates separately from theirs,” she said. “We can’t stop our negotiations and wait for them to complete theirs. These are ongoing negotiations.
“We have a tentative agreement on the table for a 2 percent increase that would be included in the Nov. 30 paycheck, not retroactive. We walked away from a significant amount of money that would be available for classified if they chose to include it in their negotiations.”
SEIU local representatives could not be reached before press time.
