TVUSD Governing Board Meeting - TVEA Spotlight

Good evening,

I am honored to present the November 2021 TVEA Spotlight tonight on behalf of our membership.

On October 22, TVUSD announced that Kristan Morales, Mathematics Teacher at Chaparral High School was named a finalist for 2022 California Teacher of the Year. This is an incredibly high honor and TVEA is extremely proud of Kristan, who serves as the Committee Chair of the TVEA Instructional and Professional Development Committee.

On October 29th, TVUSD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Frank Arce notified employees that TVUSD elected to extend the provisions of COVID-19 Leave related to SB 95 through November 30th. This was the second such announced one month extension of the September 30th legislation sunset date. Acting to invest in your employees is recognized by TVEA. This communication may have been the only bright light of information TVEA members received from TVUSD through the month of October.

Instead, District communication has mostly focused on clarifying the implementation of the August 11,2021 California Public Health Order.

TVEA has been contacted by pockets of members with concerns about this implementation including Testing Options, Privacy Issues, and Perceived Inequities in Face Covering Requirements. Next week TVEA will offer a meeting to have two-way conversation with those who have reached out with concerns.

The lingering pandemic has impacted all stakeholders within TVUSD. For employees, our duties have become more challenging than ever with the twists and turns of school closures, distance learning, hybrid models, and vaccination and testing compliance. No one is feeling this more than our Teachers and Specialists.

They are engaging and inspiring full size student groups, in a COVID-19 instructional environment, often with fewer supports.
They are expected to not only deliver well prepared lessons to attending students, but also develop digitized material for any student who might be absent due to COVID-19 exposure or quarantine protocols. This has not resulted in any more provided preparation time nor remuneration, yet only another demand which extends the workday well beyond contractual hours.
They are disheartened that we are working under an expired contract since June 30th,2021. Our members are aware that TVUSD and TVEA have begun 2021-22 negotiations, yet that does not help put food in the refrigerator, gas up a vehicle, or pay a college tuition bill. Our educators are tired, frustrated, and suffering from low morale.
They know our neighbor educators next door have settled with their district with a positive agreement. We are aware that a 30-year career district educator there will earn nearly an 11% higher salary higher this year compared to a like TVUSD educator.
TVEA has received similar concerns from our various specialist groups pointing to the fact neighboring districts provide substantially higher salaries leading to great disparities.

While TVEA has and will work diligently with TVUSD in the Ad Hoc Budget and Bargaining process, I want to be clear: TVEA cannot be expected to absorb the costs of addressing such Structural Deficiencies in Salary Compensation.

Are there funding challenges for TVUSD under LCFF and structural differences between TVUSD and neighboring districts? Absolutely. Yet, these factors should not generate runaway salary disparities between our district and our neighbor next door.

I have shared over the last few months where our Bargaining Unit stands in Competitive Regional Salary Growth over the last eight years. Is this ranking similar for all employee groups within TVUSD including the TVUSD Cabinet?

It is the responsibility of this District to examine every FTE, Job Title, and Salary Schedule within the TVUSD budget, make necessary adjustments, and provide your employee groups Fair and Competitive Compensation!

Back on October 5th, I encouraged the TVUSD Governing Board to publicly comment in support of utilizing district resources to offer a worthy successor contract. I encouraged you to state our educators are arguably your most critical resource and that TVUSD make Fair and Competitive Compensation a top priority.

Tonight, I ask that as a Governing Board you DIRECT TVUSD to act on and offer “Fair and Competitive Compensation” to TVEA at the next negotiation session November 15th.

While such a 2021-22 allocation may not address all salary schedule structural deficiencies, it will provide a positive step toward the ability of our membership to consider and potentially ratify a 2021-22 tentative agreement.

Thank you.

The video below starts at the TVEA Spotlight. https://www.youtube.com/embed/2NIO7wDoa6w?start=2640