Community Learning Center Schools Finalize Union Agreements

Alameda, Calif. – January 28, 2016 — Community Learning Center Schools (CLC Schools), the non-profit charter management corporation that oversees the Nea and Alameda Community Learning Centers (ACLC), is pleased to announce that all portions of both classified and certificated union contracts between staff and administration are complete and agreed upon by all parties.

“Depending on how long the union takes to ratify the contract, I expect our Board will vote to approve the contracts in the coming weeks,” said Patti Wilczek, CLC Schools’ Executive Director. “We are thrilled to be moving forward with an agreement that has buy-in from all sides,” Wilczek said.

Negotiations between the union, Nea-ACLC United, representing the teaching and support staff of Nea and ACLC, and CLC Schools administration began at the beginning of the 2013-14 school year. Despite periods of extraordinary tension during the process, movement toward finalization increased at the beginning of the current school year.

A stalemate that left negotiations on the brink of falling apart was broken last fall when Wilczek proposed that the union and schools’ negotiating teams meet on a regular basis to work through areas of conflict without legal representation present. This new approach allowed momentum toward agreement to pick up speed and finally come to resolution.

“Everyone at the table communicated honestly and engaged in hard, sometimes emotion-laden, discussions about the issues,” said Wilczek. “It has been a lengthy and challenging process, but we have all benefitted from the more collaborative and cooperative relationship that developed as a result. We look forward to maintaining that same spirit as we move forward in our shared mission of educating Alameda’s children,” Wilczek said.

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