Coachella Valley Unified School District and Teachers Union Fail to Reach Agreement

THERMAL, CA - The Coachella Valley Unified School District and its teachers' union remain at odds Wednesday, after more than 10 hours of contract negotiations failed to yield an agreement.

Following an impasse that had continued since last year, the CVUSD board of trustees voted last month to reopen negotiations with the Coachella Valley Teachers Association, and both sides returned to the bargaining table on Tuesday.

CVTA Vice President and Bargaining Chair Carissa Carrera said the sides "met for over 10 hours," with the union "thinking we were making progress."

"It turns out that what they thought would be fair was actually far worse than anything they have brought to bargaining to date," she said in a statement.

Carrera said she could not divulge specifics, but the district's offer "completely disrespects the work we do everyday."

CVUSD Superintendent Darryl Adams said the next step would be moving to fact-finding, tentatively set for Nov. 9.

"We were hoping to negotiate a fair and reasonable agreement that takes care of our employees, while ensuring that the district's fiscal solvency remains positive at the same time," Adams said in a statement.

"We will keep the public informed of our progress, as our goal continues to be that of a reasonable resolution with CVTA," he said. "We all share the goal of refocusing our attention on what is important, and that is continuing to move forward in our mission, vision and goal of preparing our students for college, career and citizenship."

In a second statement released this morning, Adams said he takes "full responsibility for the status of negotiations between our teachers' union and our district."

Balancing adequate compensation with the goal of keeping the district fiscally solvent is "not an easy challenge to overcome amid increasing healthcare costs, retirement costs, cost-of-living adjustments and Local Control Funding Formula constraints and requirements," he said.

"We all recognize that we have the hopes and dreams of our 20,000-plus children and their families in our hands, and we also recognize that we have the hopes and dreams of our 2,000 employees and their families in our hands," Adams said. "But I also believe that we all agree that we cannot jeopardize those hopes and dreams by ignoring the impending challenge to our fiscal solvency in the coming years."

The union has asked for a 7.23 percent pay increase and recently rejected a 3 percent increase retroactive to July 2015, which was offered by the district in June.

Tuesday's meeting was preceded by more than 250 teacher absences at CVUSD schools in September and a student protest at the district's Thermal headquarters. Teachers have also been "working to rule," meaning that they have not been participating in any school activities outside of regular classroom hours.

– By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock.