CVUSD Votes to Continue Contract Negotiations With Teachers Union

THERMAL, CA - Tentative dates are set for next week to renew contract negotiations between the Coachella Valley Unified School District and the union, a teacher's union president said Friday.

The CVUSD board of trustees voted at a special meeting Thursday to resume negotiations.

Negotiations between the two sides reached a standstill earlier this year, bringing the threat of a teacher's strike.

Coachella Valley Teachers Association President Richard Razo said in a Facebook post this morning that "all the efforts of our community and members were enough to help the school board vote to return to the bargaining table."

Over the past year, the union and district have been negotiating salary increases and a district-proposed 20-minute addition to each school day. However, the teacher's union declared an impasse in December 2015, with the negotiations most recently moving into fact-finding.

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks with more than 250 teacher absences at CVUSD schools since last Wednesday and hundreds of high school students skipping class to stage a protest at the district's Thermal headquarters Tuesday morning.

Superintendent Darryl Adams issued a statement following 169 absences at seven district schools Wednesday, saying that he believes the district and the teacher's union "are close to a resolution."

"My hope is that today's large number of teacher absences does not occur again and we all can refocus on what's important, which is the safety and education of our students," he wrote.

CVUSD teachers have also been "working to rule," meaning that they have not been participating in any school activities outside of regular classroom hours.

Razo said in his post that teachers will continue to work to rule until an agreement is reached with the district.

– By City News Service / Patch file photo.