SANTA FE SPRINGS (CNS) – The union representing the striking Little Lake City School District teachers and district officials are set Tuesday to negotiate for a second consecutive day in an attempt to end the walkout that began April 16.
The negotiations lasted for 10 hours Monday, according to the Little Lake Education Association, the union representing the teachers.
Bargaining is set to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The union will conduct a community rally outside the district office at 5:30 p.m. before many of its members attend the 6:30 p.m. school board meeting.
Monday’s negotiations were the first since Superintendent Jonathan Vasquez abruptly moved up his retirement date to Monday from the summer. Longtime administrator Monica Martinez-Johnson was appointed as interim superintendent Sunday at a special meeting of the Board of Education.
“We are not waiting — we are engaging,” Martinez-Johnson said. “We value our teachers, we respect the role they play in our classrooms, and we are committed to reaching a resolution that is responsible, sustainable and fair to all.”
Union officials said the dispute centers on proposed midyear health care changes that could increase some employees’ monthly costs to as much as $1,400, which they contend amounts to a pay cut. They are also calling for smaller class sizes and more support for special education programs.
According to an “update for our school community” released by the district Thursday, the district’s proposal at Thursday’s bargaining session included six options for healthcare for teachers, with the district offering to pay 85%-90%, depending on the plan. Five of the options require larger class sizes, according to the district.
The district said “even with the class size increases listed in some of the plans, class sizes would still be smaller than most neighboring school districts.”
The district warned in the update, “if we overspend the state can take over and that would mean losing local control over your children’s education.”
The union is also seeking to recall all five members of the Board of Education of the district, which is headquartered in Santa Fe Springs, serves students in portions of Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk and a small part of Downey.
The strike is the third-longest teachers’ strike in California since 1996, behind the 26-day strike in Oakland in 1996 and this year’s 12-day walkout by teachers in the Sacramento-area Twin Rivers Unified School District, officials with the California Teachers Association, the state’s largest education union, told the Whittier Daily News.
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