Congratulations to Craig Wilson, our FSUTA-endorsed candidate who is now the Area 4 trustee on the FSUSD Governing Board after prevailing in Tuesday’s election.
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Bargaining update Nov. 7, 2018
FSUSD management presented its proposal in our meeting Nov. 1. When you compare it with ours given to management on Oct. 15, 2018, you will find we are in agreement in some areas and far apart in others. FSUSD Management is in agreement with adding language to student contacts in the elementary levels. This is necessary because sharing students is now a common practice in our schools.
Although Education Code does allow switching of students, FSUTA wants to ensure this is what our members want to do and not something management forces us to do. And this change in working conditions is reflected in contract language. Click on the following links to see the proposals.
Our biggest disagreement is with elementary preparation time. FSUSD management does not want to increase the number of minutes that elementary teachers could receive to make it more equitable with secondary.
When I first came to this district, there were two models for K-8 (B. Gale Wilson and Suisun Valley). B. Gale Wilson had both elementary and secondary tracts at one site, while Suisun Valley followed an elementary model. As FSUSD management closed middle schools and opens TK-8 elementary schools, I asked Diane Ferrucci if FSUSD management looked at other urban schools to see if the TK-8 elementary model worked. Although I requested the information, I never received any data from management. Some urban districts such as San Diego Unified have K-8 schools, but they are not designed with the elementary model used in FSUSD.
Elementary music teachers support an increase in preparation time and believe the way in which music is delivered to elementary students in grades 6-8 must also change. They have met with Cindy Brown and elementary art teachers will do so next week. When you look at our Nov. 1 proposal to the district, we discussed working on a conceptual proposal that would give students in grades 6-8 at TK-8 sites an opportunity to select electives (P.E. is not an elective) so they may have greater success in music. Approximately one third of our students in grades 6-8 at TK-8 sites are currently failing music. We asked management to think out of the box so that the music program retain specialists as well as have a greater success rate with our students. An increase in elementary prep time also allows for additional instructional minutes of P.E. to improve the health and fitness of our students.
Your FSUTA Bargaining Team: Stephanie Cobb, Yolanda Blacknell-Mitchell, Elaine Yasonia, Louise Jacob and D.J. Bowen