By Michael Beeli
Staff Writer
The Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association reached a tentative agreement on revisions of its teachers’ certificated collective bargaining agreement with Manhattan Beach Unified School District on Tuesday.
The first provision of the agreement includes a four percent salary increase that will be retroactive to July of 2015, followed by an additional three percent increase in January of 2017. The tentative agreement also includes a revised 2016-17 calendar that outlines changes to district-wide school days throughout the months of October, November, December, February and April, such as the addition of minimum days.
“MBUTA is satisfied with the agreement as it represents an acceptable compromise, but there remain significant disagreements about district spending priorities and questions about the financial picture the administration is painting,” MBUTA negotiations chair Adam Gezci said. “MBUTA is looking forward to working with the District in revising and establishing budgetary priorities.”
The tentative agreement additionally outlined a “Calendar Option A” and a “Calendar Option B” for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years. Under Option A, school will have a later start date of Aug. 30, 2017, and Aug. 29, 2018, with modified district-wide breaks to replace the current breaks in the months of November and February. Under Option B, school would start a week earlier than the proposed dates in Option A and would have week-long breaks in November and February.
The tentative agreement also includes alterations to health and welfare benefits for teachers, clarified hours and assignments for teachers and additional language to the procedure of complaints that pertain to staff members. MBUTA members met on Thursday to further discuss the tentative agreement and clarify questions that teachers had. MBUTA members will vote on Wednesday and Thursday at all school sites to ratify it. If MBUTA members ratify the agreement, the revisions will go into effect and teachers will decide upon a 2017-18 and 2018-19 calender option.
“I am grateful that in all of our negotiations sessions, the tone was one of respect,” MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. “I am pleased about having a two-year tentative agreement, as it requires each side to take some risks, which requires no small amount of trust from each side.”
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