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Rio teachers express no confidence in schools chief
Vote on superintendent taken amid stalled labor negotiations
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More from Education: K-12After more than a year of stalled labor negotiations, Rio School District teachers announced Monday they have taken a vote of no confidence in Superintendent Sherianne Cotterell.
"We hope to let the school district know that we want a fair settlement now," said David Siebler, a fifth-grade teacher and a member of the Rio Teachers Association crisis team. The union says the district, led by Cotterell, has held up a settlement — a charge district officials say is untrue.
Teachers last week were asked to vote on the issue by secret ballot. More than 95 percent were in favor of the no confidence vote, according to a California Teachers Association representative who counted the votes.
In an e-mail Monday, Cotterell said she was aware of the vote but had not seen it. She also said she had heard from staff members who disapproved of the union's actions.
The Rio Teachers Association and the district reached an impasse in February 2007 after negotiating sessions failed to bring the two sides close to a new labor agreement.
Representatives from both sides have since met with a state-appointed mediator several times to no avail. And now, the district and union are involved in the next stage of impasse, called fact finding.
A fact-finding session was held in mid-March, and a second is scheduled for next week. Parties could decide on a settlement or accept any settlement recommendations proposed by a neutral chairperson during fact-finding.
The teachers union and district have disagreed over compensation and the language of the labor contract.
Before mediation began, the teachers union had asked for an 8 percent raise for the 2006-07 school year. District officials have said they would stand by an offer of a 3.3 percent raise effective upon ratification of a labor agreement and fully paid health benefits.
A beginning teacher in the district now earns $39,360 a year and a veteran teacher about $68,500.
District officials also have said they would make a commitment to bring compensation levels up to the median of comparable labor agreements in other school districts. The teachers union, however, has said no raise for the 2006-07 school year and a 3 percent raise now, near the end of 2007-08 school year, is unacceptable.
As the impasse continues, sixth-grade teacher Beth Lindley said teachers' morale continues to suffer and "that has a direct effect on the students."
Posted by sun_y_sol on May 6, 2008 at 8:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't understand how district officials can say "they would make a commitment to bring compensation levels up to the median of comparable labor agreements" and that they will "stand by an offer of a 3.3 percent raise effective upon ratification of a labor agreement and fully paid health benefits" all in the same article? Why wait to do the right thing? Two years of working to provide our children with a good education without a contract or a raise is long enough!
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