The Manhattan Beach Unified School District has reached a tentative agreement on a two-year contract with its largest teachers union that would provide a 3 percent salary increase. But Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association president Karl Kurz said that the teachers’ protest, which has controversially included not writing letters of recommendation for students, will not end until after teachers approve the contract.
Teachers will meet next week to vote on the decision.
“I can’t give my personal opinion,” Kurz said. “I have to hear what everybody else thinks about it.”
In addition to the salary increase the contract will also maintain teachers’ current health benefits, and it will increase the hourly rate teachers earn for duties performed outside regular work hours from $31.83 per hour to $38 per hour. The contract also includes provisions for decreased ongoing costs to the district in case of state budget cuts that may be on the horizon.
The tentative agreement was made during a mediation meeting Thursday.
“If you’ve ever been to a mediation session you’ll know it’s a lot of work,” district superintendent Michael Matthews said. “I think both sides were exhausted by the end of the day.”
Matthews said that although the mediation meeting was long and exhausting, it “ended in a handshake,” which he was pleased about.
“I am very hopeful,” he said.
The district’s proposed revision of the teacher evaluation process is not included in the contract and a state mediator will work with the district and the union to resolve the issue October 5.
Kurz said that he hopes the ongoing disagreements between the union and the school district end soon, but that no one will know the results of the negotiation until after the teachers meet next week.
“It’s not up to the negotiation team and executive board, so it’s kind of inconclusive right now,” he said.
