Students looking to get recommendations for college and job applications won’t be getting them from Mira Costa High School teachers.
At least not until the teachers union and the school district can agree on a contract.
The two bargaining groups have been butting heads since March, over the course of seven negotiation sessions, or more than 30 hours at the table. Teachers want a salary increase, but the district argues it doesn’t have the funds.
In protest, the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association announced on Tuesday a list of extra-curricular services – separated by elementary, middle and high school – in which teachers will no longer engage until further notice.
“It’s come to point where obviously (the district doesn’t) realize all the extra stuff we do,” said Union President Karl Kurz.
School Board President Ellen Rosenberg said that Manhattan Beach Unified is one of the only districts in the state not implementing furlough days and layoffs, and has offered a one-time, two-and-a-half percent salary increase.
In addition to not committing to letters of recommendation, teachers are refusing to host clubs during lunch or before or after school, and will close classrooms to students during snack and lunch.
Kurz noted that Mira Costa is home to more than 100 extra-curricular clubs. “Teachers take their lunches out for that every single week,” he said. “That adds up.”
Teachers also won’t be arriving to campus early or staying late, unless they have a zero period or are coaching an athletic team.
Parents are frustrated. “I’m very disappointed that the teachers have used the students a bargaining tool in negotiations,” said parent Erika White, who has a senior at Mira Costa. “I hope it gets resolved before it does impact our senior class and their college applications.”
But White anticipated the move. “Some kids asked at end of school year (for letters of recommendation,) and some teachers said, ‘I’d love to do it, it just depends on what happens in the fall,’” White said.
White is also president of Costa’s PTA, but said the group would not be taking a stance on negotiations. But, the PTA will help streamline the process, perhaps rallying administrators to write letters of recommendation for students.
Mackenzie Austin, ‘12 Costa graduate and current freshman at the University of Virginia, said that last year, she obtained four letters of recommendation from teachers. In fact, she said, every private school she applied to required letters from teachers. “Only so much can be said by a GPA, test scores and few extra-curriculars,” she said. “Teacher recommendations really put a sort of soul into the application.”
While she understands the union’s motives, she thinks it’s inappropriate that students’ futures are being sacrificed because of a “quarrel that they have nothing to do with.”
Austin added that she has a hard time believing that her teachers, who came to know her not only as a student, but also a friend and a leader, would deny her a letter of recommendation if she were going through the process this year.
For graduating seniors, college applications are due this winter. “They’re using the timing to their advantage and it’s unfortunate because kids are in the crosshairs,” Rosenberg said.
The union explains the decision in a letter posted on its website. “We must stand together and illustrate the countless things we do for free by not doing them until we have resolved our labor contract,” the union wrote.
Union members said they’re prepared for arguments that they are “hurting kids.” “We’re not hurting the kids, the district is,” Kurz said. “The district has decided to hurt our kids and families, meaning the union members’ kids, by not compensating us for all the extra work we do.”
“One of my teachers has three kids. How do you think he’s going to be able to afford to send his kids to college?” Kurz said.
While the state faces a dire budgetary crisis, Kurz believes the district has been financially conservative in recent years, having collected a 43 percent reserve, above the state’s mandated three percent, Kurz said. “If they did not have the money, we would not be asking,” Kurz said.
Rosenberg said percentage the union is using is inflated. “It is greater than three percent, but it’s certainly not 43 percent,” she said. “We have larger reserves because it’s prudent, because we don’t know what’s happening in November and beyond.”
According to the $52.3 million budget adopted in June, the district will have a projected $7.5 million in reserves at the end of the school year.
“Its called moving funds around…it’s all in how you want to look at the numbers,” Kurz said. “It’s their job to be fiscally responsible, but it’s also their job to make sure their employees are happy.”
In July, the district declared impasse. The two bargaining groups will return to the negotiating table on Sept. 6 with a third party mediator who will help the two sides reach an agreement.
