Aloha OEA members,
Welcome back to a new School Year and a special welcome to our new teachers! We continue to work hard to be a support to all of our members! Please see the OEA updates:
1. We do not have dates set for negotiations at this time but both the Association and the District have sunshined their Articles for the table. OEA has opened Article IV (Grievance Procedure), Article IX (Working Days and Hours), and Article X (Compensation). The District has opened Article VIII (Class Size), Article XII (Organizational Rights), and Article X (Compensation). We will keep you posted once we have dates on the calendar.
2. The Orcutt Educators Association has filed an Unfair Labor Practice with the Public Employees Relation Board (PERB) regarding the Split/Payroll issue from last year. At this point we are waiting to hear from PERB to see about a settlement conference. Once again we will keep you posted as information comes to the Association.
3. Health Benefits will increase this year. I have met with Dr. Blow regarding this increase and she has stated that she does not have the authority to put an MOU in place to cover the costs of the increase. Starting September 30th we will all feel the increase of the Health Benefits being deducted from our paychecks. The School Board would like us to go through the negotiations process regarding this. I have reached out to the District to get dates on the calendar as quickly as possible so that we can move forward. Once again we will keep you posted on this very important issue!
4. As some of you may recall the Association filed a Level 3 Grievance last year regarding initial placement on the salary schedule when hired into the Orcutt Union School District. Our contract states "Five full years outside experience, including military service as described in Paragraph 4, will be allowed on the schedule for teachers new to the district. Partial years will not be allowed. Outside experience must have been completed during the last ten (10) years and adequate proof of this experience must be shown." We were successful with our Grievance in September of 2015 by having our School Board unanimously rule in our favor. The Association had also filed an Unfair Labor Practice with PERB and attended a settlement conference in the Spring of 2015. At that settlement conference the Association learned that the School Board's ruling had not been implemented. A settlement was not reached and on August 29th the Association and the District had a Formal Hearing at the Public Employees Relation Board (PERB) in Glendale. The hearing is over and both lawyers (CTA lawyer and District lawyer) are scheduled to submit Briefs to the Judge by October 28, 2016. The Judge will then make a ruling, but we do not have a time line attached to his ruling.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or suggestions. Have a great 3-day weekend!
Mahalo,
Monique L. Segura
President, Orcutt Educators Association
805-714-9861
