Schools, teachers agree to negotiate

After seven months at loggerheads over who should be allowed to “observe” the meetings, negotiating team members of the Petaluma Federation of Teachers and the Petaluma City Schools District will finally resume face-to-face talks next week with the help of a state mediator.

Talks are set to resume on Feb. 13. It will be the first time the two sides have sat at the negotiating table since last July when talks stalled over how many observers from the PFT who would be allowed into the sessions. The federation wants unlimited observers, while the district wants to restrict the number allowed to view the meetings.

Unable to reach agreement, the school district asked that an impasse be declared and, for the second consecutive year, a state mediator be brought in to help in the dispute.

The number of observers is the first hurdle the two negotiating teams, with the help of the mediator, will have to clear before they get down to more serious obstacles like salaries and compensation. As it now stands, the teachers are asking for a 4 percent cost of living increase while the district is offering a 2.5 percent increase. Teachers have not had a cost of living increase since 2007, while agreeing to furlough days to help the district during the Great Recession. The furlough days have since been restored to the school calendar.

“Bringing in a mediator was the district’s idea,” said Kim Sharp, president of the PFT. “It was our intent the whole time to get back to the table. Hopefully, now we will get some movement.”

The negotiations have been complicated by the announcement that both Petaluma City Schools Superintendent Steve Bolman and Ron Everett, the district’s director of human resources and, like Bolman, a member of the district’s negotiating team, will be leaving the district in June.

Both Bolman and Everett said they are hoping to have a successful resolution to the conflict concluded before they leave. The current negotiations are only for specific items in the contract called “openers.”

The entire contract expires in June when the district and teachers will begin negotiating on an entirely new contract.

“I am very hopeful we will be able to settle the negotiations for this year,” said Bolman. “That’s the mediator’s job - to work with both sides to reach an agreement.”

“I’ll be here until June and, hopefully, by then we can complete the negotiations,” Everett said. “That would be great.”

Sharp said she isn’t yet sure what effect Bolman’s announcement will have on the negotiations.

“Steve’s announcement took us all by surprise,” she said. “It provides an opportunity, but I’m not sure what it will mean to the continuity of the negotiations. We are hoping to be part of the process of selecting a new superintendent, but what this means for the negotiations I have no idea.”

During the prolonged break in negotiations, union representatives and teachers have targeted Bolman for much of their criticism.

The North Bay Workers’ Rights Board, that supports workers rights through the North Bay Jobs with Justice Coalition, recently issued a report highly critical of the superintendent and the school board.

After a hearing that included comments from PFT representatives, parents, students and teachers the report concluded:

“The breakdown of contract negotiations between Petaluma City Schools and its teachers is a symptom of a deeper problem, which is the ongoing deteriorating relationship between the superintendent and board on one hand and the teachers on the other.”

“I think it is nice to have an outside group have a look at some of the things we’ve been dealing with,” said Sandra Larsen, a district teacher and lead negotiator for the PFT. “The report validated our concerns and the points we have been trying to make.”

Looking toward the Feb. 13 meeting, she said, “I was hopeful until I saw Mr. Bolman’s latest budget.”

She noted that she and Bolman attended a meeting on the state budget for education, which she said was more optimistic than previously anticipated. “It is clear that the money is here,” she said, “and there is more coming from the state.”

Michael Baddeley, president of the school board, said board members had heard the federation’s contentions.

“There is nothing new in there,” he said of the report. “It is input we’ve received from the same people we’ve heard from at our board meeting.”

However, he added, “Sometimes an outside look from an independent organization can be helpful.”

Bolman agreed that there is nothing new in the report. “There is nothing to be learned,” he said. “All the information has already been shared with the board. It really brings up things we are already aware of.”

Sharp said the report gives a forum for the teachers’ position.

“It is a really great way for our members to be heard,” she said. “We are hoping the board will look at it and want to move forward. It was a good format for us to get the word out there.”

(Contact John Jackson at johnie.jackson@arguscou rier.com)