CVCHS contract includes 6 percent raise
Almost lost in all the turmoil surrounding the termination of administrator Pat Middendorf, the Clayton Valley Charter High School Governing Board ratified a new collective bargaining agreement May 21 that effectively gives all employees — administrators, classified staff, security, as well as teachers — a 6 percent raise retroactive to July 1, 2013 and an improved three-year benefits package through the 2015-16 school year.
The approval culminated 18 months of negotiations with the teachers’ union. When Clayton Valley High School converted to charter status before the start of the 2012-13 school year teachers and staff were paid off the existing Mt. Diablo Unified School District salary schedule.
Teachers at CVCHS are represented by the California Teachers Association and they formed their own Clayton Valley Education Association chapter, replacing their former bargaining unit, Mt. Diablo Education Association.
The previous MDEA contract included 26 articles in an inch-thick document. Since MDEA represents teachers from preschool through adult ed at a multitude of schools, the CVCHS negotiations entailed a complete reworking of the contract, which now contains 25 articles, said Neil McChesney, the charter school’s director of administrative services. The contract covers myriad issues including class size, work hours, benefits, leave, vacation, professional development, peer review and many more.
CVCHS Executive Director Dave Linzey added that salary didn’t enter the discussion “until March or April.” He added that salary talks “went pretty quickly.” McChesney and Legal Counsel Jim Young represented the charter school in negotiations while the teachers group this year included Kip Penovich, Cate Sundling and Maureen Allan.
The entire negotiating process was described by the administrators as “cordial and professional.”
The 6 percent salary increase starts first-year teachers with a bachelor’s degree at $47,329 while teachers with more than 30 years service and maximum additional educational units earn $87,265. Advanced degrees add pay to all salary steps.
McChesney, a 1999 graduate of the school who was on the school’s faculty for nine years before joining the administrative staff this past year, also noted that health benefit increases were “significant” and “quadruple the benefit package (for a family of four).”
Teacher Amber Lineweaver, administrator Middendorf and board classified staff representative Diane Bailey were recused from closed door discussions on the contract. The public session reconvened after a four-hour closed door session that included the contract discussion as well as the vote to terminate Middendorf.
In that tense atmosphere surrounding the Middendorf firing, Bailey and Lineweaver were incorrectly allowed to vote on both motions concerning the contract, although they should not be voting on matters in which they have a financial stake.
The first motion was unanimously approved to accept the teacher’s contract.
A second “me too” motion that applied the same salary increase and benefit package to the rest of the CVCHS employees was passed with Lineweaver dissenting. Lineweaver, the school’s athletic director and close ally of Middendorf’s, questioned the final contract’s impact on administrators. She said it was her understanding that administrators would be getting an additional 5 percent raise, a claim both Linzey and McChesney deny.
Salary negotiations for a new teacher’s contract can be opened at any time by mutual consent, although no talks are anticipated until late this year at the earliest.
MDEA ratified and the MDUSD board approved a three-year contract for MDUSD teachers in March that included 3, 2 and 4 percent raises, respectively, over the three years ending with the 2015-16 school year. Those were also retroactive to July 1, 2013.