Fountain Valley : Dispute With Teachers’ Union Likely to Drag On
A dispute between the Fountain Valley school board and its teachers’ union over longer teaching periods probably will not be resolved for two years, a school board spokesman said Thursday.
Cheryl Norton, public information officer for the school district, said that a Public Employment Relations Board administrative law judge’s proposed decision in the dispute is being appealed.
The employment relations board is a state agency that adjudicates labor disputes in government, including school districts. In the Fountain Valley case, the board’s administrative law judge, Barbara E. Miller, ruled March 27 that the school board was wrong to require its first- and second-grade teachers to lengthen their class days by 30 minutes this school year. Miller said the board’s unilateral action last summer violated the teachers’ contract.
On a second issue, Miller ruled that the school board did not err in adding five school days to the current school year.
The teachers’ union, the Fountain Valley Education Assn., hailed the judge’s ruling and deplored the school board’s appeal of the action.
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