Local News in Brief : Las Virgenes Teachers to Vote Thursday on 2-Year Contract

Las Virgenes Unified School District teachers will vote Thursday on a tentative contract agreement with the school district. The pact could raise veteran classroom instructors’ salaries by an average of 8% this year. The wage scale for teachers would peak at $35,040.

Officials said the tentative two-year agreement was reached Friday but not disclosed until late Monday. Negotiations began last summer but collapsed in October, and a state mediator was called in.

The dispute turned bitter earlier this year when teachers began refusing to do extracurricular work such as writing letters of recommendation to colleges for students. Teachers also enlisted parents’ aid in lobbying school board members for a settlement.

Last Thursday, teachers announced a no-confidence vote in Las Virgenes Supt. Albert D. Marley.

Marley said Tuesday that the no-confidence vote had no bearing on the tentative agreement reached the next day.

“I’m certainly hopeful that we now have some things in place that will make collective bargaining work in the future,” he said.

According to Marley, the proposed pact includes a 6% across-the-board raise plus salary increases of up to 4% for veteran teachers, retroactive to the start of the current school year. He said it also includes a 4% raise and additional adjustments next year, when the wage scale will peak at $36,442. More than half the teachers are at the top of the scale, he said.

Karen Lough, president of the 300-member Las Virgenes Educators Assn., said all 330 Las Virgenes teachers will be covered by the pact if the union members approve it Thursday at Agoura High School. The vote will be held at 1:45 p.m.

“The district realized the strength of the teachers” after instructors picketed at schools and rallied support from parents, she said.

The school system covers 80 square miles between Woodland Hills and Thousand Oaks and has 7,950 pupils.