TUSTIN : Teachers to Curtail After-School Work

The president of the Tustin teachers’ union said some high school teachers will curtail their unpaid, after-school activities to protest the fact that they are working without a contract.

Joyce Rohrbaugh said the teachers will gradually stop advising clubs, doing extra tutoring and writing recommendations for students going to college.

“We feel we need to call attention to the fact that we don’t have a contract,” Rohrbaugh said. “We are not even in the process of negotiating for a contract.”

The Tustin Educators Assn. and the school district administrators reached an impasse in contract talks last fall. The teachers have been working under the terms of a contract that expired July 1.

Supt. Maurice Ross said of the job action, “I think it’s unfortunate that they would use children as pawns in negotiations.”

Union leaders and administrators are expected to meet in a study session to try to resolve discrepancies in the figures being used as they negotiate a contract. No date has been set for the session.

District officials say they have offered an average 8.5% salary increase, arguing that offer is far above the 4.6% cost-of-living adjustment provided by the state.

“There’s so much money on the table now, it’s scary,” Ross said. Ross added that the teachers “could go on strike for a month, but the board is just not going to give any more money.”

But the 439-member teachers’ union says the offer comes up short. Bill Ribblet, executive director of the association, said that changes in the pay structure will mean that some teachers would actually take a pay cut under the proposed contract.

“They can’t expect teachers to take that kind of pay schedule difference,” he said. The union argues that their counterparts with similar experience in surrounding districts receive more money.

But Ross said Tustin’s teachers have more experience than those of other districts and tend to be at the top of the pay scale.