SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : $52,000 Separates Teachers, District

A $52,000 item has become a stumbling block in contract negotiations between the Capistrano Unified School District and its teachers union, with the union president on Friday asking the state to appoint a mediator to settle the dispute.

The impasse comes less than a week after it appeared that the Capistrano Unified Education Assn. would allow its members to vote on the district’s contract proposal. The one-year contract, retroactive to last July 1, calls for a 3% raise with the possibility of an additional 1.5% raise if the state grants the district extra money.

“The district is playing games with us,” said Ric Stephenson, the union president. “The only way this is going to be settled is with the help of a neutral outsider.”

However, Supt. Jerome R. Thornsley said the district is “not playing games with anybody. We are only doing what our legal advisers tell us is necessary.”

The stumbling block, both sides agree, is the district’s insistence that the association drop its lawsuit against the district before putting the contract to a vote.

The district has agreed in the contract to address the lawsuit’s chief complaint--the district’s refusal to grant raises to some teachers who have taught for at least 16 years, the last 11 in the district.

The district says it wants an unconditional guarantee that the suit will be dropped. The union said it will guarantee only that the suit will be dropped if its membership approves the contract.

The cost to the district or the teachers, depending on which side prevails, would be $52,000, the cost of the raises. The district has 1,200 teachers and a budget of $100 million.

Stephenson said he believes that the contract would be approved, but that the union cannot drop the lawsuit until that occurs.

“There are legal reasons that I cannot go into that preclude us from dropping the lawsuit first,” he said.

But Thornsley said the district agreed to the 1.5% conditional raise only with the understanding that the suit would be dropped. Otherwise, the district would agree to the contract only if the $52,000 can be subtracted from the 3% raise that the teachers are guaranteed, Thornsley said.

“I know what we are fighting for may sound trivial to outsiders, but the association must maintain its integrity,” Stephenson said.

Historically, the district and the teachers have had difficulty reaching contract agreements.

Last year, negotiations dragged on for 11 months, with teachers picketing and boycotting open houses at schools.