HUNTINGTON BEACH : 3-Year Pact OKd for Ocean View Schools

Two years after a bitter teacher contract dispute divided the Ocean View School District, trustees and teachers union leaders this week amiably approved a three-year contract.

Union and district officials signed the contract during Tuesday night’s board meeting to underscore what they called a new spirit of cooperation. They laughed together and posed for photos.

“I think there’s been a complete turnaround in this district,” said Trustee Carolyn Hunt, a board member since 1985. “And I think it’s crucial that this has happened.”

The approved salary package is retroactive to July 1 and runs through June 30, 1994. Unlike previous contracts, the new accord may not be revised each year.

Trustees also approved a similar contract for the district’s 123 non-teaching, non-management employees.

The agreement gives Ocean View’s 388 teachers raises of 2% to 7% over the three years, depending on the number of teacher retirements and the school district’s income from the state in the next two fiscal years.

The average age of Ocean View’s teachers is one of the highest among county districts, so the district anticipates dozens of teachers retiring in the next few years.

Including the new 2% raises for this school year, Ocean View teachers earn from $20,245 for first-year teachers to $51,716 for those with a master’s degree and 26 years of experience. District teachers now earn an average of $44,418 per year.

Full-time, non-teaching employees--excluding management--with their 2% raises this year will earn $13,770 to $37,322.

Negotiators from the district and the teachers group began discussing the new contract in September and agreed on general terms by December, said Jim Harlan, executive director of West Orange County United Teachers, an umbrella union representing the Ocean View Teachers Assn.

By contrast, Ocean View’s talks on the last contract began in September, 1989, and did not conclude until late June, 1990.

An impasse was finally declared in those talks, with a state arbitrator called in to settle them. Teachers picketed district offices, called work slowdowns, berated trustees at board meetings and threatened to strike.

This time, teachers and district officials used a collaborative approach, working together on proposals rather than exchanging independent positions. The result was that neither side publicly voiced their differences or showed signs of disharmony.

“After the last contract, both parties knew we had to find another way to bargain,” Harlan said. “It was in both of our best interests to try to work out our problems. . . . Both sides this time had respect for the other.”

Joseph Condon--Ocean View’s assistant superintendent of personnel services and the district’s lead negotiator for both of the last two contracts--agreed. “I’ve never sat in negotiations where the issues were discussed so openly,” he said.

Gay Davidson-Shepard, president of the Ocean View Teachers Assn., said she has also seen a marked change among rank-and-file teachers.

“One of the (frequent) responses I’ve gotten from teachers is that they’re not making picket signs, they’re not having work slowdowns--they’re teaching in the classroom,” she said. “They like the tranquillity of their jobs.”