SIMI VALLEY : Deal Limits Use of Paid Personal Days

Teachers at Simi Valley schools can no longer use paid “personal necessity” days to demonstrate, lobby or attend political events, according to a new agreement between teachers’ union and school district officials.

Following a year of negotiations on several components of the current three-year teachers’ contract, the Simi Educators Assn. overwhelmingly approved a school district proposal last week. That proposal addresses teachers’ personal leave policy, salary, medical benefits and early retirement plan.

Of about 500 teachers who voted on the district proposal, union officials said, roughly 90% approved it. The school board is expected to ratify the agreement--giving teachers a 2% raise retroactive to Sept. 1 last year--at a Feb. 23 meeting.

Hal Vick, executive director of the teachers’ union, said teachers “reluctantly went along” with the new restrictions on the seven paid personal necessity days that teachers get yearly because they wanted to complete negotiations with the district. The two sides agreed to allow teachers to take two unpaid days each school year for any reason.

Last June, an arbitrator ruled that the school district unfairly docked the pay of two Simi Valley teachers because they used a personal necessity day to protest the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in November, 1991.

The teachers had argued that other teachers in the district were granted personal necessity days with pay to accompany students or participate in other ways in the opening of the library.

The school district argued that the opening was a one-time event and teachers attending the celebration were justified in claiming that as a personal necessity. Protesting former President Reagan’s policies, district officials said, could have been done when school was not in session.