Stalled Teacher Talks Protested

Dozens of angry parents and teachers picketed a Moorpark Unified School District meeting Tuesday night to protest stalled contract negotiations.

The demonstration marked the second time in two months that the school board heard from angry teachers and parents on the bogged-down talks.

Despite help from a state mediator, negotiations between the school district and the teachers union have produced no tangible results, said Richard Gillis, president of the Moorpark Educators Assn.

At the board’s March 31 meeting, district officials offered teachers a 1% pay raise and an increase in the maximum amount teachers could earn during their tenure with the district. But the district also asked teachers to accept increases in maximum class sizes at Moorpark High School and the district’s two middle schools.

At Moorpark High, that would amount to one more student per class, increasing class size to 31 students, district Supt. Tom Duffy said. At the middle school level, the extra students will be added to gym classes, Duffy said.

“After we made that offer, we got no response from the teachers apart from what they are saying publicly,” he said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, teachers and parents spoke out against increasing class size, but Gillis said the main problems the union had with the school district proposal were school site management issues and planning for kindergarten classes.

Two school board members, Tom Baldwin and Clint Harper, said a salary increase was possible without increasing class size if the district dipped into a reserve fund. Gillis said he felt confident that other board members could be persuaded to support that option.

“The board is 3 to 2 on this,” he said. “We plan to work on [board member] David Pollock. He’s our hope for changing the board’s mind.”