Orange : Wording of Teachers’ Contract Questioned

A simmering dispute between Orange Unified School District trustees and the teachers’ union is not likely to be resolved this week.

The union representing the district’s 1,200 teachers ratified a new contract Friday, but trustees had indicated that they found the pact unacceptable. The board was to accept or reject the contract at a meeting this week.

But after a closed session that ran past midnight Monday, Supt. Robert L. French said Tuesday that he will recommend “we table the ratification of the contract for the purpose of clarifying language. . . . A new date has yet to be determined.”

At issue is language specifying the level of district contributions to the teachers’ health benefits trust and a clause giving benefits to part-time teachers.

Union officials, already upset that teachers have worked for more than a year without a contract, said Tuesday that they have no intention of renegotiating the agreement reached with the school board June 9.

“I think it’s totally ridiculous,” said David Reger, president of the Orange Unified Education Assn. “Sending back a contract that’s been negotiated is unacceptable to me.”

The union’s legal representative is out of town but is expected back next week, Reger said. At that time, he said, the union will consider filing an unfair labor practices charge against the district with the Public Employees Relations Board.

The new contract would give teachers a 2% increase in salaries.