Tentative Agreement Reached on School Pact : Simi Valley: A teachers’ strike could still occur if both sides fail to ratify the three-year contract. Settlement details are not released.

Teachers in Simi Valley are putting down their picket signs in response to a tentative three-year contract agreed to Friday between negotiators from the school district and teachers’ union.

Neither side would release the details of the settlement, which is still subject to ratification by the school board and union members.

“I’m very optimistic about the outcome of this condition, which has been difficult for everyone,” said Mary Beth Wolford, superintendent of the Simi Valley Unified School District.

Union officials, however, are still preparing unfair-labor charges against the district, a move that would clear the way for a teachers’ strike if an agreement is not reached soon.

Teachers also are still refusing to volunteer for activities outside school hours. They began the slowdown in September to protest a stall in negotiations.

“The giving of our time will not resume until the contract is signed on the dotted line,” said Peggy Noisette, a French teacher at Valley View Junior High School who has stopped volunteering for district committees and tutoring an independent contract student.

School board members will meet in closed session Monday to discuss the details of the contract. If they agree to its conditions, it would go before the board for a vote and public hearings in coming weeks.

Union leaders will meet Tuesday to vote on the contract, with a membership ratification vote set for Nov. 13.

No board members were present at Friday’s meeting, but Trustee Debbie Sandland said the outlook appeared promising.

“I was happy to hear the report, and I’m hoping for a quick settlement to get education back on track,” Sandland said.

Teachers have been working without a contract for more than a year. A state mediator was called in last spring to oversee negotiations when both sides reached an impasse. He helped shape the tentative agreement Friday.

In recent weeks, many teachers have said that they were willing to strike if a settlement was not reached shortly. A strike coordinator from the California Teachers Assn. has been talking to union leaders this week, preparing them for future labor action.

The superintendent said the district was also preparing for a possible walkout.

“We’re obligated as an administration to be prepared if any strike activities did occur,” Wolford said. “We took our responsibilities seriously, and we did not take their concerns lightly.”

The last publicly released proposal offered by the district included a 2% raise retroactive to July, a 2% raise in 1996-97, an early retirement package and a chance to renegotiate in the third year.

Before Friday, teachers were pushing for a 2.7% raise and a vote on an agreement that would require all teachers, not just those in the union, to pay union fees. Both sides said details of Friday’s settlement would be released in the coming weeks.