A small group of teachers, dissatisfied with an 8.5% salary increase, may go on strike. Both the Arcadia Teachers Association and the American Federation of Teachers local have disavowed the action.
Teachers are looking for an effective way to show the School Board just how unhappy they are over their failure to support an override election which might have funded a 15.4% pay raise.
Some teachers began picketing in front of the district offices. At issue were charges of stalling on negotiations and the 1% increase offer by the School Board which the teachers called "an insult." Superintendent Ed Ryan said that if the two unions had been able to get together on their demands the problem might have been resolved by now.
The School Board has passed and adopted a new teachers salary schedule for 1975-76. The teachers unions have not yet ratified the agreement. Salaries range from $9553 for a first year teacher to $19,918 for a teacher with extra college credits, including an MA.
With the tax base increase having been approved by the voters on April 15, both Unions representing teachers in Arcadia presented new contract terms to the School Board.
The California Teachers Association has advised the Arcadia Teachers Association to reopen negotiations on salaries for the current year. The 3-year Arcadia contract has no provision for increases in local teachers' salaries.
The Arcadia Teachers Association (ATA) as an affiliate of the California Teachers Association and the NEA was for many years considered the bulwark of professionalism in Arcadia. Now the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has gained important inroads.
Thirty-two first year teachers and various administrators have received notices that they may not be rehired. If a revenue increase fails in the April 1975 election, Arcadia will be $1 million short.
The Arcadia Teachers Association has objected to the Board of Education's counterproposals to the teachers' contract proposals. Article indicates what the proposals of both groups are.
The Arcadia Teachers' Association and the Arcadia School Board have tentatively agreed to resolve unfair labor practices complaints following an informal hearing at the Los Angeles office of the Public Employees Relations Board.
A public hearing to air teachers' contract proposals was well attended by an angry public. Some expressed the view that teachers were out to get everything they can.
Arcadia teachers picketed the open house at Arcadia High School to protest the 1978-79 raise offered by the Arcadia Board of Education. The teachers claim they received a 3.5% salary adjustment (vs. the average San Gabriel Valley increase of 5.5%) while the Board claims a 5% increase retroactive to December 1, 1978.
The Arcadia Board of Education will ratify a contract with the Arcadia Teachers Association. Still to be settled are contracts with classified employees and with the Arcadia Pupil Support Services Association.