The San Marino Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday evening publicly disclosed topics for contract negotiations with its two unions, the California School Employees Association and the San Marino Teachers Association.
In the upcoming months, representatives for the SMUSD and CSEA will be negotiating grievance and transfer procedures, wages and salaries, health and welfare, vacations, leaves of absence and employee evaluation procedures. The CSEA is the union for the SMUSD’s
non-certificated employees.
The district and SMTA representatives will be discussing salary rules and regulations, extra assignment pay, the district’s academic calendar, fringe benefits and evaluation procedures. The current CSEA and SMTA contracts expire on June 30, 2021.
The board approved both initial proposals by 5-0 votes.
“Now that we have ‘sunshined’ those bargaining points, both of the parties can begin to negotiate the detailed terms,” said board President Joseph Chang.
Superintendent Jeff Wilson recently stated that the SMUSD is operating with a $2.8 million structural deficit but has offered early retirement packages to educators that could reduce that total.
The board also heard an informational report from Chad Castruita, founder and CEO of CareSolace, a consulting service that provides mental health referrals to students and their families. Representatives at his company do not directly treat or evaluate clients.
Castruita explained how the company grew out a “nightmare of trying to navigate the chaotic mental health system in the state of California” when his family encountered a mental health care crisis in 2012.
“We serve as a bridge, a connector,” he said.
Jason Kurtenbach, the district’s executive director of curriculum and instruction, said CareSolace could help “fill the gap” and allow the district to match parents with resources, if needed. Kurtenbach noted that administrators currently have just a one-page list of resources for those needing mental health services.
CareSolace could provide a “connection piece” between the student, family and the school district, Wilson added.
The board is expected to vote at its Tuesday, Feb. 25, meeting on a possible contract with CareSolace that would continue through this school year and cost the SMUSD about $3,000. If a contract is continued next year, the board will vote on it again.
Separately, Kurtenbach also delivered an update on the SMUSD’s professional development activities and displayed a list of more than 40 educators who have completed the district’s Universal Design for Learning academy.
“I am very proud of the work they are engaged in,” said Kurtenbach.
The academy instructs educators to “look at the best way students engage with information,” according to Kurtenbach’s report.
“Do your students learn best through technology, reading a book, writing, or having a conversation with a classmate?” Kurtenbach asked. “It is our goal to have our teachers design their lessons around our students’ strengths, not their deficits.”
During the public common section of the meeting, district parent Steve Talt thanked the school board and cabinet members for attending San Marino High School’s presentation of the musical “Peter Pan,” which last Saturday finished a six-show run.
School Board Discloses Union Contract Topics
