Teachers at The Accelerated Schools charter network in Los Angeles reached a tentative agreement Sunday to end an eight-day strike, union officials announced.
“We are happy to announce that teachers will be returning to their classrooms on Monday with the official end of their strike pending ratification of the agreement,” said Ed Gutierrez of United Teachers Los Angeles, the same union that represented the Los Angeles Unified School District teachers who ended their strike last week.
Gutierrez said the tentative deal “makes significant progress toward satisfying our members’ core demands for increased job security and that will allow teachers at The Accelerated Schools to effectively address the problem of high teacher turnover that has plagued the schools for too long and hindered student learning.”
The job action was considered the first strike by charter school teachers in California, with the educators calling for increased pay and health benefits to reduce the high teacher turnover rate at the school.
Negotiations between teachers and The Accelerated Schools began 20 months ago.
A statement from The Accelerated Schools board credited mediation efforts by City Councilman Curren Price, Jr. and his staff for helping expedite the agreement over the weekend.
The three-year contract includes an increase in both salary and health benefits and also mandates the creation of a joint committee to develop criteria for future employment contracts and teacher evaluations.
Union leaders plan to announce the deal at a Monday morning news conference.