Teachers and administrators from the Banning Unified School District remained at an impasse Friday, the final scheduled day of a three-day strike over compensation for extended instructional hours.
The strike follows extensive disagreements over compensation and student resources, punctuated by a one-hour extension of instruction time at Nicolet Middle School that teachers say was not negotiated with the district.
Schools have remained open since the strike began Wednesday, the first day of school, with substitute teachers brought in to staff district campuses through the duration of the strike, which is set to last until 7:15 a.m. Monday.
The Banning Teachers Association said that a proposal forwarded by the union Thursday called for $550,000 in back pay compensation for the extra hours worked by Nicolet Middle School teachers during the 2017-18 school year, along with an elimination of the extra instructional hour.
A Banning Unified statement said that an offer of $300,000 from the district and a reduction of the extra school hour to 20 minutes per day was “firmly rejected by the union” during negotiations held Thursday.
District officials said instructional time was increased because Nicolet students were receiving an hour less instruction time than Banning High School students, a decision made “in the best interest of (the district’s) students.”
The teachers union contends that Banning Unified Superintendent Robert Guillen “has continuously disregarded Banning teachers” over contract negotiations during the past two years, resulting in many educators leaving the district.
“Our professional voice has been continuously ignored by the Banning school board and the climate has turned toxic,” BTA President Anthony Garcia said. “How many times must we lose twenty percent of our teaching force before we hold leaders in (the) Banning school district accountable?”
The union also alleges that test scores dropped, while student suspensions increased at Nicolet Middle School last year, the first year the extra hours were implemented.
Guillen accused the union of disrupting student learning at the onset of the 2018-19 school year in a statement released just before the strike began.
“To be clear, this is a conflict that the district and union have been discussing since June of last year, so for the union to wait until the last minute before school begins to declare a strike indicates that they are not interested in finding productive ways to settle disagreements,” Guillen wrote. “It saddens me to think they will hold student learning hostage to make their point.”
Guillen also said the district is not seeking to increase instructional time at any district elementary or high school campuses.