Friday, May 21, 2010

Elk Grove Citizen : News Picketing cancelled at school board meeting

Elk Grove Citizen : News

Picketing cancelled at school board meeting



Teachers reach tentative agreement; if approved, 210 jobs will be saved

By Citizen staff
Published: Friday, May 21, 2010 10:06 AM PDT
Working late into the evening of May 17, Tom Gardner, president of the Elk Grove Education Association, announced via text message that a tentative agreement between the Elk Grove Unified School District and the teachers was reached.

It was officially announced at the May 18 school board meeting.

“We did call off our picketing for Tuesday’s school board meeting, that action would be moot,” Gardner said.

The teachers had planned a massive demonstration and planned to have a selected group of teachers make their plea at the board meeting that evening.

Gardner and his negotiating team met with the teachers’ council Tuesday afternoon to review the contents of the contract.

The agreement still has to be put before the membership for approval, but Gardner was “encouraged” the rank and file certificated union members would ratify the tentative agreement.

If ratified by the teachers, it would bring back about 210 elementary teachers into the classrooms.

Voting by the 3,000 teachers on the agreement will begin May 21 and close on June 1. This will give teachers off-track in year-round schools a day to vote. The agreement involved