The following statement was released by the GUSD board of education.

“Our Board of Education has established priorities to maximize academic achievement for every child and protect the health and safety of our students, employees, families and community. We remain steadfast in our commitment to provide every child with equitable access to resources and to give our students voice and choice in their academic endeavors.  

“As Glendale Unified Board of Education president, I am eager to come to a resolution in our contract negotiations with the Glendale Teachers Association that upholds these commitments while also meeting the needs of our teachers and certificated employees. On Feb. 28, our district and GTA bargaining teams will meet once again with a mediator, continuing the first step of the impasse process. I am hopeful that, with the mediator’s support, we will resolve the outstanding items on the table and bring this yearlong negotiation to a close. GUSD and GTA have already agreed on many important topics, including substantial increases to our stipends for special education, dual language immersion and split grade level teachers, along with significant hourly rate increases for professional development, tutoring and intervention time. 

“The issues that remain outstanding are critical to our ability to uphold our commitment to provide every student with the opportunity to learn and succeed in a safe school environment. Therefore, it is important that we continue to communicate the district’s proposals and our rationale behind them. 

“Giving our teachers a raise is highly important. The district’s proposal offers a 4.5% one-time payment for 2020-21, a 3.5% ongoing raise for 2021-22, and a 5% ongoing raise for 2022-23. Once negotiations are finalized, GTA members will begin seeing these raises in their paychecks without delay. This proposal pushes the GUSD reserve fund balance to less than 1% above what is minimally required by the state. Gov. Newsom’s January budget proposal projects that the state will bring in $20 billion less next year than previously expected, pushing the state budget into deficit. Even a small decline in expected revenues could end up leading to painful spending cuts. We are constantly working to maintain this very delicate balance between wanting to provide more for our teachers and protecting staff and students from cuts. 

“The district also proposed a provision to make certain that school administrators are aware of which teachers are on campus and when. The proposal asks teachers to give one-day notice before making a change in their schedule. In the case of an emergency, we need to be able to account for employees and ensure that they are safe. We believe this proposal is not only reasonable, but also essential to safety planning that will help provide peace of mind for our students, staff, and families. 

“Finally, the district is proposing to measure prep time for secondary teachers on a weekly basis instead of daily, with individual teacher collaboration. To be clear: every secondary teacher will continue to have the same, if not more, prep time per week embedded in their instructional schedule. This important change is necessary to continue the block schedule and seven-period day, which GUSD launched at middle and high schools beginning in 2021 to expand educational opportunities and better meet the needs of every student. Under the district’s proposal, administrators would be required to make every effort to provide teachers who want it with a daily prep period. In the rare instance that a daily prep period cannot be accommodated, the administrator would be required to meet with the teacher, explain the circumstances and consider alternatives in good faith. This flexible, collaborative approach to secondary scheduling ensures our middle and high schools will be able to offer all the courses necessary to meet the needs of every student, including those participating in specialized programs, those who are excelling and those who need additional support. 

“I strongly believe GUSD has a good faith contract offer on the table that prioritizes the academic needs of our students and campus safety while balancing the needs of teachers and certificated employees. I look forward to the continued transparent review of the outstanding items and I am hopeful that progress can be made in our next mediation session on Feb. 28.”

Glendale Unified Board of Education President Nayiri Nahabedian