The Santa Barbara Unified School District board of trustees will consider whether to add an extra period to schedules at its junior high schools, a move sought by the teachers union, at its Feb. 10 meeting.
The Santa Barbara Teachers Association wants to add a mandatory seventh period to junior high school schedules, a move that would enhance opportunities for students learning to speak English, the association says, by giving them the opportunity to take an elective class like other students.
At present, students at the district’s four junior high schools have classes covering English, math, science, social studies, physical education and one elective, in which they can explore subjects like music, art or Spanish language.
But the district requires those who aren’t fluent in English to use that elective period to take a language support class, depriving them of the opportunities afforded other students to take an elective, said York Shingle, president of the SBTA.
The extra period at the junior high schools, covering grades 7 and 8, would cost the district about $1.8 million, he added. “We believe they have the money for this,” Shingle said.
The district said, to the contrary, that it has a budget deficit.
“The district is currently working to address a substantial budget deficit and is considering reductions, even before accounting for potential cost increases from ongoing labor negotiations,” it said in a statement.
The district said by law, teachers can negotiate over “mandatory subjects” including wages, hours, and working conditions—but not about whether to add an extra period to the school day.
Such issues are not opening to bargaining because the district said it doesn’t want to be locked into contract as it copes with shifting enrollment and student needs. And it believes such matters should be debated and decided in public, not during closed-meeting negotiations.
The association takes the position that the number of class sessions is indeed a subject open to negotiation. Now it appears the trustees will make the decision.
“We were told for years it had to be bargained,” Shingle said. But “they said it’s a non-mandatory bargaining item. They will listen to us, but they don’t have to agree with us.”
Ashley Cornelius, the association’s bargaining chair and a science teacher at Santa Barbara High School, said in a statement that without changes to the teachers’ contract, none of the necessary changes in the junior high schools are possible. “
“The way we do that is through bargaining,” Cornelius said. “It is really disappointing that we worked so hard to create a solution that is incredibly focused on student needs and the district is unwilling to bargain around this issue.”
