Teacher talks stall over virus concerns

District declares impasse in contract negotiations

Novato Unified School District has declared an impasse after its teachers turned thumbs down thisweek on a newcontract offer, citing coronavirus concerns, officials said Wednesday.

“Declaring that we are at impasse does not mean that NUSD has given up on negotiations or that negotiations have ended,” Kris Cosca, district superintendent, said Wednesday in an email. “It simply means we acknowledge that we need the help of an outside mediator appointed by the state of California to help us come to agreement.”

Cosca declared the impasse after teachers on Monday rejected the district’s “last, best and final offer” for a memorandum of understanding to cover work under a hybrid learning model that mixes in-class-room-and distance learning. It was the second turn-down on the talks. The first “no” vote was in September.

The dispute is one of many school reentry issues at Marin districts, almost all involving questions of safety and staffing during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Although a handful of Marin’s 18 public school districts have already started some classroom learning on school campuses, at least half are still working on plans or delaying until virus numbers are more favorable.

Mariah Fisher, president of the Novato Federation of Teachers, said she expects the union members who are scheduled to return to in-classroom instruction at the end of month will do so — even though they will be working without a signed MOU. The issues, she said, continue to center on safety around the pandemic and transparency, she said.

“I want to make it very clear to our community: the power to schedule a return to the classroom resides, and has always resided, solely with NUSD administration,” she said Wednesday in a written statement. “When NUSD calls us back to the classroom, we will be there — with or without an MOU — with smiles (under our masks), and ready to greet our students.”

According to a schedule approved Oct. 6, the district will phase in the hybrid model starting Oct. 26 with transitional kindergarten and other special day classes for younger students. Higher-level grades will be added in a sequence of groups on Nov. 9, Nov. 30, Jan. 4 and Jan. 11.

The union statement says the district’s latest offer failed to address safety issues such as mixed cohorts at the secondary level, an omission of details on special education and “teachers and other certificated staff were not able to see the school-site-specific protection plans.”

The latter was a reference to the documents for each school that address a 30-point coronavirus safety checklist developed and reviewed for completion by Marin County public health officials.

“The teachers in Novato need community unity, now more than ever,” Fisher said in the statement. “Novato Federation of Teachers will not delay the district’s plan to reopen in nine days, but our rejection of the unacceptable agreement insists everyone is treated with respect, all voices are heard and our secondary cohorts are safe for teachers, students and their families.”

Cosca said he “continued to be optimistic” that the two sides could cometo an agreement, “knowing that that is what is best for the community.”

Elsewhere, districts such as Reed Union, Larkspur-Corte Madera, Ross, Miller Creek and Kentfield have already started their hybrid plans in some fashion. Others are waiting until November. High schools in Marin will stay in distance learning until January.

Leaders at the Ross Valley School District announced Tuesday they had reached consensus on a hybrid model plan and a timeline for most students to return to the classroom in the next few weeks. Reopening plans, announced at Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting, affect all students from transitional kindergarten through the sixth grade at White Hill Middle School in Fairfax.

Seventh- and eighth-graders at White Hill will stay in full distance learning until January, because of the difficulties in maintaining virus safety during the switching of classes and mixing student cohorts that occurs at the those grade levels, officials said.

The timeline sketchedout Tuesday calls for transitional kindergarten to fifth grade students and parents to be invited to safety orientations at their schools starting Oct. 27. Following the orientations, children will begin in the hybrid learning model starting Nov. 3.

For sixthgraders at White Hill Middle School, orientation days will run from Oct. 20 to 23, with the hybrid model starting Oct. 27.

The district is using the A/B hybrid model, which calls for students in each school to be divided into A and B cohorts. On Mondays, all students will remain in distance learning. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the A cohort will attend class on campus, while the B cohort will stay at home in distance learning. On Thursdays and Fridays, the two cohorts switch places.

Officials said the A/B hybrid model will allow for more educational time each day than an AM/PM model, which involves switching the two cohorts between mornings and afternoons five days per week.

They added that the A/B hybrid plan would also allow the janitorial staff to do intense cleaning and disinfection on Wednesday afternoons, in between the switching of the two cohorts.

About 22.1% of parents in the TK-5 group have asked to continue 100% in distance learning, with 25% of families in the sixth grade requesting to stay all-virtual, superintendent Marci Trahan said.

Trahan said the district will be sending out a notice to parents by the end of the week.