Teachers start slowdown; MBUSD approves professional development

By Gassia Ashikian
and Dana Sternthal
News Editors

In response to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District and the Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers’ Association’s inability to agree on contract negotiations, MBUTA initiated a teacher “slowdown” on March 11, in which teachers do not work outside their contractual hours.

According to Foreign Language Department Chair Laurie Gonalons, as a part of the “slowdown,” teachers are closing their doors at lunch, are not writing letters of recommendation and are limiting Advanced Placement study sessions.

“This isn’t easy for us, and it’s not our intention to hurt students,” Gonalons said.

According to Gonalons, one reason for stalled negotiations is the district and teachers’ inability to agree on the implementation of Common Core teacher training.

At the Wednesday Board of Trustees meeting, the board approved a Common Core professional development plan that includes two voluntary days on Aug. 21 and 22 and a mandatory day on Oct. 13 where teachers will be paid their professional rate. Teachers are required to have a minimum of 12 hours of professional development, either during school, which would require hiring substitutes, after school or during the planned sessions.

“We want days where students won’t be hurt and we won’t have to make up work,” MBUTA President Shawn Chen said.

According to MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews, the district is offering to pull teachers out of class because some can’t attend other sessions.
“We’re making sure that all teachers get the same amount of training,” Matthews said.

The approved Common Core professional development plan budgets $200,000 for outside professional developers. Each school will decide if it wants a professional to come and for how long. According to Gonalons, teachers are opposed to this idea.

“We’ve seen outside professional developers work well,” Matthews said. “I like the idea, but I’m not going to force it.”

MBUSD and MBUTA are discussing future contract negotiation dates. This professional development plan may be superseded by contract negotiations.

“It takes two sides to do this,” Matthews said. “I’m confident we’ll get there.”