Teachers in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District have been in the process of negotiating a new contract with the district after operating for two years under a contract that expired in July of 2017. The Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association proposed a 9% raise increase over three years to align with the cost of living adjustments; the district countered with a 1% increase. As a result of these negotiations, many MBUSD teachers are participating in district-wide job action.
Job action is a temporary action by workers as a form of protest to force compliance with demands. Mira Costa teachers have been closing their doors at snack and lunch, prohibiting students from entering their classrooms during breaks. As a result, clubs and organizations have not been able to meet and Costa’s annual Scholar Quiz faced adversity. Considering teachers are closing their rooms in solidarity, Scholar Quiz was only able to continue on the condition that teachers did not participate in reading the questions and were most likely not even in their rooms during this time, Model UN teacher Annie Choi said. District elementary school teachers have stopped writing comments on students’ report cards, preventing students and their parents from receiving constructive feedback.
Teachers are not paid for the extra hours they put in, such as having students in their classrooms during nutrition and lunch. The union’s goal of this job action is to make the point that they feel that their time is undervalued by the district, and they no longer want to be taken advantage of, according to MBUSD President Shawn Chen.
It is admirable that teachers are taking action to improve their pay, but the district has yet to take action in response. The job action will be inefficient if students and parents are not actually voicing their grievances to the district in support of the teachers. The action will only be effective if all teachers close their doors during their break times and if parents who are bothered by the current situation communicate their support of the teachers union directly to the district. Without full participation, students are unnecessarily caught in the crossfire.
Negotiations between MBUSD and MBUTA have been going on since 2017 when issues on a previously made agreement about teacher evaluations came to light, MBUSD Board President Bill Fournell said. Since then, there has been approximately one meeting per month to negotiate.
The dispute between MBUSD and MBUTA calls attention to teachers’ grievances against the district in an effort to improve their standard of living. Despite the negative effect on students, the action will serve to alert the district and parents about the gravity of the teacher slowdown and the need for change.
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