Victor Valley Teachers OK 20-Day Cooling-Off Period

Striking teachers in the Victor Valley School District in San Bernardino County agreed Wednesday to return to their classrooms while giving union and district negotiators a 20-day “cooling off” period in which to seek an end to their nine-month-old contract dispute.

The strike, which was called Dec. 3 after negotiations broke down, has affected 360 teachers. The district, which covers Victorville, Hesperia and other small towns in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, continued to conduct classes using substitute teachers.

Every Three Days

Under terms of the agreement to get the teachers back to work, negotiations are to take place at least every three days during the 20-day period. If no settlement is reached when the 20 days are up, leaders of the Victor Valley Teachers Assn. said they would call their members out on strike again.

The key issue in the dispute has been the teachers’ demand for third-party binding arbitration as a way of settling personnel grievances. Victor Valley Union High School Superintendent William A. Tarr said the district is firmly opposed to that demand.

Other contract issues include teacher salaries and fringe benefits. Scott Davis, chief negotiator for the teachers association, said his members are seeking a 10% salary increase this year, with an 8% increase in the remaining years of the contract. Teachers also are asking the district to return to its past policy of paying all of their health and welfare benefits.

Meanwhile, a local parent-teacher group has moved to recall the entire five-person school board that oversees nearly 8,000 students, charging the school board with misuse of district funds and lack of cooperation with teachers and parents.

The recall move, led by the Committee of Educators, Parents and Concerned Citizens, is charging the school board with mismanagement of a $5-million dollar surplus, saying that many students are without textbooks and the library systems at many schools are inadequate.

Surplus Denied

School Board President Patricia Calloway denied that such a surplus exists.

“What parents don’t realize is that there really isn’t any $5-million dollar surplus,” Calloway said. “Two million is going to a new school cafeteria, a million to the teachers’ contract and then we have to get portable buildings for new classrooms because of increasing enrollment.”