Teachers’ Union Goes
After District After Letter

By Harry Saltzgaver
Executive Editor

Acrimony surrounding negotiations of the Long Beach Unified School District teachers contract ratcheted up a notch over the weekend with a mass mailing from the school board.

Then Tuesday, it expanded exponentially with the filing of a complaint to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office that the school board had violated the Brown Act and the Education Code by approving the letter in closed session.

The letter, on school district letterhead and carrying the list of school board members at the bottom, details the district’s bargaining position. It offers average teacher salaries ($57,860 plus $18,848 in benefits) and says an immediate 4% raise rejected by the union is all that the district can afford.

That letter was sent to 235,000 households within the school district boundaries. It was addressed to Postal Patron, meaning everyone in the district — not just those with students — received one, according to Chris Eftychiou, school district spokesman. Eftychiou said that the mailer cost about $24,000 — 2.4¢ each to print, and 7.8¢ each to mail.

Monday, the Teachers Association of Long Beach (TALB) fired back, filing a public records request trying to find out when the school board approved the mailing. The school board violated the Brown Act, according to TALB President Tony Diaz and Executive Director Scott McVarish, by spending public money without a public discussion.

Eftychiou said that the school board approved the letter’s distribution during a closed session on Feb. 7. The closed session was legal, Eftychiou said, because it involved contract negotiations.

After receiving those answers, TALB filed the formal complaint Tuesday, saying this was just the last instance in a pattern of Brown Act violations. The fact the decision to spend money was not even reported out in public session, let alone discussed, made this a clear violation, the complaint says.

“This is just an amazing abuse of taxpayer money,” McVarish said. “It might be one thing if they sent this to parents and employees, to the stakeholders, but the use of taxpayers money to beat up the union this close to the election is outrageous.”

TALB has sponsored candidates in all three of the school board races this year — Jim Deaton vs. incumbent Mary Stanton in Area 1, Michael Ellis vs. Suja Lowenthal in Area 3 (Lowenthal has stopped campaigning for the position and will run for the Second District City Council seat), and David Barton vs. Jim Choura in Area 5.

Eftychiou pointed out that the letter never mentions the election or the school board candidates. It was reviewed by the state Fair Political Practices Commission before it was sent out, he added.

“This is simply a factual account of the state of negotiations,” Eftychiou said. “The union has continually and unfairly attacked this board and the administration during these negotiations in the union newsletter. It was time to set the facts straight.”

Long Beach teachers have been working without a contract since the beginning of the year. A confrontational approach has characterized administration-union relations since last spring, when the union attempted to oust a principal at Mary Barton School.

The district letter points to McVarish as a reason:

“The teachers’ union, under the direction of a former Redondo Beach negotiator, rejected the school district’s offer as not enough.”

McVarish has disputed the district administration’s method for comparing teachers’ salaries with other districts — the union says Long Beach is 33rd out of 36 area districts while the school district administration says Long Beach is in the top 10 — and other issues including benefits, teacher evaluations and spending priorities. He said he didn’t believe the cost estimate for the letter, but that it was the principal that mattered.

“What gives them the right to spend $5 of the taxpayers’ money on beating up the union during an election?” McVarish said. “And worse, to not do that at a public meeting?”

The timing of the letter was the basis for the claim it violated the Education Code, which prohibits school district money being spent to support candidates for election.

Last month, the union conducted a protest at the district’s administration building, and ended up in a confrontation with security personnel. According to the school district, the protest was blocking handicapped access to the building as well as a truck loading zone. When asked to move, the union representatives refused, and security people removed the union’s tables and signs.

That prompted TALB to file a lawsuit contending the district had violated its rights. The case is moving toward court now.

During negotiations, both sides have distributed nearly weekly “updates” offering that side’s take on negotiations. TALB’s Bargaining Buzz has the slogan “Cutting through the selective ‘facts’ & spin from the District to get the truth.” The district’s Facts from the Table say it is “A report from the Long Beach Unified School District negotiating team.”

Eftychiou said the board had done nothing wrong.

“Some people might prefer that residents remain unaware of the facts in this letter,” Eftychiou said. “But the Board of Education has a right and an obligation to communicate with residents on important matters. The letter is factual, and the Board of Education stands by it.”

McVarish said there still are three contract negotiating sessions scheduled before the April 11 election, and he expected them to take place. The school board elections require a candidate to receive a majority of votes to win.