On April 21, your DCTA Bargaining Team continued pushing forward proposals centered on equity, educator respect, and fair working conditions. We opened the evening with proposed revisions to the Statement of Beliefs, emphasizing the importance of collaborative language while countering the district’s focus on standardized testing with acknowledgment of its bias against historically marginalized communities.
Throughout the session, DCTA members shared powerful personal stories to highlight the rationale and importance of our proposals and call out how barriers in current district systems impact our working conditions every day. Thank you to DCTA Sam Long, Robin James, Robert Condon, and Dr. Tim Brown for sharing their stories at the bargaining table!
Key DCTA Proposals:
- Revisions to the Statement of Beliefs that maintain collaborative language while challenging the use of biased standardized testing as a measure of student achievement.
- Honoring educators’ chosen names and prohibiting discriminatory practices like dead naming.
- Improvements to Leaves of Absence, including parental leave options, equitable access to sick days, protection of educator time during closures or delays, and access to FAMLI benefits.
- Protections for educators against discriminatory behavior, aligned with the district’s equity commitments.
- Fair treatment of Specialized Service Providers, including central hiring, respect for prior professional experience, and equitable compensation.
- We’re close to tentative agreements on Article 32 (Balarat Educators) and Article 34 (Associate Teachers) which we anticipate will be finalized soon.
The district also presented proposals on Negotiating Procedures and Performance Evaluations. While some movement was made, especially around the evaluation process, there’s still more work to be done.
We’ll be back at the table every Monday, fighting for a contract that truly respects, pays, and values us. We need as many people in the room as possible, putting pressure on the district to come to the table and actually negotiate. All upcoming bargaining dates are listed below—mark your calendar and be there!
