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The Pleasanton school board unanimously approved raises for classified and management/confidential employees at their regular meeting Tuesday night.
The new collective bargaining agreement with the California School Employees Association includes a 2% increase to the 2017-18 salary schedule, retroactive to July 1. CSEA members will also receive a one-time bonus equal to 1% of their salary this school year, to be calculated after the 2% increase is applied.
The agreement itself is for July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2020.
“I just want to thank CSEA and the district leadership and negotiating teams for coming to a conclusion,” said trustee Joan Laursen just before the agreement was approved. “We have a three-year contract in front of us, and that’s awesome.”
The proposal comes after the school board in November approved a collective bargaining agreement between PUSD and the Association of Pleasanton Teachers with the same raises for its members.
The district’s agreement with APT took effect retroactive to July 1, 2016 and runs through June 30, 2019.
Meanwhile, trustees also approved a comparable salary increase for management/confidential employees.
The compensation increases, respectively estimated at $530,174 and $298,327 overall this year, will be paid for using funding from the state and the district’s ending fund balance, according to the district.
PUSD spokesman Patrick Gannon said the board will be presented with a proposal for a comparable salary increase for senior cabinet members in the near future.
In other business
* The board reviewed administration’s recommendation that MeTEOR Education be selected as the furniture vendor for the bond-funded Lydiksen Elementary School modernization and rebuild.
MeTEOR was one of four firms that responded to a Request for Proposals issued by the district in October.
If approved as the furniture vendor, the district would purchase pilot furniture for up to three existing classroom prototypes — kindergarten, grades 1-3 and grades 4-5. Students and staff would test different furniture styles and configurations for at least one full school year before a bulk order would be made for all classrooms.
Administration indicated Tuesday that the pilot furniture recommendation will come to the board in March. Pilot furniture would then be installed in the summer for use next school year.
The estimated furniture budget for the project is $400,000 in Measure I1 funds.
The board will be asked to approve a contract with MeTEOR Education on Jan. 30.
* At the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting, the board recognized former Foothill High football coach Matt Sweeney, who stepped down from the position earlier this month after 31 years.
Superintendent David Haglund read aloud notes about Sweeney’s career during the recognition, including his coaching record of 265 wins against 93 losses and five ties. Under Sweeney, the Falcons also won 15 league championships.
Sweeney will continue his work as a history teacher and softball coach at Foothill.
“I feel really fortunate and blessed,” Sweeney said Tuesday night. “I love going to work every day — it’s not work, I love going to Foothill every day — and I don’t know where the time went.”
* In closed session, trustees unanimously approved dismissal of an unnamed probationary employee as well as a settlement agreement in the amount of $29,500.
They also voted to waive $12,500 in attorney’s fees and costs in exchange for former employee Luis Mercado agreeing to dismiss his appeal and release all claims against the district in the case Mercado vs. PUSD.
Mercado, a skilled maintenance worker for PUSD from August 2008 through mid-April 2013, filed a wrongful termination suit against the district in October 2015. He alleged in his complaint that he was “screamed at, ridiculed, threatened and otherwise chronically harassed” by supervisors, and as a result became clinically depressed and unable to work.
After notifying PUSD in March 2013 that he was sick, Mercado said he later received a letter from the district stating, “If you do not request the opportunity to demonstrate good cause to excuse your absence by close of business on Monday, April 15, 2013, you will be deemed to have voluntarily resigned from your employment with the district.”
Mercado claimed in his lawsuit that he did not receive the letter until April 19, 2013 and that PUSD “wrongfully terminated his employment for his absence due to mental disability.”
The case was dismissed in July, and in the fall Alameda County Superior Court awarded the district $10,000 for attorney’s fees and $2,500 in other costs, according to court documents. Mercado filed an appeal on Jan. 12.
