Profiles of California Districts Engaged in Labor-Management Collaboration in Education

Several of these districts and teacher organizations have been profiled in recent reports and case studies on labor management collaboration in education. These are summarized briefly below with links to additional information.

  1. ABC Unified School District and ABC Federation of Teachers
  2. Poway Unified School District / Poway Federation of Teachers and San Juan Unified School District / San Juan Teachers Association
  3. Lucia Mar Unified School District and Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association
  4. Merced City School District and Merced/Mariposa Teachers Uniserv Council
  5. Green Dot Public Schools and Asociacion de Maestros Unidos
  6. Los Angeles Unified School District and the United Teachers of Los Angeles

 

1. ABC Unified School District and ABC Federation of Teachers (ABC - Artesia, Bloomfield, Carmenita)


ABC Unified School District

20 miles southeast of Los Angeles, ABC Unified School District and ABC Federation of Teachers have built, since 1993, a successful labor-management partnership that has stood the test of time and the changing of both the superintendent and the teacher union president. The district of 20,500 students comprises the cities of Artesia, Cerritos, and Hawaiian Gardens as well as parts of Lakewood, Long Beach, and Norwalk.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has identified the ABC Partnership as a national exemplar and through its AFT Innovation Fund has funded the ABC Partnership to build a regular West Coast labor-management institute to teach union leaders and district administrators how to build effective partnerships.

The ABC partnership is profiled in numerous case studies, including:

2. Poway Unified School District / Poway Federation of Teachers and San Juan Unified School District / San Juan Teachers Association

Poway Unified School District / Poway Federation of Teachers and San Juan Unified School District / San Juan Teachers Association

Poway (San Diego County) and San Juan (near Sacramento) have both developed and have instituted Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) systems where senior teachers can support new and struggling teachers and evaluate them.

The Poway Federation of Teachers and the San Juan Unified School District are both leaders of the California Teacher Union Reform Network (CalTURN).

The Poway and San Juan partnerships are profiled in Getting Serious About Teacher Support and Evaluation by Julia Koppich and Daniel Humphrey. Also see: Getting Serious About Teacher Evaluation (Education Week Commentary, 10/12/11); and "Framing "Our Message, Our Voice", presentation by Candy Smiley, President, Poway Federation of Teachers, and Shannan Brown, President, San Juan Teachers Association, at the CalTURN conference, April 25-26, 2012, in Sacramento.

Poway Unified School District / Poway Federation of Teachers and San Juan Unified School District / San Juan Teachers Associatio

3. Lucia Mar Unified School District and Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association

Lucia Mar Unified School District / Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association

The 10,800-student Lucia Mar school district is located on the Central Coast between San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria, Calif. Ninety percent of students in the district are classified as low-income.

The Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association and the District partnered in a mutual study and learning process of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) that enabled both parties to fully understand and meet each other's concerns. The result was a negotiated agreement that allowed the district to become the first in California to adopt TAP in seven of its schools and accept a federal $7 million Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant that will support teacher development and advancement.

The Lucia Mar partnership is profiled in Union-District Collaboration a Never-Ending Process Education Week, November 15, 2011.

4. Merced City School District and Merced/Mariposa Teachers Uniserv Council

Merced City School District and Merced/Mariposa Teachers UniServ Council

From the Partnerships in Education report: "In 2006, new principal Sandi Hamilton brought together the Merced City Teachers Association and the Merced City School District to refocus on reform efforts needed for students to succeed, with the strategy of “meeting students where they’re at.”

The school began making significant improvements when educators and the administration started collaborating and working together. They advocated for Muir Elementary to receive a seven-year grant from California’s Quality Education Investment Act, which gave extra funding to lower-performing schools for staff development and other proven reforms. The school has used the funds for targeted professional development, reducing class sizes, and providing intervention assistance for kids who are struggling."

The Merced City partnership is profiled in Partnerships in Education: How Labor-Management Collaboration Is Transforming Public Schools, American Rights at Work Education Fund, May 2011.

5. Green Dot Public Schools and Asociacion de Maestros Unidos

Green Dot Public Schools and Asociacion de Maestros Unidos (AMU)

Green Dot is a charter management organization (CMO) that currently operates 17 high schools and one middle school in the Los Angeles area, and one in the Bronx (NY) opened in partnership with the United Federation of Teachers in 2008.

Green Dot is unusual among CMOs in California and nationally in supporting unionization of its teaching staff. According to a profile by the USDOE, “Green Dot's teachers and management worked with the California Teachers Association to develop a contract for its teaching staff that is aligned with the mission of Green Dot and supports a professional environment for teachers. Green Dot also worked with Randi Weingarten, now president of AFT, and the United Federation of Teachers to create the labor contract for Green Dot New York Charter School. Green Dot offers a collaborative decision-making environment, structured within clear parameters of autonomy and accountability, to support school-site staff in achieving the ambitious promise of college, leadership, and life readiness for all students.”

The Green Dot partnership is profiled at ED.GOV profile; and Local labor management relationships as a vehicle to advance reform: Findings from the U.S. Department of Education's labor management conference. By Eckert, J. (Ed.) et al. (2011).Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, pages 19-22. Also see the Green Dot District Contract with its CTA local, the Asociacion de Maestros Unidos (AMU).

6. Los Angeles Unified School District and the United Teachers of Los Angeles

Los Angeles Unified School District and the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA)

In December 2011 the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) reached a significant agreement that may be among the most far-reaching in the U.S. The agreement barred charter school and non-district applicants for 3 years from the districts Public School Choice initiative, which puts new school buildings and under-performing schools up for bid. At the same time, the agreement established a process by which teacher and administrator teams can turn any school into a fully autonomous Local Initiative School (LIS). No other US district has gone as far in promoting local school autonomy. (See LAUSD Local Initiative Schools (LIS) web section.)

For information on the UTLA-LAUSD local autonomy agreement, see Text of agreement, Executive summary, Tentative agreement Q&A: School Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative, and Statement of joint interest (UTLA & LAUSD).

Also last month in December, 2012, LAUSD and UTLA reached an agreement on teacher evaluation (agreement, summary).