We have reached a tentative agreement!

United PCS is delighted to announce that our bargaining team has reached a tentative agreement with PCS. We are in the process of holding a ratification vote with our membership, and will announce the results tomorrow (Friday).

In addition to historic increases to teacher compensation, we have made great progress in a number of areas of our contract that will improve working conditions for our faculty, and help to create a more inclusive, stable community for our school.

First, a recap of our bargaining platform:

UPCS Bargaining Platform

 

  1. Preserve Our Student-Centered Mission: We seek to steward inclusive access to high quality education that protects our class sizes, classroom autonomy and a culture of learning in which all departments and disciplines are supported.

 

  1. Fair Compensation for Educators: In order to retain and attract a diverse group of the best educators, PCS teacher salaries must be competitive with other schools’ and commensurate with the cost of living in Santa Cruz.

 

  1. Community Collaboration & Transparency: Faculty and all other community stakeholders must have meaningful participation and voice in important school decisions and processes. 

 

We’ve Won a Contract That Meets Our Bargaining Platform Goals!

 

Article 4 – Union Rights & Union Dues

 

  • 4.8 Department Chairs: Clarifying language to protect department chairs’ roles and responsibilities and to ensure chairs are not forced into management roles. 

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goals 1 & 3) 

 

Article 7 – Evaluation & Development

 

  • Improved language and procedures PCS must follow for evaluations.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goals 1 & 3)

 

Article 8 – Employment Status & Discipline/Dismissal

 

  • 8.1 Employment Status/Rights: Language to limit PCS’ ability to designate bargaining unit members as “temporary employees.” The new language aligns “temporary employment” with the California Education Code’s strict standards.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goal 1)

 

Article 9 – Leave of Absence

 

  • Sabbatical Leave: Members who have 7 years of continuous service will have the opportunity to take an unpaid sabbatical leave of absence for either one semester or an entire academic year.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goal 1)

 

  • Paid Parental Leave: Effective July 1, 2023 and through June 30, 2026, members who become new parents are entitled to 8 weeks (40 days) of paid parental leave. United PCS has the right to negotiate an extension of this benefit prior to June 30, 2026.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goals 1 &2)

 

  • Bereavement Leave: Expanded use of bereavement leave to include members who suffer a loss due to a miscarriage or stillbirth.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goals 1 & 2)

 

Article 10 – Professional Work Day/Work Year

 

  • School Counselor & College Counselor: Memorialized incorporation of school counselors and college counselors into our CBA and as a part of our bargaining unit. Newly defined work year, work day, and job duties for the counselors.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goals 1, 2, & 3)

 

Article 12 – Compensation

 

  • Newly Improved Teacher Salary Schedule: Two-year agreement on salary that averages 15.72% of a raise for our members. Under this new agreement, for the first time in our school’s history, we will have teachers making a base salary that hits six-figures.

    • Effective July 1, 2022, the salary schedule is increased by 5%.

    • Effective July 1, 2022, the increases between steps on the salary schedule shall be as follows:

      • Steps 1 through 5: 2.3%

      • Steps 5 through 22: 3%

    • Effective July 1, 2023, the salary schedule is increased by 4%.

    • MA & PhD Stipends increase by the base amount salary schedule increases (5% for 2022 – 2023 & 4% for 2023 – 2024).

      • (UPCS Bargaining Goal 2)

 

  • New Salary Schedules for School Counselor and College Counselor: Incorporation of a competitive salary schedule for our school counselor and college counselor that recognizes their additional work days and professional duties and responsibilities.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goal 2)

 

  • Extra Duty Stipends

    • Addition of “National Honor Society Advisor” at $1,000

    • Addition of “Media Arts/Video Production Support” at $2,000

      • (UPCS Bargaining Goal 1 & 2)

  • Compensation for Additional Duties

    • Addition of “Dance Fusion Teacher” at 0.1FTE.

      • (UPCS Bargaining Goal 1 & 2)

 

  • Reimbursement for Credential Related Expenses: Increase the rate of reimbursement from $8,500 to $10,000.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goals 1 & 2)

 

Article 18 – Reductions in Force

 

  • Improved language and procedures PCS must follow when enacting reductions in force.

    • (UPCS Bargaining Goals 1 & 3)

United For Our Pumas: Our Rally and Walk-In on Friday Jan. 27

On Friday, our second day of mediation, we held a rally before school to show support for our hardworking bargaining team and send a strong message to the PCS Board that we are committed to upholding the mission of our school. The faculty of United PCS are so grateful for the overwhelming showing of support, solidarity and love from our PCS and Santa Cruz community. Below, we share a few highlights, as well as what’s next in our bargaining process and how you can continue to support our work.

You can also read about the rally and our ongoing fight for a fair contract in these recent articles by the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Lookout Santa Cruz!

a few highlights…

Current and former faculty (including celebrity appearances by Cindy Gorski, Kelsey Flood & Gabe Cohn), parents, students and Santa Cruz community members started off their Friday morning with lots of dancing, rallying and an incredible display of solidarity.

(image credit: Gail Pellerin @asmgailpellerin)

We had support from leaders in our community, including Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin and PCS student government!

(image credit: Gail Pellerin @asmgailpellerin)

We were blown away by our students’ support.

(image credit: CTA @wearecta)

We braved the chilly weather with beanies, hot coffee (from newly-unionized Starbucks on Mission St.!) and lots of dancing.

(image credit: CTA @wearecta)

We concluded the rally with remarks by United PCS president Mary Gardner, and the reading of our unanimously signed strike petition by Biology teacher Kyle Walters. Then it was time for a walk-in to ensure that teachers and students were in their classrooms with plenty of time to get settled in and focused for another day of teaching and learning at PCS. It was really a hybrid walk-in/dance-in to the tune of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” - a fitting conclusion to an exuberant display of solidarity and community.

video credit: Joe Thompson

Next Steps…

After a long second day of mediation, we unfortunately did not come to an agreement with PCS, and our next mediation date is scheduled for February 10.

In the meantime, here are some concrete ways you can support PCS Faculty as we work to secure a fair contract that upholds the mission of our school. As this process continues, it is more important than ever for the PCS Board to see that the PCS community supports its educators.

  • Attend the next PCS Board meeting on Wednesday Feb 1 at 6pm, at PCS and speak up during public comment. Plan to arrive and speak at 6pm; this is the time for public comment on closed session topics (labor negotiations). If you speak at the later public comment time, it will be after the board has discussed negotiations.

    We know it can be intimidating to speak publicly, but if you are able to attend in person, it is so important for our Board to hear form you directly.

  • Can’t attend the meeting? E-mail the members of our board of directors; their contact information can be found here.

  • If you haven’t yet, subscribe to our website for updates; scroll to the bottom of this page for the sign-up form. And, follow our Instagram for up-to-date information @unitedpacificcollegiate).

We are committed to upholding the mission of Pacific Collegiate School

We will close this update by sharing the text of our strike petition, unanimously signed by our membership, as it summarizes why we are committed to seeing this process through and securing a fair contract.

To the Board and Management of Pacific Collegiate School:

 

We want to settle a contract that prioritizes our students, our teachers, and our school community. When we first began this process in March 2022, we set forth a clear bargaining platform that includes: (1) Preserving our student-centered mission; (2) Fairly compensating our educators; and (3) Increasing community collaboration and transparency. Unfortunately, after several months of negotiations, we do not feel PCS is acting with enough urgency in light of the serious issues facing staff turnover, decreasing morale among students and staff, and our lack of diversity in our school community. 

 

In fact, our United PCS bargaining platform shares the same core values as the PCS Strategic Plan, which notably states the following:

 

We will recruit, develop and retain staff, faculty, and leadership reflective of the demographics of our surrounding area, committed to PCS values, and equipped to advance excellence for all students by advancing the following goals:

 

  • Providing competitive compensation, benefits and additional incentives to make PCS a premier employer in the area.

  • Recruiting & retaining PCS faculty and staff that better reflect the demographics of our county and evolving student body.

  • Cultivating school leaders who practice and model PCS values.       

 

It is our sincere belief everything we’re advocating for is in alignment with PCS and its values. And for that reason, if the PCS Board cannot meaningfully address its own core values in these negotiations, we want the Board to know:

 

We are willing to stand for our students.

We are willing to stand for our school.

We are willing to strike.

 

 

What's the difference between 2.5 and 3.0? An update and explainer.

United PCS is currently in mediation with the PCS board. This process is confidential, so we can’t share a current update until later in the process. In the meantime, we would like to share some more specific information about what we are advocating for, as we have gotten a lot of questions from our community about what all the numbers mean.

First, here are up-to-date comparisons between PCS salaries and those of other local schools and California charter schools, based on PCS’s most recent salary proposal:

So, what is United PCS proposing? Here are some frequently asked questions to help explain the numbers:

We are asking for a 5% base salary increase and a 3% step increase (a step increase is how much your salary increases each year as you move up the salary scale).

Why did we structure our proposal this way?

We are trying to make our salary more competitive with other local schools; this 3% step increase would help. The people most affected by the current disparity are those in their 10th -15th year of teaching. This is the time in people’s careers when they are trying to raise families, buy homes, etc. It’s no surprise that we see many people leaving PCS when they reach this point in their career.

What’s the PCS Board proposing?

PCS has countered with a 5% base increase plus a 2.5% step increase.

But that’s only a .5% difference! That doesn’t seem like much.

It’s doesn’t! But take a look at the chart and how it plays out…

The difference between the last two columns is striking, especially as teachers move up the salary scale and especially for our most senior, experienced faculty. In fact, under PCS’s second proposal, those teachers would end up getting less than a 5% raise total.

We know how critical it is for a school to have consistency in its faculty, and to have highly qualified, highly experienced teachers.

Our Board’s salary counters repeatedly show a lack of investment in retaining the very people who have held out school together through the chaos of the last few years. To them, 0.5% makes a world of difference.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We hope this information sheds a little bit more light on the details of our bargaining. As always, what we need most is support from our community. We have been overwhelmed by all of your support; please keep it coming!

We just added contact information for the PCS Board of Directors. You can find them here on our “get involved” page.

Take a minute and write to our board members; urge them to invest in PCS teachers and students. You can also sign up at the bottom of that page for updates and more opportunities for support.

PCS Letter to the Community re: Impasse

United PCS declared impasse in bargaining on Wednesday, 12/14. Below, see our letter to the PCS community; this is the letter that was printed on the flyer handed out this past Tuesday, 12/20.

Dear PCS Community,

Last Wednesday, December 14, United PCS made the decision to declare impasse in the bargaining process. Impasse occurs when an agreement cannot be reached and therefore a third-party, state-appointed mediator meets with both sides to examine the situation and attempt to help them reach an agreement. United PCS has been in bargaining since March 10th, 2022. We appreciate all the time that the PCS Board of Directors has put towards bargaining, and the progress that has been made.

Bargaining is a community conversation. Our school is a public charter, funded entirely by California and local taxpayer money, supplemented by the generous donations of families who send their children to us with the hopes that our school is well-staffed and resourced. We’re at a point in our negotiations where PCS teachers clearly see a disconnect between what they have been advocating for at the bargaining table, at Board meetings and to the PCS community, and what the PCS Board of Directors is proposing in response. It’s clear to us that the Board and its representatives are not yet willing to prioritize addressing the serious inequities in our contract that are hurting our school community. The version of the budget that the PCS Board has presented, our analysis of school finances and what is possible, and budget comparisons with other local charters and other schools, will be the subject of a community conversation in the months ahead.

We want to emphasize our continued commitment to working collaboratively with the entire PCS community to address these issues. We are disappointed that we have reached impasse, but are optimistic and hopeful that we can have more productive, transparent conversations moving forward.

Finally, we are asking you, our larger community, for your continued support. We work at PCS because we love this school and its extraordinary students. We are advocating for a more equitable contract because we know firsthand that this is foundational to addressing faculty turnover and providing the stable, supportive environment that our students need. We are so grateful to the parents, alumni and former faculty who have already written and spoken at PCS Board meetings on our behalf.

If you have not yet done so, please subscribe to our mailing list on unitedpcs.org for updates, and follow our Instagram @unitedpacificcollegiate. Contact the PCS Board of Directors or, even better, attend a PCS Board Meeting and share a public comment in support of PCS Faculty. Interested in other ways to support us, or have other ideas to contribute? Reach out using our contact form.

Wishing you and your families a restful and joyful holiday season.

In Solidarity,

United PCS

Bargaining Update, November 30, 2022

We are so grateful to all of our community members who attended the PCS Board meeting on November 28 in support of PCS Faculty.

We are deeply disappointed with the outcome of bargaining today.

In response to our previous proposal of:

- a 5% increase across the board

- a 3% step increase (our current step increase is 2.3%)

PCS countered with:

- a 5% increase across the board

- 2.5% step increase

We are ready to TA (tentative agreement) on article 7, evaluation. PCS also mentioned a possible pilot parental leave program (with an expiration date), but provided no concrete details about what it would entail.

We will share more information in the coming week, including ways you can support our ongoing work in securing a fair contract. Subscribe to our website (see our “get involved” page) to receive updates.

Come and speak on our behalf!

SAVE THE DATE!

This coming Monday, Nov 28 at 5pm, the PCS Board of directors will be meeting to discuss negotiations with United PCS in their closed session.

zoom link for board meeting

link to meeting agenda

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR VOICES!

Come to the beginning of the meeting at 5pm to show your support.

Even better, speak on our behalf during public comment at the start of the meeting (5pm). Any community member can speak. Statements must be under 3 minutes (and can be much shorter - even a few sentences).

We are all working towards a PCS community that is welcoming, inclusive and supportive for all of its members. For the faculty, this means a strong contract, including a salary scale that is competitive with other schools and commensurate with the cost of living.

Bargaining Update, November 9, 2022

PCS still has not countered on the article 12 salary proposal that United PCS presented during bargaining on October 12. We were disappointed not to receive an offer after two bargaining sessions, especially given that we have been in bargaining since March 2022, and this recent proposal reflected substantial reworking in response to PCS’s feedback on our initial proposal.

There has been some promising movement and feedback on articles regarding workplace issues such as: personal and sick leave flexibility, professional development scheduling, teacher workload and extra duties and communication regarding teacher FTE (full time employment) changes. We are glad to be working collaboratively with PCS on these various issues.

We have received little feedback regarding our article on parental leave, which we presented last spring. PCS rejected our initial proposal citing concerns about its financial implications, but did not propose an alternative. Given that three of the teachers who departed last year did so for reasons directly related to caring for their young children, this is an urgent issue for our school community. We hope to see movement on this soon.