Moreno Valley School District and Teachers Union Working Together For Student Success
Dr. Judy White, superintendent of the Moreno Valley unified School District
“We meet regularly to work together on the issues facing our school district,” said Harold Acord, president of the Moreno Valley Educators’ Association. “This is true whether it’s a problem affecting the entire school district, or one individual teacher’s problem.”
(Moreno Valley, CA) In Moreno Valley both the district administration and the teachers’ union have a common goal. They work together to achieve the district’s mission of preparing students to become productive members of society.
“We agree on our mission of learning for all,” said Dr. Judy White, superintendent of Moreno Valley Unified School District. “We collaborate on best practices that increase student achievement.”
“We meet regularly to work together on the issues facing our school district,” said Harold Acord, president of the Moreno Valley Educators’ Association. “This is true whether it’s a problem affecting the entire school district, or one individual teacher’s problem.”
“We provide support and communication to each one of our teachers, so they know how much they are valued in our school district,” Dr. White said.
An issue affecting the entire district is initiatives the state of California is considering regarding school funding. The 2013-2014 state budget significantly changes how public schools are funded, giving most school districts more money to spend as they see fit, and less restricted to specific purposes.
“We meet regularly to work together on the issues facing our school district,” said Harold Acord, president of the Moreno Valley Educators’ Association. “This is true whether it’s a problem affecting the entire school district, or one individual teacher’s problem.”
“In Moreno Valley, the district administration and its teachers stand shoulder to shoulder on state initiatives related to funding,” Dr. White said. “We are also exploring other ways to focus on students’ and teachers’ learning conditions, so we can make sure the state provides funding mechanisms that meet the needs of our students.”
School districts also receive federal funding. This also, more than ever, is tied to academic performance.
“Some federal grants require teacher evaluations before the funding is allowed,” Dr. White said. “This is based on the assumption that when teachers are evaluated on their performance, student achievement improves.”
“The Moreno Valley Educator’s Association and Moreno Valley Unified School District administrators have collaborated on an evaluation instrument that includes student achievement as one of its indicators. However this is expressed in a format that structures collaborative conversations, support and high expectations between the site administrator and teachers. This was done because it is the right thing to do not because it was a requirement of a grant,” said Dr. White.
Besides working together to develop accountability standards and positions on state and federal legislation, the Moreno Valley Educators’ Association and the district administration also collaborate on other projects. Recently, one of these was planning and hosting a regional leadership conference for teachers and administrators, which they had titled “Collaborate, Coach and Connect.”
“We had several speakers from the California Teachers Association, and the keynote speaker was CTA President Dean Vogel,” said local president Acord. “It was a great success, and we received high evaluations from those who participated.”
Since students are the top priority in Moreno Valley Unified School District, recognizing outstanding student achievement is another way the administration and teachers’ union work together. With a third partner, the Moreno Valley Chamber of Commerce, they provide a “Student of the Month” program to honor and reward one outstanding student each month at each school in the district. They also work jointly with the Chamber to explain how local businesses can support education in Moreno Valley.
Even in contract negotiations, the one activity where relationships between school administrations and their teachers unions can be adversarial, they’re not in Moreno Valley Unified School District. Here, the two sides participate in Interest Based Bargaining.
In typical negotiations, the teachers’ union asks for as generous a contract as it finds feasible, while the district administration counter offers with something less generous. The contract is successfully negotiated when one or both sides make concessions to the other.
But in Interest Based Bargaining, the administration and teachers focus on common goals, and work together to ensure these goals are met. Since attracting and keeping quality teachers is one of their common goals, developing an attractive teachers’ contract becomes a solution.
“It is supposed to be a win-win situation,” Acord said. “It’s not one side wins and the other side loses.”
Clearly, with everyone working together, there is one big winner in the process. That is Moreno Valley Unified School District students.
The Moreno Valley Unified School District’s mission is to prepare all students academically and socially to become productive members of society.
For more information on the Moreno Valley Unified School District’s call the District office at (951) 571-7500 or go to their website at www.MVUSD.net.
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