By Dale Martin
The San Bernardino Teachers Association has won an arbitration award that is likely to have implications statewide for schools facing visits from a School Assistance and Intervention Team (SAIT).
In the Oct. 13 decision, a state arbitrator ruled that the school district violated the collective bargaining agreement with SBTA when it involuntarily transferred two teachers under an action plan established by a SAIT.
"The School Assistance and Intervention Team tried to make the district believe that what it put into the action plan could supersede the collective bargaining agreement," says SBTA President Patty Taylor. "The arbitrator ruled it cannot."
The two teachers who were wrongfully transferred won the right to return to their previous schools, although they probably won't exercise it. The precedent the decision set is already having an impact on other districts facing state sanctions and interventions designed to improve school quality.
"I've heard from colleagues in Moreno Valley that the SAIT teams are not acting in the same way," says Taylor. "This gives us a lot of satisfaction."
At issue in San Bernardino was a commitment letter that required teachers to agree to a number of terms, among them adhering to a dress code, maintaining daily attendance and punctuality, exhibiting high expectations for students, and teaching to the standards. Under the action plan, anyone who refused to sign the letter could face involuntary transfer, nonrenewal, or placement in an improvement plan.
"Some of our teachers had been at their sites for 20 to 25 years and were insulted by the letter," says Taylor. "They were saying, 'How dare you?'"
Even though they signed the commitment letter, two teachers were notified in June 2003 that their principals had selected them for involuntary transfer despite glowing comments and a letter of commendation from supervisors.
SBTA contended that the district had discriminated against one of the teachers because she was a building rep for the association. In the other case, the association noted that the only action raised by the district as a basis for the transfer had occurred in 2001 and had since been resolved.
The arbitrator in the case agreed with the association and ruled that both teachers had been involuntarily transferred without reasonable cause.
Noting that SAIT visits can be intimidating, CTA leaders and staff say the situation could have been avoided if the district had paid attention to teachers and the collective bargaining agreement. "If they had listened to what we were saying to them, we would not have gone down that road to begin with," says SBTA Executive Director Peg Tracey. "Instead of trusting us, they listened to the SAIT team. We all need to be working together in this process."