School board to consider approving new contract with classified union

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The San Ramon Valley school board is set to discuss signing off on a tentative labor agreement with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members and then talk about the district’s pending superintendent vacancy on Monday afternoon.

The proposed contract with SEIU Local 1021 calls for members to receive an ongoing compensation increase of 2.56% overall — in line with what the other classified union, California School Employees Association, received earlier this year.

The SEIU increase is broken down into 2.31% toward base salary and 0.25% toward the Retired Employee Benefits Trust, retroactive to July 1, 2019.

The district anticipates the pay bump will cost an additional $417,641 for the current school year, to be paid for by one-time reserves. The ongoing costs in the future would be paid for from general fund revenues provided by the state.

Other aspects of the SEIU deal include revisions to the initial and promotional probationary period to align with new state law, increased leave benefits for employees facing a catastrophic illness, enhanced longevity for longtime employees with continuous service in the district, and capping monthly cash-in-lieu benefits for employees who do not take health and welfare benefits through the district.

SEIU Local 1021 represents maintenance, operations, transportation and other service workers for SRVUSD.

In other business during the teleconference-only meeting, the board will consider a resolution to eliminate or reduce just under seven full-time equivalent (FTE) worth of classified positions due to lack of work or lack of funds — similar to what the district does each year.

The proposal includes a handful of part-time positions at unspecified locations such as campus monitor (0.40 FTE), instructional assistant (2.26 FTE), library media coordinator (1.24 FTE) and classroom paraeducator (1.07 FTE). The cost savings are estimated at $307,000 per year.

After those open-session items, the board will convene in closed session to discuss the process for appointing the district’s next superintendent — with current Superintendent Rick Schmitt’s upcoming retirement at the end of June. The board’s goal is to have a new superintendent in position by the start of the new school year.

Monday’s open-session meeting is scheduled to run from 3-3:30 p.m., with the closed session to follow.

Board members will participate remotely via video-conferencing to adhere to Contra Costa Health Services’ shelter-in-place order amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There will be no in-person attendance allowed. The meeting can be live-streamed via https://www.srvusd.net/district/board_meetings.

Public comments on agendized or non-agenda items can be submitted via email to Cindy Fischer at cfischer@srvusd or by fax to 925-838-3147 by noon Monday (May 11). Be sure to specify which item the comment pertains to; maximum of three-minute duration per agenda item. Comments will be read aloud live during the online meeting.