By LESTER CHANG
In a surprise move, the Fremont Union High School Board of Trustees on May 2 bowed to demands by the Fremont Education Association to open controversial teacher contract negotiations to the public.
The teachers' union has been angry over what it calls footdragging by the board on contract talks for 400 teachers. Negotiations started in January and have reached a stalemate.
The board's decision to open negotiations came two days after the union handed to Superintendent Mary Panucci a petition expressing a vote of no confidence in the way she has run the district and led contract talks.
Some 300 of the 400 association teachers signed the petition, given to the superintendent at a board meeting at Homestead High School on April 30.
The board and Panucci declined to comment on the petition or negotiations.
The board committed itself to open contract meetings because of public concerns, said Bebe Sellers, Fremont's associate superintendent of employee relations.
"This is a major victory," said FEA president George Gredassoff. "It means the negotiations could be run smoother. But there are no guarantees."
Both sides meet on May 8 to decide where and when to hold the first public meeting.
The stalemate, however, is rapidly forcing the FEA closer to a strike, association representatives said.
"Where does this thing go? Who knows?" Gredassoff said. "No one wants a strike, but it is always a possibility." A strike could be called only after all negotiation efforts have failed, he said.
The FEA urged parents to attend the April 30 meeting to voice support for timely and fair contract negotiations with the teachers.
Negotiations started in January, but the district hasn't submitted any counterproposals to FEA's 11 counterproposals, association representatives said.
The district said it is committed to an early settlement. The current contract ends in August.
While nearly 200 teachers went to the meeting, some of the nearly 50 parents attending asked for a peaceful resolution.
Nicole Leduc, a parent of a student at Monta Vista High School, warned that violence could flare if the talks continue to bog down.
"My deep sense is that the situation is almost on the edge of not being under control," Leduc said. "I fear for my kid and I fear for everyone here. I would like a resolution that is good for everyone."
She added that the district has a high quality of education because of quality teachers, whom she said should be "halfway" compensated with an appropriate contract package.
Both Dennis Low, an internist, and his wife, Vivian, a nurse, asked the board to "rise to the occasion" in resolving the dispute and to set the foundation for "respectful negotiations" for teachers.
"I am appreciative of the board's and the district's efforts to keep us solvent," Dennis Low said. "But the excellence in teaching comes from the teacher and how they are firmly supported by the vice principals and principals."
Ann Zarko said the teachers should get higher salaries and better benefits. "Whatever they want they deserve," said Zarko, a 1929 graduate of the Fremont school district. "It is hard to be a teacher these days. Discipline can be a problem. You could get killed."
Bill De Hart, a 1966 Cupertino High School graduate, said "it is a foregone conclusion salaries have to be higher" to attract top teachers.
"We have a district of high academic excellence. To keep it we have to make sure we get the best teachers," De Hart said.
Teachers have received less than 6 percent in pay increases over the past five years, while the cost of living in the Bay Area has risen 19 percent, Gredassoff said. Teachers currently make between nearly $28,000 and more than $50,000 a year.
"Our teachers deserve better, our community deserves better and certainly our students deserve much better from you," said Gredassoff, scolding the board.
He said the district's negotiating team has not presented any solid data with which the association can work to move contract talks along.
The association's negotiating team found out at a recent public meeting that the district was offering a salary package that is nearly 6 percent more than what is currently offered, Gredassoff said. FEA should have found that out at the negotiating able, he said.
Sellers said that information was conveyed to the FEA team during talks. She added the district team has sufficiently met with the FEA team, a claim Gredassoff refuted.
A written release Sellers handed out at the meeting said the district is committed to negotiating an early settlement.
Both sides are bumping heads over how $9.2 million in reserves should be used for a contract package.
The district said it would need about $1.3 million to cover its proposal. That amounts to about a 6 percent increase over what is being offered in the current contract package.
The rest of the $9.2 million is needed for long-term planning and emergencies, the district said.
FEA's proposed 33 percent increase, amounting to $7.5 million, would bankrupt the district in the second year of the contract, if approved, the district said.
FEA disputes those figures, saying it needs only about $4 million to carry out its proposal.
The union further claims the $9.2 million amounts to a 20 percent reserve, far more than the 3 percent the district is required by the state to keep each year for emergencies.
The district wants to raise salaries of new teachers from $28,000 to $35,000 and the salaries of experienced teachers from $48,0000 to $65,000 over three years.
The teachers wantsa one-year contract that would raise salaries of new teachers to $35,000 and salaries of experienced teachers from $$48,000 to $59,000. The union seeks a shorter contract so it can negotiate better terms during lean economic times.
The district also wants to put the cost of medical insurance into a teacher's salary and allow teachers to select from among 13 medical insurance carriers.
This method would allow teachers to select services and save money, district officials said.
The FEA said the method would result in teachers having to pay more for services. The FEA wants a continuation of a health plan that provides a wide range of services.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, May 8, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.