Anatomy of a strike

"Back then, teachers would've told you this and told you that about [former superintendent Rick Damelio]," Haskell said. "If you ask them now, they'll say he was wonderful in contrast to the current administration."

When "dealing with a new enemy," Haskell said former foes never seem so bad.

Current Superintendent Pendery Clark said she can't comment on what happened in the past, but said her relations with teachers have been positive since her arrival.

"All I know is what I've experienced since I came here - we started from scratch," Clark said.

Clark had just taken over the district when teacher contract talks were just starting to get under way, said Haskell, who was SMETA president at the time. Even though the negotiating teams didn't hit it off from the start, Haskell said, "things didn't seem impossible" back then.

"Unfortunately it's gone downhill from there," she said.

Now negotiations are entering the eighth month of a standstill.

The two sides made their cases to a fact-finding committee this week. After the committee issues a response - expected in two weeks - the teachers can elect to go on strike.

The union maintains the district has the money to meet its contract demands.

"It's all a power play on their part," Remington said. "There's no reason why they can't hire back counselors and keep class sizes small."

Some of the bitterness dates back to the economic boom days when teachers asked for a 10 percent raise, Haskell said. As with current negotiations, Haskell said teachers then felt "the district had plenty of money."

In the end, she said teachers ended up getting about an initial 6 percent raise with an additional 3.5 percent tacked on later. Meanwhile, she said teachers in neighboring districts were getting double-digit raises. That was a source of discontent for many.

"When things didn't go well with the past administration, there was a little bitterness left over," Haskell said.

Previously, Haskell said at least the two parties sat at the same table to negotiate.

Until the new administration came in, Haskell said the two sides would sit at the same table when bargaining. Now the two parties sit in separate rooms and a mediator goes between the two rooms to help negotiate. That's a less effective strategy for coming to a resolution, she said.

It's a strategy that was chosen by the teachers' union, however, said Clark. In fact, Clark said she's a strong supporter of sitting at the same table for negotiations - particularly helpful in times of "scarce resources."

· The district's proposed modifications to work hours and student/teacher case loads for kindergarten and music classes were dropped, but similar adjustments at the middle school level remain. Aspects of the district's previous concessions - like increased contribution to health and welfare benefits - remain intact.

· Teachers say they don't want any changes to the contract. If changes aren't made soon, though, officials say the district will soon land itself in fiscal catastrophe.

Yunmi Choi can be reached by e-mail at yunmi@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 109. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.