Clovis Unified approves its ‘first-ever’ union contract. What it means for staff, students
Clovis Unified School District psychologists and mental health service providers will receive higher pay and better benefits, following the school board’s unanimous approval of a contract with the Association of Clovis Educators Wednesday night.
The agreement is “the first-ever certificated contract in the district’s history,” ACE said in a statement. After more than 30 bargaining sessions, all articles of the approved contract will take effect when the 2023-2024 academic year begins in August.
“The contract will now provide the resources for addressing staffing ratios and workload, providing Mental Health Professionals with a stronger voice and position for advocating for the needs of their students,” the union said in a statement.
Bargaining unit members will also receive a 13.75% pay increase retroactive to July 1, 2022. ACE union organizers compared salary averages across nine school districts close in distance and size to Clovis Unified and determined the salary increase boosts the district’s mental health workers from being the lowest-paid to ranking sixth.
Also, in the second year of the now-effective contract, psychologists and MHSPs will receive a guaranteed 3.5% pay increase. The contract also says that if the district reaches a separate agreement with other staff groups for a pay increase larger than 3.5%, it will boost the salary increase for the psychologists and MHSPs to match the larger raise.
The union’s contract also includes:
stipends for additional roles and time worked outside contract hours
a new bilingual stipend and increases to existing longevity and doctoral stipends
funds to access professional development and purchase job-related resources and/or maintain credentials
protections for part-time positions and guidelines for changes in part-time status
contract language guaranteeing leave time
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with ACE over a contract that we believe meets the needs of our students,” Clovis Unified stated. “We did not leave this process feeling we needed to immediately renegotiate any articles of the contract.”
Melissa Saunders is an MHSP at the Reagan Educational Center (formed by Reyburn Intermediate and Clovis East High schools) and a member of the union’s bargaining team.
Saunders said it felt “very surreal” to have witnessed the school board approve the contract with the union.
“It is an amazing feeling after all the work we put in on all of the articles, the writing and editing,” she said, “we spent well over a year working on this on behalf of our colleagues.”
More mental health support for elementary school students
Along with gaining new and improved benefits through the contract, psychologists and MHSP staff will also get more time to spend with elementary school students. That should result in better assessments, more support groups and more individual counseling, according to the union.
Saunders said all school sites have a “base time,” which is the time psychologists and MHSPs spend with students. At the elementary level, that’s two days per week.
After COVID-19 changed teaching methods and challenged students’ mental health, Saunders said it was evident that elementary students were “struggling immensely” compared to middle and high school students, who have more and better access to MHSPs.
The newly approved contract includes funding to hire more staff, which will increase the base time for psychologists at elementary schools, Saunders said.
“In the long run students, sites and staff will benefit greatly from the contract,” she said.
Teresa D’addato, a third grade teacher who has taught at Tarpey Elementary for 35 years, expressed her support for the union during the public comment segment of the board meeting.
Psychologists and MHSPs “provide a vital role and support” for teachers in the classroom, she told The Bee.
“We’re seeing more and more issues with students,” D’addato said, “particularly after COVID-19 and them not having a lot of socialization opportunities.”
Will Clovis teachers form a union?
D’addato, who is not a member of ACE’s psychologists and MHSPs union, also voiced her support for other staff unions.
“The process that psychologists and MHSPs went through to get their contract was really important and paved the way for the teachers to also take that path,” she told The Bee.
Clovis Unified teachers have attempted to unionize through ACE since 2020, but failed to receive enough support to move forward with the process. The district continues to rank as California’s largest district without a teachers union.
“We’re hoping – and we’re hopeful – that that (unionizing) will come soon,” D’addato said. “We’ll see how things go as our minds become more open to the possibility (of unionizing) here.”
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
