RICHMOND — Students are at risk unless West Contra Costa Unified School District leaders make significant changes, argued teachers and staff who are in the middle of negotiating a new contract.
Representing the United Teachers of Richmond in bright red T-shirts, union members rallied outside DeJean Middle School last week to demand more competitive wages, a reduction in contracted work and improved working conditions.
Beyond providing teachers and staff a better quality of life in the Bay Area, their demands, they said, would also foster an improved educational environment for the 28,000 students who attend school at the district’s 56 campuses from Hercules to El Cerrito.
One after another, educators, counselors, students and concerned parents spoke last week of classrooms that have reached nearly 90 degrees for days in a row, high-needs students going without vital support like speech services, a lack of elective courses, crowded classrooms, high teacher turnover and routine pressure for educators to double as substitutes during prep periods.
“This is not just bad management; this is a betrayal of our trust. This is about justice for the most vulnerable students in our system,” said Francisco Ortiz, United Teachers of Richmond president. “Our students can’t wait. Our families can’t wait. And you must act now to provide fully staffed, stable schools and deliver the services that our children deserve.”
The school district and United Teachers of Richmond have been in negotiations over a new contract for more than a year. Teachers and staff are currently working under a 2022-25 contract that expired at the end of June.
District office and board President Leslie Reckler did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, Superintendent Cheryl Cotton briefly responded during the board meeting last week.
“We are continuing to meet with our union representatives, continuing to work through challenges and issues that exist, but are also committed to good faith bargaining,” Cotton said. “We value every member of our West Contra Costa family. As we move through these challenging times, it’s important to still remember that we are still one.”
Negotiations have stalled as both parties propose vastly different contract amendments, according to union updates. While educators are eager to see raises, the district has countered with 0% pay increases. Educators want smaller class sizes for fourth graders and up, while the district wants to increase classroom pupil counts for fourth, fifth and sixth grades. The union is demanding that reasonable temperatures be maintained in working spaces, an issue struck down by the district’s negotiating team.
With dipping enrollment, lower-than-desired daily class attendance and growing overhead costs, West Contra Costa Unified School District leadership has regularly noted that struggling finances have forced officials to make challenging cuts to prevent a county or state takeover.
The threat is very real for the district. Then known as Richmond Unified, the district lost control to the state in 1990 due to financial instability and took on a $29 million loan to help its recovery. The loan was fully paid back in 2012.
The Contra Costa County Office of Education has signed off on the district’s budget documents, provided that they make good on cutting $32.7 million in expenditures.
But union members have shared doubts about how dire the district’s financial footing may actually be. They’ve argued that budget estimates have been manipulated to manufacture a financial crisis and that the district overspends on outsourcing some services. By correcting those practices, there would be plenty of money to fairly pay staff, the union has asserted.
The cost of not making changes is a continued exodus of staff and low student performance, the union warned.
“WCC must make really big changes in order to fully staff our schools and make the working conditions sustainable,” said Cantika Sasono, a United Teachers of Richmond bargaining member and math teacher at Richmond High School. “It starts with coming to an agreement with UTR and Teamsters.”