Lab School Demonstration Teachers 2022 Initial Bargaining Demands

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Build on the Rich History and Quality of UCLA Lab School

We are UCLA Lab School Demonstration Teachers, entrusted with fostering a democratic learning environment and enriching the curious minds of our students. Our school has valued teaching the whole child and the importance of constructivist pedagogy for 140 years. We are committed to fulfilling the three pillars of our school's mission of Teaching and Learning, Research, and Public Engagement. Morale is at an all time low for Demonstration Teachers. Structures and systems to help us carry out the student-centered mission of our school have been abandoned or diminished. Our current working conditions prohibit our ability to sustain and expand the educational innovation for which UCLA is known.

We have outlined the issues that are most pressing to our faculty and most important to the continued excellence of our Lab School. UCLA Lab School Administration Bargaining Team* must address the following bargaining priorities of our dedicated and expert faculty.

Salary and Compensation

It is imperative to recruit and retain highly qualified and innovative teachers in order to meet the social-emotional and academic needs of our diverse student population. Demonstration Teachers have been working without a raise for over two years, while work demands increase and inflation rises. The cost of living and working in Southern California is among the highest in the nation. In order to maintain high-quality teaching and learning, research, and public engagement, the level of compensation must attract and retain exemplary educators.

UCLA Lab School Administration Bargaining Team must:

• Pay salaries commensurate with the cost of living in Los Angeles, California; our qualifications and experience; and our contributions to the mission of UCLA Lab School and the University.
• Reinstate robust stipends for our Dual Language teachers, recognizing the work and skill set required to maintain a distinguished Dual Language program with an inquiry approach.
• Articulate a process to ensure pay equity amongst Demonstration Teachers
• Honor past practices, allowing Demonstration Teachers to work alongside and receive supplemental compensation by other University Departments and Institutes, including but not limited to: Center X’s UCLA Mathematics Project, Cal Teach, UCLA History and Geography Project, Visual and Performing Arts Program, and School of Education and Information Studies.
• Continue to provide professional development funding to allow Demonstration Teachers to continue as leading edge educators.
• Provide and publicly publish the current salary schedule.

Workload and Teaching Duties

Throughout the pandemic, educators and women have taken on disproportionate burdens in order to provide a sense of normalcy to students and families. Demonstration Teachers are more likely than tenure-track faculty to be women. Increasing our workload without commensurate compensation and sufficient planning time harms Demonstration Teachers as well as the students and families who rely on us.

UCLA Lab School Administration Bargaining Team must:

• Return to the past practice of guaranteeing daily planning time within the instructional day.
• Establish a cap on class size.
• Commit to adequate (quantity, expertise, language-proficiency, etc.) personnel and supports for neurodiverse students.
• Return to the past practice of team-teaching to allow for consistency for students when Demonstration Teachers are fulfilling the three pillars of our mission: Teaching and Learning, Research, and Public Engagement.
• Ensure that a nurse is hired and present on campus every day to safeguard students and relieve teachers and TAs of duties related to the Health Office.
• Commit to duty-free lunch and breaks for Demonstration Teachers.
• Build ranks of substitutes with competitive wages.

Clear and Consistent Review Process, Appointments and Reappointments

Students deserve to be taught by faculty with enough job stability to focus their full attention on learning goals and student needs. The review process at UCLA Lab School is often unclear, and arbitrary. Timelines are often shifted or not met by administration. These issues cause undue stress and extra work that detracts from our student-centered approach.

UCLA Lab School Administration Bargaining Team must:

• Ensure and enforce timely, equitable, and transparent appointment and reappointment processes.
• Ensure and enforce predictable and equitable merit reviews.
• Establish Lab School-specific promotion criteria for competence and excellence.
• Notify Demonstration Teachers of appointments, reappointments, and non-reappointments by stated deadlines.

Human Relations and Working Conditions
 

UCLA Lab School used to be a place of joy and inspiration for all members of the community. Shifts in leadership structure and styles coupled with the pandemic have placed tremendous burdens upon Demonstration Teachers. In the past, Demonstration Teachers were informed of changes in policy and participated in a democratic exchange of ideas and decision-making without fear. Demonstration teachers often understand how decisions will impact students and classrooms in ways that Admin can not foresee. Taking teachers out of initial decision-making processes negatively impacts the classrooms and students. Morale will remain low without systems in place to alleviate these stressors. Teaching conditions are learning conditions.

UCLA Lab School Administration Bargaining Team must:

• Commit to structures and systems that allow all teachers to dialogue and contribute to solutions and school practices including, but not limited to, the following issues: classroom placement, daily schedules, calendar, curriculum, and health and safety issues.
• Return to holding faculty meetings that allow for all teachers to voice their opinions and contribute their ideas.
• Return to the practice of communicating new decisions during regularly scheduled faculty meetings.
• Revisit personal leave days contract language from prior side letters.
• Improve Business Office Procedures to address the needs of an elementary school with an inquiry approach.
• Attract and retain teachers whose children will or do attend the Lab School by providing scholarships that increase tuition affordability.

Union Rights

Demonstration Teachers deserve to understand how they fit into their department and campus and to know that they have a union that cares about their welfare. Our union, UC-AFT, must be able to fulfill our legal duty to effectively and fairly represent our members.

UCLA Lab School Administration Bargaining Team must:

• Ensure that every Demonstration Teacher receives a new faculty orientation with information tailored to our academic work and our union.
• Provide substitutes and/or release time to members for union service.
• Respect our First Amendment rights and the demands of conscience to support our fellow UC workers during work stoppages.
• Appropriate assignment of teaching positions within the bargaining unit.
• Commit to respectful, collaborative, and timely labor relations, including bargaining, meetings with the UC-AFT Lab School Executive Committee, and contract compliance.

In addition to the above, Demonstration Teachers reserve the right to bargain over other topics throughout the negotiation process. Throughout the Collective Bargaining Agreement, we will seek to clarify, streamline, and update language.

*UCLA Lab School Administration Bargaining Team:

Superintendent of K-12 Operations Devin Dillon; Principal Georgia Ann Lazo; Dean of The School of Education and Information Studies Tina Christie; Associate Dean for Community Programs Jody Priselac; UCLA Campus Labor Relations Kim Massuh; and UCLA Campus Labor Relations Ulysses Aguayo

Teaching conditions are learning conditions.

Faculty Equity -- Student Success