Post PERB Complaint, Superintendent Dillon, Principal Lazo, and Outside Lawyer Continue to Refuse to Bargain All Mandatory Subjects

After PERB’s allegations of UC Management’s labor law violations, the UCLA Lab School Demonstration Teacher Executive Committee and Bargaining Team sent a letter to Superintendent Devin Dillon and Principal Georgia Lazo. In that letter we asked the Superintendent and Principal to publicly communicate a commitment “to passing earnest counterproposals on the full range of mandatory subjects.” Such a commitment would communicate care and respect for the UCLA Lab School learning community and Demonstration Teachers, as well as acknowledge the important role our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) plays in supporting excellence and innovation at UCLA Lab School.

At any time, Superintendent Dillon, Principal Lazo, and UC Management can choose to bargain in good faith and avoid further delays in the negotiation process.

On Friday, October 7th, Sandy McDonough, the outside lawyer and Chief Negotiator for UC Management, responded on behalf of UC Management’s team. In her response, Ms. McDonough reiterated their position, “we believe that Article 21 (Compensation) is the only non-waived mandatory subject of bargaining for the Lab School following negotiation of the main contract with UC-AFT.”

Even after PERB has issued it’s Complaint with four different charges against UC Management, Ms. McDonough informed us that, “we expect that the Demonstration Teachers will have a meaningful response to the Lab School’s Article 21 (Compensation) proposal” in the next bargaining session. This demonstrates that Superintendent Dillon, Principal Lazo, and UC Management intend to continue to needlessly delay these negotiations. They will force our community to endure an informal settlement hearing and then possibly a formal hearing with an administrative law judge. If UC Management desired an expeditious bargaining process, they would simply negotiate with us all mandatory subjects of bargaining as Geffen Academy and Preuss School UCSD have done. See their comprehensive MOUs here:

Geffen Academy

Preuss School UCSD

We ask for UCLA Lab School families to trust that Demonstration Teachers deeply understand our inquiry-based approach, the needs of all students, and the three pillars of our mission: teaching and learning, research, and public engagement. Our Demonstration Teachers have a responsibility to our 145 year history of progressive and constructivist education. Over the past four years, this history has been undermined. We cannot allow a new Principal, an outside lawyer or UC Management's refusal to negotiate in good faith to further erode our long history of democratic leadership, centering children, taking action in the face of injustice, and Safe School values.

Demonstration Teachers will continue to fight for our rights and our school until we have a full contract that promotes excellent teaching and learning conditions at the Lab School.