Beverly Hills Teachers Union & District Reach Tentative Agreement

Beverly Hills CA

02 March, 2021

7:17 PM

Description

BEVERLY HILLS, CA —The Beverly Hills School Unified School District has reached a tentative agreement with the Beverly Hills Education Association, the teachers union that filed an Unfair Practice Charge against the district last week. As a result of a Saturday mediation session led by the California Public Employment Relations Board, the BHEA's request for an injunction to prevent the planned return of TK-2 students to campus this week has been temporarily suspended, according to PERB General Counsel Felix De La Torre. "Because the parties settled their underlying dispute during the PERB mediation, the dispute no longer exists. The settlement effectively renders the need for injunctive relief moot. So, PERB will not be seeking injunctive relief in the superior court," De La Torre told Patch. The dispute arose after BHUSD moved the start district up, and the BHEA argued that this violated their agreement by reopening campuses to elementary school students before COVID-19 case rates had fallen to agreed-upon levels. A December addendum to the agreement between the district and the union said that elementary school students would return to campus once the county adjusted case rate was at 10 or below cases per 100,000 people. When LA County announced in mid-February that elementary school students could return when the case rate was 25 or under provided schools had submitted a safety plan or received a waiver, BHUSD announced that TK-2 students would return March 4 and third through fifth graders would return March 8. The union argued that this violated the addendum, while the district argued that the agreement said that in-person learning would resume "as soon as is feasible consistent with applicable state and local directives issued in response to this pandemic." TK-2 students will now return March 8, and grades 3-5 will return March 9, Beverly Hills Superintendent Dr. Michael Bregy announced in a letter sent Sunday. Bregy said that the opening date was postponed in order to give teachers some additional time to get vaccinated, and that the district created a list of elementary school teachers to help . Bregy reported that LA County is preparing to give the district its first allocation of vaccinations for employees starting this week, and each subsequent week until all staff receives both doses. Bregy also reported that all BHUSD staff have been offered COVID-19 testing twice per week, and students who request testing will be able to receive it. The district has agreed to rigorous safety standards, including full cleanings, temperature screenings, and the separation of students into morning and afternoon cohorts. Elementary school students will spend two hours and fifty minutes on campus four days a week, and spend the rest of the day doing asynchronous work - independent time not supervised by a teacher. Students will spend the two days before the campus return practicing asynchronous learning, Bregy reported. The BHEA has not responded to Patch's call for comment.