Education Lab
Some Clovis teachers want a union following school board’s COVID-19 decision
Angered by the Clovis school board’s recent decision to reopen campuses despite surging coronavirus cases, many teachers who spoke with The Fresno Bee said they’re considering forming the district’s first-ever teachers union.
“Teachers no longer feel they have a voice,” one teacher told The Bee. “There was a blatant disregard for our safety and our lives.”
The board’s unanimous decision last week — which was effectively reversed by Gov. Gavin Newsom less than 48 hours later — would have given families and teachers a choice to return to campuses next month or remain exclusively online.
The Bee received information from at least nine Clovis teachers saying they would support unionizing the district’s teaching staff. Three teachers agreed to speak with The Bee for this article on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation for speaking out.
Not all of the district’s teachers support union organization, and many teachers wanted to return to campuses in August.
District officials have said a survey taken over the summer reported that 70% of teachers wanted to return to traditional classroom learning.
However, teachers who spoke with The Bee said the survey was taken weeks ago before the full effects of the most recent COVID-19 surge were clear. They also said that because the survey was not anonymous, at least some teachers didn’t participate out of fear.
Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell said she feels a union could ultimately take power away from teachers.
“I don’t believe a union would give our employees more access to the decision-making process than they have right now and, from my experience in talking with other superintendents around the state, a union would likely reduce the free and open access our employees currently have to their site leadership and our administration and reduce their space in the decision-making process that we cherish as part of our philosophy of teamwork and trust,” O’Farrell said.
Clovis teachers angry at school board
At least one teacher said there was a “blatant” lack of communication between the school board and teachers. They said they felt the board’s decision disregarded teacher safety.
“CUSD does not worry about teachers getting COVID. They are just worried about parents,” one teacher said.
At least one teacher said the board’s vote made teachers feel “expendable.”
But trustees said that’s not true.
“I’m saddened that some Clovis teachers feel their voice wasn’t considered. I feel we listened to our teachers and gave them a choice with the option we adopted,” Trustee Tiffany Madsen said. “Most teachers that reached out to me wanted to be back in the classroom. Others were uncomfortable with that. I feel that by giving them a choice, we considered all voices.”
Trustee Steven Fogg echoed Madsen’s sentiment and said forming a union in Clovis would be “a mistake.”
“Because there is no one who cares more about our teachers than the board members because they are our neighbors,” Fogg said. “A union will be a real loss for our teachers. They will lose a lot of freedom because, as a board member, I intend to give them as much choice and freedom as I possibly can.”
Fogg and other leaders also pushed back against the idea that Wednesday’s board vote was an act of “political theater.”
At least four teachers questioned why the board voted ahead of Newsom’s school announcement. One teacher suggested the board’s vote was a stunt to “show their resistance to the state” and pander to the city’s conservative voter base.
“Why would they risk their staff for publicity?” the teacher said.
Both Fogg — a physician who has repeatedly described the pandemic as a serious public health issue — and O’Farrell said they weren’t given any advance notice that Newsom would force schools to remain shuttered in counties on the state’s coronavirus watch list.
Madsen acknowledged she knew ahead of time — at least a day before the controversial board vote — that Newsom planned to release school-related directions.
“We had always scheduled to announce our return to school plans at the July 15 board meeting,” Madsen said. “Whether his guidance would be different from what we ultimately adopted had no bearing on that decision.”
COVID-19 school reopening not the only issue
Clovis is the largest non-union public school district in California. Instead of a union, teachers mobilize under a faculty senate. Senate members from each school serve as liaisons between the teachers and the administration.
The district’s typically high-performing schools are often cited as examples of how education can work and even excel without union organization.
But many Clovis teachers don’t support unionizing, teachers who spoke with The Bee said lingering frustrations and growing resentments are motivating many to, at least, explore the possibility.
At least some teachers feel a union in Clovis would have worked harder to keep them in the conversation last week.
“Right now, (teachers) don’t have a voice. We didn’t have someone from the faculty senate speaking (for) our concerns to the board,” the teacher said. “If we are in a union, a union rep would be speaking.”
For some teachers, tensions have been mounting since schools first closed in March in response to the virus.
During the spring closure, the board voted multiple times to keep campuses closed in two-week increments. At the time, trustees said they didn’t want to “throw in the towel” on the school year and hoped pandemic conditions would improve, and students could return to campus.
Clovis trustees only shut down campuses for good in late May, nearly two full months after other districts, including nearby Fresno Unified.
Teachers said those move effectively kept them in limbo, created serious educational instability, and made any long-term planning nearly impossible.
“It really was an unfair stress that they added to our plate,” a teacher said.
Another teacher said the board should have considered more how those decisions affected teachers and students.
“It makes teachers feel like they think what we are doing is not hard.”
Do enough Clovis teachers want a union?
All of the teachers who spoke with The Bee said they enjoy working in Clovis schools but at least some also feel “overworked and underpaid.”
Clovis teachers are the lowest-paid teachers in the three largest districts in Fresno County.
Fresno Unified teachers are the highest-paid in the two-city area, with a median salary of $79,907. The median salary for Central Unified teachers us $76,017, while Clovis’ is $72,296. At the same time, Clovis schools consistently rank among the very best in test scores and graduation rates, outperforming the other two districts.
“We have no real negotiation power, and everyone is scared to talk or express feelings because of possible repercussions,” one teacher said.
At least one teacher said that, in prior years, teachers felt they were better off without a union. The teacher said that, during the Great Recession of 2008, many unionized newer teachers lost their jobs to ensure other teachers didn’t take pay cuts.
But in Clovis, the teacher said, the faculty senate voted to take across-the-board pay cuts to avoid teacher layoffs.
Some teachers said they don’t want to join a union, but without better communication between teachers and the leadership, they said a union might be the only way to ensure a seat at the table when the stakes are high.
“They haven’t needed to unionize because we take care of our own,” one teacher said. “I hoped, and I prayed that my district would take care of me, and they didn’t.”
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 on our website.
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