‘We feel ignored.’ Fresno teachers say job performance can’t be tied to student test scores
Fresno Unified’s typically quiet board room buzzed with voices Wednesday as teachers union supporters turned out to denounce the district’s first set of bargaining priorities.
The Fresno Teachers Association is in the early stages of contract negotiations in advance of next June, when their current contract expires.
The district and FTA swapped initial ideas and bargaining priorities on Nov. 18.
Seventeen teachers — out of roughly 150 in attendance, according to FTA president Manuel Bonilla — took to the podium Wednesday night to criticize the district’s initial document, which several teachers said represents a step “backward.”
One major sticking point with teachers was the district’s interest in “including student academic growth” in employee evaluations.
“We have at Fort Miller kids that come to school hungry. They come to school tired,” said teacher Shelli Foust. “They have so much going on, and we do the best we can ... To tie their test scores to our performance is just wrong.”
“If you want to evaluate my performance, come to my classroom,” Foust added.
Poor academic performance has plagued Fresno Unified for many years. Fresno Unified’s scores on statewide assessments like the Smarter Balanced tests were low before the pandemic but plummeted even more this year, indicating that only about 32% of the district’s more than 70,000 students are up to par on English language arts and even fewer, 21%, meet state math standards.
The FTA proposed multi-million dollar investments in social-emotional supports for students, including funds for student laundry services and allowing unhoused students and their families to camp overnight in school parking lots with paid security staff on site.
Multiple teachers also voiced concerns over the absence of special education from the district’s Nov. 18 document — compared with FTA’s dozens of bullet points on the matter in their 26-page document.
“We feel ignored all the time,” a Fresno High special education teacher wrote in a statement read on her behalf Wednesday night.
FTA’s special education-related priorities emphasized class-size caps and adequate para-professional support staff in special ed classrooms.
The bargaining teams will meet again once both parties finalize ground rules for bargaining, an FUSD spokesperson said in November.
This story was originally published December 7, 2022 at 7:34 PM.
