CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Charlottesville Education Association has settled a legal dispute with Charlottesville City Schools that started with a Feb. 6 communication to the community and media accusing the union of denying its members the opportunity to ratify a negotiated contract.
The CEA denied that accusation and served the school board with a prohibited conduct complaint, alleging the message contained “language that maligns the union” and “harms the relationship between the union and those that it represents,” something forbidden by the bargaining resolution.
“We are happy to share the resolution of an issue that has caused a lot of confusion and broken trust over the last few months,” according to a CEA Thursday afternoon release. “In the face of this complaint, the school board decided to settle the dispute by acknowledging the harm that their message caused.”
CCS published a copy of the settlement earlier this week, but a spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Cville Right Now.
According to the settlement agreement, the board “intended no disrespect for employee rights or harm to CEA in its role as the exclusive representative of CCS School Support Professionals.” The board’s goal was to “share factual information about the status of the CCS-CEA bargaining process,” but acknowledged the “communication was harmful to CEA’s relationship with bargaining unit members.”
CCS sent out a message to staff, students, families and local media on Tuesday, to address the situation, according to the CEA.
On Feb. 6, the school system issued a statement claiming “the CEA does not intend to give its support professional unit members the opportunity to ratify the contract prior to the Board approving next year’s budget on February 19.
“Our legal counsel has advised that this failure to submit for ratification negates the agreement that was reached at the table. The Superintendent, therefore, will present a budget that includes the regular administrative raise of 3% for support professionals, rather than the 10.5% we had agreed to at the table,” the message said.
The CEA responded that evening with its own statement: “CEA never stated that we did not intend to ratify our negotiated contract. In January it came to light that certain terms of the agreement regarding employee contract days were in question’; we reached out to the division multiple times to ask for clarification, and it became clear we were not in agreement on the meaning of language in one article of the contract. So we had to delay ratification until this was resolved.”
The school board heard from the community the following Tuesday night at a school support staff pay work session.
“Creating a narrative that scapegoats the CEA rather than acknowledging the full situation, that doesn’t feel transparent, that doesn’t feel respectful,” said Bryce Estes, a 2nd-grade teacher at Trailblazer Elementary.
The school board did announce a resolution with CEA that night for the 10.5% pay raise, but the city schools communication remained a sore spot.
Thursday afternoon, the CEA said that dispute has been settled.
“In the face of this complaint, the school board decided to settle the dispute by acknowledging the harm that their message caused. This was the meaning of Tuesday’s communication – which went out, as we requested, to the same audience that received the initial message – all CCS staff, students, and families, and local media,” the statement said. “CEA welcomes this necessary step to repair what was damaged in February. We remain clear that our rights to organize and represent our employees must be respected and unhindered.”
