Sacramento teachers and staff march into school district HQ, demand meeting with superintendent

Emotions in Sacramento’s six-day school district escalated on Wednesday when teachers and school employees marched into Sacramento City Unified School District headquarters and demanded a meeting with Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and the administration’s bargaining team.

They did not get one, at least not right away.

Members of the Sacramento City Teachers Association and SEIU Local 1021 1021 bargaining team were cheered on by their colleagues as they made their way to a first floor room in the district’s Serna Center. Afterward, the teachers and striking staff members settled in, sitting down in the headquarters while they awaited news.

The showdown took place on the sixth day of teacher and classified staff strike in the school district that has shut down schools for more than 40,000 students. The teachers union and SEIU Local 1021 are calling for better school staffing and health and safety protocols.

“We haven’t found a clever way to explain to kids why this process is taking so long,” said Dan Shallock, SEIU Vice President of 1021.

Outside of the district headquarters, hundreds of Sacramento City Unified school employees rallied and held signs as a live band played music on a stage.

Inside the Serna Center, teachers union leader John Borsos told the crowd that he spoke with district negotiators, letting them know they are ready to bargain in person. Borsos said district officials said they may bargain over Zoom.

“We have some ideas, our hope is to start exchanging proposals,” Borsos said.

The teachers union proposed a cost-of-living wage increase in line with a recommendation from a Public Employment Relations Board panel. It wants the district extend the teachers’ expired contract through June 2023, and it wants the district to drop its proposal for cuts in health care spending through a Healthnet plan.

“They still want to punish teachers with families over health care,” said SCTA President David Fisher. “We cannot in good conscience accept that.”

The district wants to trim its spending on the Healthnet plan by shifting some costs to employees, but it continues to offer full employer-paid coverage through Kaiser. The district is offering teachers bonuses of up to 6% of their salaries if they worked for the past three years, and it’s offering an ongoing 2% wage increase.

This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 2:54 PM.