Dublin teachers go on strike after 11th-hour negotiations fail

By Amanda Hari

Dublin teachers began striking on Monday morning after late negotiations on Sunday with the school district failed to reach an agreement.

The Dublin Teachers Association says it is seeking a 3.5% raise, better health care, smaller class sizes, and full-time counselors at every elementary school. The Dublin Unified School District says it is trying to do as much as it can while remaining financially responsible; it has offered a 2.1% raise recommended by an independent report, but the union wants more than what the district says it can afford.

Students were encouraged to attend classes on Monday morning, as schools will be open on an adjusted schedule, with administrative staff and guest teachers. Breakfast and lunch will also be served.

On Sunday, union members and community members rallied outside the bargaining meeting, hoping to reach a deal in the 11th hour, but it didn’t come through.

“I love my job, my 11th graders, shout out, I love teaching them,” said Dublin High School teacher Caite Tombs. “I have a great lesson plan for Monday. So, I think more than anything it’s a frustrating stall that we could have figured out earlier.”

Tombs says the union has been negotiating with the district for months.

“These negotiations have been happening since September, and I really want to be able to just focus on teaching,” said Tombs. who says she struggles with large class sizes.

Tombs says she has 101 eleventh-grade advanced English students. She can’t even spend two minutes reading each essay without eating into her personal time.

“Two-hundred-two minutes of work time to give them just two minutes of my feedback,” Tombs explained. “That’s my entire prep time in a week. So, in a week, I would barely get to every essay for only two minutes, and that’s just three of my classes. On top of that, I have two senior English classes, one of which is 37 students. I have 34 Chromebooks. I have 36 seats.”

“Unfortunately, we’re pretty far apart at this point,” said district assistant superintendent of educational services Matt Campbell about the current contract negotiations.

The 2.1% raise offered by the district is already a bit of a stretch, according to Campbell, adding that the district must take into account its long-term fiscal stability.

“As we have costed it out and done our financial analysis, it is just not financially prudent to move forward with that,” said Campbell about the proposal put forward by the union.

Even as district staff scrambles to keep the schools open, Tombs wants to focus on coming to an agreement so the kids can have the educators they’re used to leading their class.

“We really want to make sure that they are able to reprioritize our budget, and invest in our young people,” Tombs stated.