School Board Restores One Work Day for Teachers

One of three furlough days in the agreement between the and the San Marino Teachers Association will instead become a day of professional development on April 9, adding an additional work day for the 2011-2012 school year, the school board decided at its Tuesday night meeting.

The action will come following the approval of a Feb. 6 memo of understanding between the two parties. The board also approved memos for the restoration of one day for classified and non-represented personnel on Tuesday. 

Linda de la Torre, the district's assistant superintendent of human resources, said that the additional work day reflects the only alteration in the contract, and that "everyone is pretty supportive" of the fact there's one less furlough day on the school calendar.

"There was a lot of deliberation and discussion, and we were able to find the money in the budget ... it was in the board's best interest to invest in the professional development of our teachers and the support of the community," she said, adding that the district is also investing in a new data analysis system that takes professional development opportunities into account.

A discussion point at Tuesday's meeting was the concept of the district making the proposal for contract negotations with the San Marino Teachers Association public. It can be seen to the right of this article. The item will be on the board's next agenda on March 13 so it can be discussed further and welcome comments from the public.

What do you think of teachers getting an additional work day with pay this year?