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Poway Unified teachers organizing Monday night rally

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The union representing Poway Unified School District teachers is organizing a rally prior to Monday night’s school board meeting to support both teachers and the union’s process of discussing issues with the administration.

A website a launched by the Poway Federation of Teachers calls the 5 p.m. event in the district office parking lot “a celebratory campaign to broadcast the success of our Interest-Based Problem Solving (IBPS) process to the PUSD community!” An e-mail widely distributed this week urges teachers to use social media tools to advertise the event. Teachers are also being urged to wear specially designed shirts to the rally and board meeting.

The district office is at 15250 Avenue of Science in Carmel Mountain Ranch.

The IBPS process, in effect since 1996, has been placed under the spotlight by board President Kimberley Beatty and board member Charles Sellers. Among their stated concerns is the fact that Supt. John Collins, a the lead negotiator on behalf of the board, would benefit financially from any wage increases negotiated during the process. They have also objected to what has been labeled a “fair share” agreement reached between the district and the PFT during the IBPS process regarding percentages of school budgets that should be used for teacher salary increases. Their position is that school board members, on behalf of district taxpayers, should be the ones making that determination.

The PFT disagrees.

“Since 1996, District Staff, Board Members, and Poway Teachers have utilized the IBPS process, a problem solving approach to negotiations that utilizes interests and data to arrive at mutual agreements,” the PFT states on the website, www.supportpowayteachers.com. “This has helped PUSD avoid labor issues that have faced district after district across our county and in the State of California. Our IBPS process has received considerable recognition in the field of education, as it has allowed all stakeholders to stay focused on Partnering to Educate Our Students!”

The website encourages viewers to click in support of the union. As of Friday afternoon 645 viewers had done so.

The district and PFT are reportedly wrapping up contact talks for the 2014-15 school year, which ends in June. Next will be the start of talks for a contract likely to cover the next three years. The district will also be negotiating with two other unions that represent non-teaching employees.

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