Dear parents and community members,

We'd like to thank you for the generous support that you gave us during our labor dispute with the Sweetwater Union High School District. As you may know, we settled our contract after a marathon last-minute bargaining session on October 7. Teachers overwhelmingly ratified the contract on October 28.

Our contract recognizes the current financial crisis, by asking for no salary raise. We did not ask for increases in health benefits despite out of pocket cost increases. While we ultimately protected our contract language conerning staffing ratio, we did have to compromise on a temporary increase from the current 30:1 ratio to 31:1 for the next two years. At that point contract language will revert to the current 28:1 staffing ratio.

While this compromise gives the district the ability to increase class sizes in the future, it is our intention to continue to bring pressure on the school board to not take advantage of that option. Our contract settlement does not put an end to our fight to improve the learning environment of our students.

Sincerely,

Sweetwater Education Association