FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ/KFSN) — The Fresno Unified School District will vote Wednesday night to change one of its bylaws.
The district says it’s standard operating procedure but the president of the teachers union says is problematic.
“Our student outcomes focused governance model is something we’ve been working on for about a year. It’s an evidence backed way to do governance that is proven to improve student outcomes,” said Nikki Henry, spokesperson for Fresno Unified.
Fresno Teachers Association president Manuel Bonilla called the move unprecedented.
“It’s anti-democratic in many ways because it strips away a lot of the accountability mechanisms for the elected trustees and defers a lot of them over to the superintendent, and there’s a concern about that,” said Bonilla.
He said it would limit what could be discussed at school board meetings and how the union would bargain with the district. Fresno Unified refutes both claims.
“This doesn’t change any way they interact with the board. Our labor unions do not do direct bargaining with our trustees, ever. They never have. This board bylaw is not changing that,” said Henry.
The shift in language is a result of the district’s consulting from the Council of Great City Schools. Similar changes have been made in other school districts in Seattle and Pittsburgh. Also drawing criticism there.
“We bring it to the attention not just simply to criticize, we come with a solution that way we can make this district better,” said Bonilla.
The district said the union is playing politics.
“Their executive director applied for the job that superintendent now holds. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last election to try to unseat two of our trustees and they were unsuccessful. I think this is political grasping for control they feel they’re losing,” said Henry.
