Last night, the NUSD Board of Trustees unanimously approved a settlement agreement with Natomas Teachers Association (NTA). This resolves the dispute between the District and NTA Leadership over the interpretation and application of President Release Time found in Article XVII – Association Rights of the collective bargaining agreement between the District and Association. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, NTA will make a payment to the District for past President Release Time totaling $99,000. In addition, the parties have worked together to establish a process for communicating scheduled president release time, as well as invoicing and payment for president release time from this point forward, which is consistent with agreements made in prior years through the course of negotiations. These prior agreements were shared in a recent information release the District provided in response to the dispute regarding NTA’s use of release time.
For context, previously, NTA leadership filed and served an unfair labor practice against the District regarding the issue of president release time, claiming the District’s expectation that NTA pay for the Association president’s release time was not legal or contractual. On February 13, 2019, Trustees took action to grant NUSD authority to recover the unpaid compensation through legal means and the District subsequently filed and served a civil complaint against NTA in Superior Court.
We are pleased to report that this Board-approved settlement agreement resolves any and all past disputes related to President Release Time, with NTA dismissing its unfair labor practice charge and the District dismissing its civil complaint.
The settlement agreement, included as an action item on last night’s agenda, was approved in Open Session because it relates to labor relations, and in an effort to ensure that the agreement is available to both parties should there be a need to refer to terms of the agreement in the future.
