TEACHERS, DISTRICT IN ACCORD; TENTATIVE PACT CALLS FOR 4% PAY HIKE PLUS BONUS.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Daily News Staff Writer

The school district and the teachers' union have hammered out a tentative three-year contract that grants a 4 percent pay hike and a 1 percent bonus the first year, and allows salary and benefits to be negotiated for the two remaining years.

The Conejo Valley Unified School District board is set to vote Tuesday on the tentative $3.5 million agreement, which would run through June 30, 2001. The Unified Association of Conejo Teachers is scheduled to take a vote April 15 and 16.

``I think (the raise) generally puts our teachers in the No. 1 position in the county in terms of salary,'' said school board member Tim Stephens. ``And I think it's certainly to our advantage that we are able to compete with other cities for the best and brightest of teachers out there.

``Schools that can offer competitive salaries can snag those nuggets,'' he said. ``And if we want to continue to provide our kids with teachers that are skilled and knowledgeable, we have to pay them accordingly and compete with the Oak Parks, Las Virgenes and Simis that are out there.''

The average Conejo Valley teacher earns about $45,000 a year, officials said. The 4 percent raise would boost that sum to $46,800.

UACT President Susan Falk said there are still some issues that members want to work on with the district.

``Well, it's negotiations, so it's give and take,'' she said.

Funding the 4 percent raise will cost $1.9 million, and the one-time bonus will cost $473,787. The package also includes $462,000 to reduce class size, $525,971 for increasing teachers' work year, $70,505 for benefits and about $100,000 to add positions at elementary and middle schools.

Two team leaders would be added to each of the district's 19 elementary schools, and a special education chair and sixth-grade team leader would be added to each of the four middle schools, Falk said.

``The team leader will be similar to a department chair,'' she said. ``They will help new teachers who come in . . . it's not completely finalized yet. We still need to work on defining the job descriptions.''

The union also was able to negotiate catastrophic leave for its 900 members.

``If you use up all your sick days and are very ill and need to be out, people can donate their sick leave days to you,'' Falk said. ``It's teachers helping teachers when they need help.

``Currently we don't have that in the contract,'' she said. ``The district was very cooperative and understanding that that is needed. There have been some teachers who have been very ill, and we wanted to help each other out.''

Falk said there are some issues to be discussed in the future, including a pilot program on job sharing for the 2000-2001 school year. The criteria for the program still need to be developed, but basically they would allow two teachers to be assigned to teach the same class, Falk said.