FRESNO, Calif. – Cheers erupted at the steps of Fresno High School Tuesday morning as the district and the teacher’s union shook hands over a historic new teacher contract.
Teachers at Fresno Unified were set to go on strike Wednesday, but the last-minute deal averted those plans.
The agreement was reached after nearly a year of negotiations.
The work stoppage from the strike would have been the first time this happened in the district in more than 40 years. Fresno Unified is also the state’s third-largest school district.
Manuel Bonilla, the president of the teacher’s association, celebrated the new agreement.
“Change doesn't happen overnight, but today we played a groundwork for a transformation to improve the lives of over 70,000 students in our community,” Bonilla said.
The new agreement includes class size reductions, competitive teacher salaries and investments into social and emotional support for students. Bonilla also promised new classrooms and special education guidelines.
Although many attending were happy the agreement had been reached, one parent was quick to object to Fresno Unified because of the “trauma” children felt in anticipation of the strike.
“Shame on you still,” the parent is heard saying in a live-stream of the press conference. “Have some accountability for what you did to our kids.”
School officials planned to get to work on fulfilling the new contract agreements as soon as next week.
