‘It’s a team effort’ CVUSD, Teachers reach compromise on salary negotiations

After months of negotiations, the Coachella Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) and Teachers Association (CVTA) have reached a tentative agreement.

“It's all about working together to come together to get something done," said Trinidad Arredondo, a CVUSD Board Member.

Arredondo tells us it’s been a long road, but he’s glad they’ve reached a tentative agreement.

“It's a step in the right direction, right, it's moving forward," he explained. IIt's not about it's not about one group or the other. It's about collectively, how do we work together for the needs of our students and our staff and our community.”

The tentative agreement includes a 9% salary increase retroactive to July of 2022 and a one-time $2,500 bonus for active members.

Rachel Kuiland, who is a teacher at John Kelley Elementary School, tells us it's an agreement she can stand behind.

“I think it was a fair agreement, we found a compromise," Kuiland said. "We can just be happy with it and be like, okay, now we can move forward and get back to normal.”

Kuiland has been an active member of the Teachers Union, who has constantly been advocating for better pay.

“What I learned is that it takes a village, it's a team effort, we have to stand united and we have to come together," she said.

Kuiland says these salary negotiations ultimately benefit the students.

“We were doing work to rule where we were only working our contractual hours not doing anything extra for extra services pays, which meant no tutoring," she said. "Now... we can start planning and prepping and putting in that extra time and effort, especially for end of the year.”

It’s the same goal Arredondo had in mind, by putting their education first.

“We're here, just to make sure that our kids get the best quality education that that they can and to know that this is not a barrier anymore," Arredondo said.

Teachers will still need to vote on the agreement. Voting will take place starting Thursday, April 6 to Monday, April 17th.

If passed, the school board will also vote on it by May.