Lagunitas petition to decertify school union fails

A petition launched by Lagunitas School District workers to decertify its classified union chapter has failed to meet a March 31 submission deadline after signatories withdrew their names.

The signatures were withdrawn after union leaders told workers what they would lose without representation, said Alison Double, president of the Lagunitas chapter of the California School Employees Association classified union.

“It’s disturbing that the information the petitioners were handing out was full of misinformation,” Double said in an email. “We heard from several employees that they had no idea what they were signing up for.”

Double said workers were not pressured to revoke their signatures.

“We did what we always do in our chapter: gave out accurate information and some general literature about CSEA, and answered their questions about what decertification would really mean for them,” she said.  “That’s not coercion. It’s giving people the chance to make an informed decision.”

The petition was launched in opposition to the union’s pending state Public Employees Relations Board complaint over the district’s hiring practices last summer for a new food service coordinator. The state board has taken no action on the complaint to date.

In the complaint, the union accused the district of taking secretive steps to recruit an outside candidate with 20 years experience as a chef, culinary instructor and preschool teacher. The union also objected to the candidate’s $10,000 signing bonus.

The union also took issue with the district’s decision not to interview or respond to an application from a long-term union member who applied for the job, but who lacked appropriate qualifications or experience. The complaint asks that the district set up an education fund for her and other union members so that those who want to gain training or additional skills to qualify for higher paying jobs may have a pathway to do so.

Double said this week that while the union has concerns about the district’s hiring practices, that it supports the food service program.

“It’s unfortunate that there are people in the district and in the wider community who feel the union doesn’t support the food service,” Double said in an email.

“We have voiced our support consistently and shown it by working hard to problem-solve and help the food service coordinator get the new program off the ground and running smoothly,” Double added. “Every day, it’s a team effort.”

Meggan Arnoux, the new food service coordinator, disputes that assertion. She said she was told by Double at their first meeting in August that the union planned to fight her signing bonus.

“I was told, flatly, that the union believed my hiring to be an example of unfair practice and would challenge my compensation accordingly,” Arnoux said in an email.

Double denies saying that the union was wanting to reduce Arnoux’s compensation or bonus.

“I tried to explain that our concern was with how the district had negotiated with us,” Double said this week. “I thought I had made it clear that our dispute was with the district over unfair bargaining, not with her.”

Double added: “As far as joining the union, I did say that the union couldn’t support continuation of an additional salary of $10k a year for this one position, since that was not within our contract.”

Since the complaint was filed, relations have been strained, Arnoux said.

“This is my community, I’m raising three children here. It’s really hard,” said Arnoux, who grew up in the San Geronimo Valley and who attended the Lagunitas school as a child.

She said the new food program, which is focused on daily, locally sourced organic breakfast and lunch cooked from scratch, has been a success.

According to a report to the administration in November 2024, student participation in the program was up as much as 300% compared to the district’s former food service program, which endured for over 20 years, but was acknowledged by many to be unacceptable to students.

Parents at the March 13 board of trustees meeting said they were ecstatic over the changes and feared that the food program would be taken away amid tension over the state board complaint.

“Andrew loves going to school and the meal program is a big reason,” parent Geoff Chapin said at the meeting. “He loves the food.”

Classified worker Arielle Ikeda told trustees that union members have been unfairly attacked online in regard to the state complaint.

“I want to make it clear that the charge is not against the school food program,” Ikeda said.

Superintendent Kathleen Graham declined to comment on the food service dispute or the state board complaint. She said the classified union’s current three-year contract with the district will expire in June, but the two sides are still negotiating for the current year.

“We’ve had a lot of meetings, but we haven’t settled on this year’s contract,” Graham said.

Steve Rebscher, president of the board of trustees, declined to comment.

Jenelle Ferhart, principal of Lagunitas Community School, said she would support a review of the salary schedule for all district workers, particularly their starting salaries.

According to the complaint, school district cooks in the area average a starting salary of about $24 an hour.

“We do want to pay people a living wage,” Ferhart said. “We appreciate our classified and credentialed staff so much. I get how some people are upset, but we need to look at starting folks higher.”