Forestville Teachers On Strike 3 Days Before School Starts

FORESTVILLE, CA — Sixteen teachers in the Forestville Union School District are on strike after an agreement was not reached during six hours of negotiations Monday. It is the first teachers' strike in Sonoma County since 1980.

Ryan Strauss, Forestville Teachers Association bargaining co-chair, said negotiations with the school district started at 6:30 a.m. and ended around 12:30 p.m. without an agreement.

Strauss said the teachers asked for a three-year contract with a 5-percent raise in the first and second years of the contract that is retroactive to 2018-2019, and a 3-percent cost of living wage in the third year. The district offered a 2.5-percent raise in the third year, Strauss said.

The difference in the third year is less than $6,000 a year and one-tenth of one percent of the school's budget, Strauss said.

"We are officially on strike for an indefinite period of time," Strauss said.

School in the pre-kindergarten to eighth grade Forestville School & Academy starts Thursday. No negotiations are scheduled, Strauss said.

The teachers' contract expired in June.

District Superintendent Renee Semik was not available for comment late Monday afternoon.

— Bay City News Service