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Strike ends at Accelerated Schools

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Teachers at The Accelerated Schools charter network, one of which at 4000 S. Main St. in South  Los Angeles, returned to classrooms this week  after reaching a tentative agreement to end an eight-day strike.

“We are happy to announce that teachers will be returning to their classrooms (on Monday) with the official end of their strike pending ratification of the agreement,” said Ed Gutierrez of United Teachers Los Angeles, the same union that represented the Los Angeles Unified School District teachers who ended their strike last week.

Gutierrez said the tentative deal “makes significant progress toward satisfying our members’ core demands for increased job security and that will allow teachers at The Accelerated Schools to effectively address the problem of high teacher turnover that has plagued the schools for too long and hindered student learning.”

Negotiations between teachers and The Accelerated Schools began 20 months ago.

A statement from The Accelerated Schools board credited mediation efforts by L.A. City Councilman Curren Price, Jr. and his staff for helping expedite the agreement over the weekend. The three-year contract includes an increase in both salary and health benefits and also mandates the creation of a joint committee to develop criteria for future employment contracts and teacher evaluations.

The job action was the first strike by charter school teachers in California, with the educators calling for increased pay and health benefits to reduce the high teacher turnover rate at the school.

Two LAUSD teachers founded TAS in 1994 with 50 K-4 students. It has grown to three schools covering Transitional Kindergarten through 12th grade with 1,850 students, a TAS statement said.

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