While MDUSD students enjoyed their day off from school last Monday, 30 Career Technical Education teachers and Work Based Learning Coordinators from the District took on the roles of students as they visited 12 local industry professionals to learn more about the jobs they are preparing their students to  tackle in the future. During the 26th Annual BEST (Business and Education Shadowing for Tomorrow) Day, the teachers got a chance to see how professionals who work in companies, organizations or public agencies do their work, ask questions, and get insights into what employers are looking for when they interview candidates, including MDUSD graduates.

The teachers educate MDUSD students in career pathways such as health patient care, hospitality, photography and digital arts, education, engineering, construction, transportation/auto tech, computer technology and sciences. Teachers toured facilities including MDUSD Transportation, Concord Police Department, Gurnick Academy, Pacific States Aviation, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 342, Contra Costa County Health Department's Digital Media, Parkside Joyful Kids Academy, Sutter Health's Hospice Program, CalTrans, Concord's Community Development Department and OhReilly Productions.

After the job shadowing, teachers heard from Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark about the importance of their work with students, from two Diablo Valley College administrators who encouraged them to help get the word out about opportunities to earn college credit and certificates while still in high school, and from HR Executive Director Kim Vaiana, who spoke about job opportunities for District students after they graduate, including both certificated (teaching positions) and classified positions, such as instructional assistants, and clerical, food services, maintenance and operations, and transportation workers. She encouraged teachers to point students to the District's HR website to see the variety of jobs available and said that MDUSD graduates get a bonus in some positions. 

Healthcare patient pathway teacher Dr. David Pintado and Work Based Learning Coordinator Demetra Hufford learned about the many jobs available in providing Hospice Care at Home or in special facilities, including nurses, counselors, and people who provide services such as music and art to patients, as well as administrators and volunteers. Pintado said he plans to add information on hospice to his courses to better inform students about options related to caring for patients who are nearing their end of life. 

Teachers also collaborated in professional development activities after the presentations. "The goal is for educators to learn what industry is looking for in future employees and discuss how we can bring that to our classroom," said Heather Fontanilla, Director of College and Career Readiness. Dr. Clark praised the District’s career pathways teachers for their passion. "You are connecting with students in ways that you just can't connect with them in a regular classroom," he said. 

 

Last week, the Friday Letter highlighted the District's 2025-26 Teachers of the Year: Mt. Diablo HS teacher Dr. David Pintado and Silverwood Elementary teacher Elizabeth Swanson! This week, we are taking a closer look at the six other finalists: Ygnacio Valley HS teacher Tabatha Box, Concord HS teacher Lisa Cattrone, Cambridge Elementary teacher Veronica Leno Garcia, Pleasant Hill Middle School teacher Katherine Gates, Meadow Homes Elementary teacher Theresa Gutierrez, and Sequoia Middle School teacher Ernesto "Ernie" Minglana.

These teachers were selected along with Pintado and Swanson from more than 200 outstanding educators from TK through grade 12 and adult education who were nominated and offered the opportunity to submit a brief questionnaire. The questionnaires were scored by members of the MDUSD Teacher of the Year Selection Committee and the top-scoring individuals were interviewed. 

The MDUSD School Board plans to recognize the District Teachers of the Year, along with finalists and nominees, at its Wednesday, March 12th meeting. Like Pintado and Swanson, all of the finalists place a high priority on building relationships with students, and emphasizing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as well as rigorous academics. Below are short bios of each, including words of wisdom regarding the teaching profession, based on their questionnaires.

Tabatha Box
Box teaches Algebra II/Trigonometry and International Baccalaureate (IB) Analysis and Approaches to students in grades 9-12 at Ygnacio Valley HS, and has 18 years of teaching experience, including 15 years in Georgia and three years at YVHS. She started the school's first Math Team last year, which competed at UC Berkeley. She is also a mentor for the school's Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam along with former District and state Teacher of the Year Joseph Alvarico, serves on the District's Leadership Team, is an IB Coordinator, Technology Integration Leader, and the school's Math Department Chair. She also mentors a student teacher from St. Mary's College. 

"What I like best about the teaching profession is the opportunity to make a lasting, positive impact on students' lives and colleagues lives through fostering critical thinking and academic growth in the classroom and beyond," she said. "This is why I enjoy teaching in various settings at various levels and leading professional development, mentoring student teachers, and collaborating with stakeholders to enhance the educational experience for students."

She uses data to identify students' strengths and areas for growth and creates lessons tailored to their needs and interests. "I take immense pride in helping students develop a strong foundation in mathematics while building their confidence to tackle complex problems," she said. "Also, working with fellow teachers to improve instructional practices and witnessing their growth is deeply fulfilling."

Box is committed to addressing educational equity through both her teaching practices and leadership roles. "At the classroom level, I intentionally create an inclusive learning environment where all students feel valued and supported," she said. "Also, I am also intentional about using culturally relevant pedagogy and fostering a classroom culture that celebrates diversity and encourages students to see their unique perspectives as strengths." 

Her advice to new teachers or those thinking of entering the profession is to focus on building strong relationships with students and colleagues, taking time to get to know them as individuals. She also advises teachers not to be afraid to make mistakes, take risks and to always be open to feedback from students and peers. Additionally, she urges teachers to embrace continuous learning and to be patient with themselves. "Teaching is a challenging but incredibly rewarding profession, and there will be days when things do not go as planned, but that's part of the learning process," she said. "Stay flexible, be reflective, have fun, and remember that your impact extends far beyond the classroom."

Lisa Cattrone
Cattrone teaches English Language Development, Academic Language Development, is the English Language Coordinator at Concord HS, and has 17 years of teaching experience, including two years at St. Mary's College, five years in the Alliance program at Olympic HS, and 10 years at Concord HS, where she has also taught English. "I love all of my students and the classes I teach so much," she said. "I have also helped develop a new push-in model for a period at Concord High where I help other teachers teach language learners in their own classes, help develop curriculum, language support, etc., as well as push-in during my release period to help support my students during class." In addition, she created and leads the school's "Bilingual Ambassadors" program and multilingual GLYPH literary magazine, leads the Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) and Friday Night Live groups, and serves on the School Site Council.

Cattrone said she feels lucky to teach high school students and language learners and loves teaching because she loves her students, loves to be very busy, believes she is a good teacher, loves learning new things, and loves the community in which she teaches and getting to know the families, as well as making lifelong connections with some students. "It is SO AMAZING when students who have graduated come back to say hello and tell me how they are doing," she said. "It is so rewarding and I never understand when people say teaching is a thankless job. I feel rewarded and thanked every day."

She builds strong relationships with students by understanding what they need to be successful, giving them support, and challenging them. "I make it a point to communicate directly to each student how important I think they are and why they uniquely are amazing to me," she said. "What makes me effective as a teacher is love, mutual respect, differentiation, and being persistent."

Cattrone cares deeply about educational equity and works to celebrate diversity and strengthen student and staff understanding of cultural differences. She organizes food-free, quiet lunchtime spaces during Ramadan and spaces for Muslim students to pray. "I try to educate the staff about what students might need and be experiencing," she said. She has also created "ELD Teams" of students who learn about each other's cultures and write in their home languages together, including some poems that will be published in a multilingual children's book. To make lessons engaging, she incorporates art, digital design, writing, acting, high interest research, multilingual reading and writing, and games. She also creates an MLL Teacher Support Newsletter that highlights teaching strategies, celebrates students, and recognizes teachers doing amazing work with MLL students. 

Her advice to new teachers is to ask themselves if they love their students and if their students love them. If the answer is, "no," then teaching is not for them. If the answer is yes, then she advises them to focus on teaching students, rather than subjects. "Understanding and helping students is the key to good teaching," she said, adding that it is important to be persistent, even if at first they don't want to do the work, because they will eventually start to join in class, when they realize you will never give up on them. "If you decide you don't like kids at any point," she concluded, "please stop teaching."

Veronica Leno Garcia
Leno Garcia teaches Bilingual Kindergarten in English and Spanish at Cambridge Elementary and has taught for 13 years, including two years in Pittsburg Unified and 11 years at Cambridge Elementary, where she has also taught Transitional Kindergarten (TK). "Each day, I am grateful that I am teaching and inspiring the youngest learners," said Leno Garcia, who immigrated to California from Mexico as a child and was herself an English learner. "I love teaching two languages and seeing students believe in their capabilities as bilinguals." In addition, she collaborates with colleagues to better serve students as the Kindergarten grade level representative has served as a mentor to student teachers from Cal State East Bay and St. Mary's College for four years, is an MDUSD Residency Program Mentor to support new District teachers, and serves on the School Site Council.

She believes teaching is one of the most noble and caring professions in the world. "Each day, one has the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of children, parents, staff, and community," she said, adding that she nourishes, supports and helps students grow academically, emotionally and socially. She also strives to build partnerships with parents and enjoys meeting with other staff members to discuss curriculum and teaching strategies. "I like that teaching offers the opportunity to be creative," she said. "I am constantly thinking, researching, and creating new materials/activities on digital platforms such as Canva to better help students learn and share with colleagues. In all, I believe teachers are an important component of creating a strong community, and I like being part of it."

Leno Garcia focuses on listening, speaking, reading, writing and metalinguistic core standards, and creates a structured classroom where expectations are clearly stated. She arrives early and stays after school to plan her lessons, and reviews data independently and with other teachers to meet students' needs. "Teaching two languages requires double the work, but at the end of each day it is double rewarding," she said. "It makes me very happy and proud to see students become bilingual and biliterate."  

As a Latina woman working in a largely Latino community, Leno Garcia feels connected to her students, their families and her colleagues. She remembers the difficulty her parents had communicating with her teachers and the time it took her to develop confidence in her own English speaking, reading and writing. "When I entered high school, I wanted to continue inspiring young learners that they can be bilingual and biliterate," she said, adding that she is happy that she has the opportunity to do that in Kindergarten, which she believes is the most important grade level. "My ultimate desire is for all my students to reach their full potential and help our community be better."

Her advice to new teachers or those seeking to enter the profession is to believe in themselves, treat each day as a new beginning, plan and organize lessons well, be creative, and have fun in the process. "If you do something with passion and love, everything will result positively," she said, adding that it is also important to teach in a variety of ways because all children learn differently. "Be brave; step out of your comfort zone when trying new strategies," she continued. "Collaborate with colleagues, do not isolate yourself, because you are not alone. Lastly, be flexible and patient. The fruits of your labor are always sweet. Teaching is very rewarding!"

Katherine Gates
Gates teaches 6th grade Core (Language Arts and World History/Ancient Civilization) and Mindfulness and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), and has taught for 23 years, starting as a student teacher in the Orinda district and at Cambridge Elementary, then as a credentialed teacher in Oakland before teaching at Pine Hollow MS in MDUSD, then at Pleasant Hill MS for the past 13 years.

"What I like best about the teaching profession is the opportunities I get to truly connect with the students," she said. "It's an honor to have the chance to be a trustworthy person who allows them to feel seen and heard, and to create an environment where they feel safe and free to be themselves. It is especially rewarding when I can do this for those students who aren't provided with this elsewhere and may be most at-risk."

Gates is proud of the meaningful and lasting connections she makes with her students. "This connection motivates them to want to go to school and learn and to be their best selves," she said. "I also strive to teach the students non-academic life skills, such as mindfulness and SEL, that have the potential to benefit them for the rest of their lives. Countless times, I have had students and parents report to me how grateful they are for having learned these skills, how useful they have proven to be."

She also involves and engages families through regular communication including inviting them to speak at the school's annual career day. "I routinely send home positive emails to inform families of students' successes, making sure to include all students/families by the end of the year," she said. "Any questions or concerns parents/students have for me via email are responded to promptly."

Her advice to new teachers or those seeking to enter the profession is to gain as much in-person experience in the classroom as possible before officially beginning their career, and to think about how they will best balance their teaching life with their family and/or personal life. In addition, she advises them to be mindful about regularly remembering why they chose to pursue a career in education. "Finally, I would encourage them to be patient with themselves and to remain open-minded and open-hearted," she said.

Theresa Gutierrez
Gutierrez is a 2nd grade Dual Language Spanish teacher at Meadow Homes Elementary and has taught for 19 years, starting as a student teacher at Cambridge and Meadow Homes elementary schools, before she was hired as a 3rd grade bilingual teacher at Meadow Homes, where she has taught 3rd grade for 15 years and 2nd grade for four years. "I have taught in all models of bilingual education in the district: 90/10 bilingual, dual immersion, primary language literacy, and 50/50 dual language," she said. "I have been in self-contained classrooms (teaching in English and Spanish), been the English partner, and been the Spanish partner." She has been a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language since 2013, an adjunct assistant professor at St. Mary's College of California's School of Education teaching about English Language Learners and Bilingual Education since 2023, and has served on several committees throughout her career including School Site Council, Instructional Leadership Team, Professional Learning Communities, PTA, optional committees on-campus, Sunshine Committee, program development committees, National Board Certification support groups, and the Kalmanovitz Alumni Board at Saint Mary's College. She also mentors student teachers from St. Mary's College. "Two of my former student teachers are current teachers at Meadow Homes," she said. "I love that I can continue to mentor them as we go through our professional careers and grow as educators together."

She enjoys both the consistency and the changes involved in education, including consistent standards and projects, as well as changing teaching strategies. "I am always learning new ways to help my students access the content," she said. "I enjoy creating lessons and finding creative ways to present the information to my students."

Gutierrez creates and teaches small reading groups as often as she can, and also brings joy and laughter to her class. "I love to smile and laugh," she said. "While I hold command of my students in serious learning moments, we have a lot of fun in my classroom as well. My students have gained so many life skills by singing, acting, doing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) projects, and taking turns. Oftentimes, students don't even realize they're learning or practicing a skill!" She fondly recalls a former newcomer student from a Spanish-speaking country who did not know English when he arrived, singing in English. "We sing a new song every week so students can practice their reading, fluency, tune, pitch, body movements, etc.," she said. "This student would belt his heart out and get better at the song every day." She and many students cheered his efforts, impressed by his improvement and his willingness to try. "This is the reward I love seeing in my students," she said. "Not afraid to try, willing to have fun, but learning every moment."

She is proud to be multiethnic, multicultural and bilingual. "Identifying with all of my cultures, languages, and traditions is something | teach my students from day one of every school year," she said. "I want them to know that their cultures and countries are just as important as being here in the United States - and that's coming from someone who was born and raised in Sacramento, California, whose parents are both from the United States (California and Guam), but whose grandparents are from other countries. By being open about my family traditions, food, and language from around the world, students learn to accept the differences in people around them." 

Her advice to new teachers or those seeking to enter the profession is to find a cohort of supportive teachers they can relate to and get together to chat or offer each other advice, see the humans inside your students and adjust your teaching if necessary to meet their needs, and work on making yourself a better teacher through "personal professional development," which may be unrelated to school or district training. "It's something you find useful, you WILL use, and you will carry with you throughout your career," she said.

Ernesto "Ernie" Minglana
Minglana teaches 8th grade English and 6th-8th grade Leadership at Sequoia MS and has 18 years of teaching experience. "My grandmother, Jann Jansen-James, is a Professor Emeritus of Diablo Valley College who taught English for over 30 years, and she inspired me to become an English teacher myself," he said. "I earned my Associate of Arts Degree at DVC, earned my Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies at Cal State East Bay, and I have been teaching English and Leadership for Mt. Diablo Unified School District since 2008."

As a teacher, he knows how important an educator's role is in helping students feel a sense of joy and fulfillment in learning. "I like this feature about the teaching profession best because it warms my heart observing the smiles on students' faces when they realize the progress they've made in reaching their goals and achieving their potential," he said.

He is proud that current and former students and their families have told him that he is a teacher who is genuine and caring. "I take comfort in knowing that I am appreciated by students and families because of my 'firm but fair' approach to teaching with an essential amount of dignity and respect," he said. "What I find rewarding is having the daily opportunity to continue treating my students with care and compassion, being there for them and supporting them whenever they're in need, and bringing joy to learning in the classroom by celebrating their achievements and any progress they make."

As a Leadership teacher, Minglana engages families and the community in his classroom in several ways. "I've had students go out to volunteer in the community," he said. "They've assisted with such things as soup kitchens, food banks, public park clean-ups, and tutoring. We've held Toys for Tots drives with the United States Marine Corps at our school. We've organized Talent Shows, intramural sports tournaments, lunchtime activities, after-school socials, and Red Ribbon Week and other Spirit Weeks. I motivate my students to help make our school an inclusive, positive, and joyful place where all students, their families, and the community at large feel welcomed - where there is a sense of belonging and commonality."

His advice to new teachers is to go into teaching with the mantra of "paying it forward." "For instance, model yourselves after a favorite teacher who had the most positive impact on you, and make a bona fide effort to do for your students what your favorite teacher did for you - motivate, inspire, and educate with great care, joy, and positivity" he said.

 

This week's MDUSD Friday Letter spotlights:

• Six Teacher of the Year finalists,
• Social Work Specialists,
• Ygnacio Valley HS Robotics Team unveils new robot,
• Mt. Diablo HS and Ygnacio Valley HS students advocate for after-school program funding at the State Capitol,
• Foothill MS students win the 8A East Bay Middle School League Basketball Tournament,
• Mt. Diablo HS new turf and track,
• Highlands Elementary and Prospect HS happenings,
• Family Reading Event at Loma Vista Adult Center,
• Ygnacio Valley HS Unified Sports team participates in Bay Area tournament;
• School social media highlights;
• And more!

You can read it here.

 

MDUSD Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark sent the following updated message to District staff and parents/guardians on Feb. 24, 2025:

MDUSD and MDEA Continue to exchange proposals on a new contract

MDEA opens nearly every article of contract with over 200 changes plus new articles from MDEA on Community Schools, Social Justice, Etc.

Over 60 direct compensation items from MDEA with just 7 of these articles projected to cost $159 million over the next three years. Some articles that were not costed out include proposals for 10 hours of compensation weekly to prep instruction for teachers assigned to new grades or courses for the first year, an 8-fold increase for pay for teachers supervising outdoor education, and increased pay with an option to decline to cover classes when a substitute is unavailable. 

An additional number of articles include increased prep time, fewer classes per prep teacher, and no student supervision before or after school, all of which would substantially increase costs for the District.

February 24, 2025

Bargaining teams for the Mt. Diablo School District and Mt. Diablo Education Association met on February 21, 2025 for their fifth bargaining session over a successor collective bargaining agreement to begin on July 1, 2025. The parties have now spent about 30 hours in negotiations this year. A summary from these sessions follows.

MDUSD and MDEA Continue to Exchange Proposals on New Contract: At the February 21 session, the parties exchanged proposals and counterproposals on the following articles:

• Transfer
• Special Education
• Organizational Security/Association Rights
• Work Year
• Payment for Non-Teaching Duties
• Class Size
• Hours
• Teachers on Special Assignment
• Personnel Files
• Safety
• Evaluation
• Effects of Layoff
• Professional Development Advisory Committee
• Salary

The District had prepared eleven additional proposals to give to MDEA, but the parties ran out of time. The District requested and MDEA agreed the District could email these proposals to MDEA before the next negotiations session to continue to move the process forward:

• Teacher Induction and Support Program
• Peer Assistance & Review & Program re Selection for TOSA Eligibility List
• Employee Benefits
• Travel
• Leaves of Absence
• Appendix A Compensation
• Appendix K Additional High School & Middle School Stipends
• Community Schools [New Article proposed by MDEA]
• Department Chair/Elementary Grade Level Lead Selection Process [New Article proposed by MDEA]
• Social Justice [New Article proposed by MDEA]
• Virtual Learning Program [New Article proposed by MDEA]

MDEA Opens Nearly Every Article of Contract With Over 200 Changes Plus New Articles On Community Schools, Social Justice, Etc.: As shown on the above list, MDEA has opened nearly every article of the contract (23 out of 29) and proposed four new articles to add to the contract. Altogether, there are over 200 proposed contract changes within these articles. 

The District opened seven articles. Some of the discussions on February 21 were on the following MDEA proposals:

• Seven Period Day at High Schools: The District’s counterproposal asked to work proactively towards crafting the best instructional schedule for high school students and educators. The District proposed to involve constituent voices in a deliberate and thoughtful process to enable the District to make the best decision in time to implement in the 2026-2027 school year. The District’s proposal emphasized that prior to implementation, it will meet its legal obligations to bargain any negotiable impacts with MDEA.

• Safety: The parties agreed that protecting the safety of students and staff is a paramount priority and explored ways to further this imperative in a meaningful and impactful manner while acknowledging that the actions of all individuals are not completely predictable or preventable.

• Evaluation: MDEA proposes to establish a “Racially Just Professional Evaluation Process” to be recommended by a workgroup convened for this purpose. MDEA’s proposal would change the evaluation process to:

  • move away from white-dominant cultural norms;

  • identify biased metrics and norms in evaluation tools and “de-center whiteness”;

  • eliminate implicit and explicit bias;

  • remove evaluation disparities for those who work in Title I schools;

  • remove evaluation disparities for BIPOC unit members who work in schools with higher percentages of white students;

  • track evaluation ratings for unit members by race, gender, years of experience, including in the District and at a site/program, school site, grade level, and subject; and

  • take steps to eliminate within five years all racial disparities in evaluation ratings.

MDEA’s proposal seeks to limit the evaluating administrator to one assigned to the site where the member works, or one selected by the MDEA member and would prohibit administrators from evaluating unit members unless they are trained annually in the following areas:

• Cultural competency
• Antiracist professional evaluations and school leadership
• Supporting victims of racial violence, stress, and/or trauma.
• Microaggressions
• Overcoming implicit bias

The District discussed with MDEA that it was not agreeable to substantially expand the evaluation criteria of unit members beyond those specified by law in the Education Code. Also, while acknowledging MDEA’s identification of racism and racial practices that exist generally in society, MDEA provided no evidence that such practices are prevalent or exist in the evaluation of MDUSD employees. Finally, the District stated it was not willing to have MDEA prescribe required qualifications and training of District administrators in a labor contract.

Over 60 Compensation Items From MDEA, just 7 of which are projected to Cost $159 Million Over Next Three Years: The District reiterated to MDEA that within its approximately 200 proposed contract changes, there are over 60 proposals that would directly increase compensation, along with many others that would require increased staff to be hired, further increasing the overall cost of the proposal.

In addition  to MDEA’s proposed 18% salary schedule increase over three years, along with ongoing coverage of 100% medical benefits equivalent to be worth approximately an additional 3% compensation, there are numerous proposals for hourly pay, stipends, release time and the like for many professional responsibilities certificated unit members normally perform. 

Thus far, the District has estimated that taken together, just 7 of these MDEA proposals will cost the District (for the MDEA unit only) about $43M in 2025-2026, $53M in 2026-2027, and $63M in 2027-2028, for a total of about $159M over the three year contract. 

For 2025-2026, the cost of a 1% salary increase for MDEA is about $2M, so these costs represent salary increases of 21.5% in 2025-2026, 26.5% in 2026-2027 and 31.5% in 2027-2028, for a total 79.5% increase over three years (based on a non-compounded cost of 1%).

Next Steps: The parties’ next negotiations session is on March 6, 2025.

This week's MDUSD Friday Letter spotlights:

• Olympic HS named a CA Model Continuation High School,
• Our 2025-26 MDUSD Teachers of the Year are Mt. Diablo HS teacher Dr. David Pintado and Silverwood Elementary teacher Elizabeth Swanson,
• Black History Month school events,
• MDUSD's Winter Career Technical Education (CTE) Newsletter,
• College Park HS sends team to County Mock Trial competition for the first time, earning accolades
• Northgate HS Graphic Design, Photography, and Animation students take part in mock job interviews,
• College Park HS Black Student Union's meet-and-greet at Valley View MS,
• Shadelands and Robert Shearer Preschool students communicate with Augmentative and Alternative Communication technology;
• School, student and staff social media highlights;
• And more!

You can read it here.

 

MDUSD Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark sent the following message to District staff and parents on Feb. 18, 2025:

I am so excited to share this great news! We have reached a tentative agreement with CSEA Mt. Diablo Chapter 43. Thank you to the CSEA Bargaining Team for working collaboratively with MDUSD management to ensure their members have a fair and responsible agreement.

At a time when so many surrounding school districts are facing difficult budget cuts, layoffs and school closures, we are proud to be in a position where we can continue to provide a high level of service to our students and community.

This agreement reflects our commitment to valuing and supporting our employees, who play a vital role in the success of our schools.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this process!

Mt. Diablo Unified School District and CSEA Reach Collaborative Agreement on a New Contract

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) and the California School Employees Association (CSEA) Mt. Diablo Chapter 43 are pleased to announce the agreement of a new two-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) through June 30, 2027. The agreement, reached through a collaborative and efficient negotiation process, ensures stability and continuity for employees, students, and the broader school community.

With the current contract set to expire on June 30, 2025, both MDUSD and CSEA worked diligently to secure an early agreement that upholds the integrity of the existing agreement while remaining fiscally responsible. The agreement includes a modest salary increase for classified employees, preservation of the “Me Too” provision for equitable salary and benefits adjustments, and a continued contribution to employee healthcare benefits in 2026.

The agreement includes the following key provisions:

• Contract Extension: The CBA is extended from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027, maintaining the existing contract language with select modifications.
• Salary Increases: Classified employees will receive a 1% salary increase in both the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.
• Health Benefits Enhancements: For the 2026 plan year, the District will cover 100% of the Kaiser CalPERS rate for employees and their families, establishing a new minimum benefits contribution for future years.
• “Me Too” Provision: Ensures CSEA members receive the same percentage salary and benefits increases as any agreement reached with other employee bargaining units.
• Continued Financial Responsibility: The agreement balances employee needs with the District’s long-term fiscal sustainability.

This swift resolution underscores the commitment of both parties to fostering a positive working relationship and prioritizing the well-being of the school community. By reaching an agreement well ahead of the contract expiration, MDUSD and CSEA have provided stability for CSEA bargaining unit members and ensured that the focus remains on student achievement.

https://www.mdusd.org/departments/human-resources/labor-relations