Settlement reached in labor charge against trustee

A settlement has been reached in an unfair labor charge filed by the teachers union against Conejo Valley Unified School District.

The Unified Association of Conejo Teachers (UACT) filed the charge with the Public Employment Relations Board on March 28, 2006, after school board member Michael Dunn polled and repeatedly contacted UACT members regarding the winter break schedule. The union is the "explicit representative" of its members, said UACT executive director Arleigh Kidd.

Dunn is to complete three hours of training in responsibilities and prohibitions for board members in collective bargaining

Dunn said he considered the settlement "excellent."

"The words guilt, guilty, mistake, apologize and apology do not appear in the settlement agreement," Dunn said.

"The UACT complaint was frivolous, harassment and an attempt to intimidate and muscle the only board member not taking contributions from them," he said.

The settlement, which was signed by Kidd, Dunn, UACT president Colleen BrinerSchmidt, CVUSD superintendent Mario Contini and CVUSD board president Dorothy Beaubien, does state that Dunn "bypassed, undermined and derogated" UACT's authority by taking the poll.

CVUSD also officially acknowledged that Dunn's contact was a violation of the Educational Employment Relations Act.

"UACT never lost faith in the system and feels the rule of law has been upheld, and we consider this matter now closed," Kidd said.

Dunn called Briner-Schmidt, who replaced Susan Falk as UACT president, "a nice person" who he believes is "normal and reasonable."

"Together, I think we all can work for the best interests of the students, the parents and the teachers," Dunn said.