Hours before the 575 united members of Covina Unified Education Association (CUEA) were scheduled to be on picket lines, a marathon bargaining session ended in a tentative agreement just before midnight – averting a strike and ensuring educators would be happily in classrooms with their students this morning.

The agreement came after hundreds of educators and supporters protested in front of Covina-Valley Unified School District headquarters for much of the day, before and during the lengthy negotiations session that was taking place inside. It addresses two key sticking points for CUEA: a hard cap on health benefits that would have disparately impacted newer teachers, and district management’s proposed two-tier benefits structure, which is excluded from the tentative agreement.

“We are deeply grateful not only for the hard work of the bargaining team, but for every CUEA member who has sacrificed their time, shown up at rallies, and participated in organizing actions to help achieve this settlement,” said CUEA President Adam Hampton. “I also want to thank the many parents and community members who let us know they support Covina-Valley teachers. Teachers want to be in our classrooms with our students and are grateful. We’ve been determined to have the district make things right and today’s settlement begins to do just that.”

The agreement also includes a 5.2-percent increase in salary for the 2021-22 school year and a 7-percent increase for the current school year, as well as contract language improvements for special education teachers.

The agreement must still be ratified by a vote of the CUEA membership, which will occur over the coming days. Visit CUEA’s Facebook page for more information about the agreement.