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Teachers, union leaders urge Sunnyside board to adopt PTO buyback; board pledges follow-up
Summary
Multiple teachers and the Sunnyside Education Association president urged the board to create a PTO buyback or payout policy for certified staff, citing recruitment and retention impacts and district carryover funds; board members agreed to bring options to IBB and form a follow-up group.
Dozens of teachers and school employees pressed the Sunnyside Unified District governing board on October 15 to adopt a paid-time-off (PTO) buyback or payout policy for certified staff, saying the district’s current “use it or lose it” approach undermines recruitment and retention.
Marie Martinez, president of the Sunnyside Education Association and a preschool teacher at Ocotillo Learning Center, told the board the issue was studied months ago but “we have not seen any progress.” Martinez urged the board to “draft, pass, and implement a fair PTO policy” by December and noted the district’s roughly $27,000,000 carryover as part of her plea.
Why it matters: Several speakers said the current policy creates perverse incentives—teachers approaching retirement either burn through leave or lose accrued time—which can lead to staffing instability and extra costs for substitute teachers. William Felix, a Sunnyside teacher and graduate, said, “Using PTO should not feel like a moral tango with my future.” He added that unused PTO is a form of earned compensation and urged the board to act to retain experienced educators.
Other commenters raised classroom-impact concerns. Allison Smith said she worries a full buyback could prompt some teachers to take excessive leave, harming students’ continuity. Lydia Campbell, a post‑retiree contracted educator, described losing hundreds of days at retirement and criticized the district’s current pay-period allotments.
Board response and next steps: Board members and staff acknowledged the intensity of the remarks and discussed procedural next steps. One board member asked administration to form a group to explore options and to present them to the district’s IBB (interest-based bargaining) process. A district official told the board that classified staff currently have an end‑of‑career payout and that the committee will consider similar or alternative approaches for certified staff.
The meeting record shows a clear direction: staff will bring options to IBB and report back to the board. No formal policy change was adopted at the meeting; the board instead agreed to follow up and to present possible models for payout or buyback at a future meeting.
