Community shares relief, frustration with Fresno Unified and FTA reaching tentative agreement

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A large crowd including students and parents gathered for the press conference this morning with a mix of emotions to the tentative agreement.

"Nah! You could've avoided this man. Nah! Nah! Have some accountability for what you did to our kids," shouted Lethal Garcia as Fresno Unified and the Fresno Teachers Association signed the agreement.

"You preach girl!" replied someone else in the crowd.

Garcia said the threat of a strike was harmful to Fresno Unified students, she blames the school district saying they should have met the Fresno Teachers Association's requests sooner.

"This should've been agreed upon from the get-go we have to take care of those who take care of our children while our children aren't with us at home," said Garcia.

Avoiding a strike comes as a relief to School Board President Valerie Davis. She said she knows teachers who were involved in the last strike 45 years ago and that the pain still runs deep.

"I'm sure most of them don't really know the collateral damage of a strike and the long-lasting residue and hurt and betrayal and I hope they never experience that," said Davis.

While she said she understands the frustration with how long it took to reach the agreement, she said it was important that they did right by the teachers and the district.

"We listen to our teachers, we try to weigh it out, we try to pay for it," said Davis. "We will not bankrupt this district in year two and a half and then send out thousands of pink slips we won't do that."

Emily Brandt retired from the district five years ago, but she showed up Tuesday to support her former colleagues.

She said she's all too aware of the struggles teachers face with large class sizes and is happy to see their needs met.

"Class size reduction is integral to the ability for teachers to communicate with students well and for students to learn," said Brandt.

Having gone through negotiations in her career she calls the tentative agreement historic.

"We just hope that we will see the same commitment today and through these negotiations continue with all the resources that are desperately needed on school sites," said Brandt.

There were also dozens of students out here on the lawn for the announcement.

School Board President Valerie Davis hopes their takeaway is that talking and hard work are important to make change and compromise.

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