From our understanding, and in our opinion, this merger is a matter of when, not a matter of if. There are several reasons for this.

1. First, there is a group of concerned citizens in Greenfield who are very focused on making sure Greenfield High School unifies with its middle and elementary schools. They created and spearheaded the initial petition that started the process, and as we understand it, they plan to continue to submit petitions until it happens.

2. Second, according to the feasibility study, King City High School will not be able to survive very well at all on its own as a standalone district.

Due to these factors, we think it is wise to operate under the assumption that the districts will unify, and prepare as though that is what will happen by 2028.

Seniority will remain the same. You will keep your years, status and tenure. 

You will not make a dollar less than you do now. A new salary schedule will have to be negotiated, and it will likely be somewhere between the high school’s and ours. However, this is not guaranteed and will depend on how negotiations go. If your salary is higher than the schedule, i.e. you make 70,000 at year 3 column 3 and the salary schedule has you at 65,000 for year 3 column 3 (random numbers I made up), you will be Y-rated, meaning you will make 70,000 until the salaries and scheduled raises in the schedule catch up with you and you start making more than that.

Similar to salary, this will be Y-rated. You will not have less coverage than you do now. 

*A small wrinkle to this is that we will be reexamining benefits this year, so how exactly things shake out will depend on how that process goes.

This will not happen as a result of reorganization/unification. If it happens, it is unrelated to this process. 

Your retirement benefits will continue unchanged and uninterrupted. New employees, however, will receive whatever the new retirement benefits are as enumerated in the new contract that will need to be negotiated.

You will keep all of your sick days.

If there is absolutely no resistance to a merger from any party involved, this could happen by 2027. 2028 is a much more likely scenario, if it does happen. 

In the event of unification, both the district and KCETA will cease to exist. The same will happen with both the high school district and their union. In the wake of these events, a new district and a new union will both be created from the ashes. This new union will need to create its own bylaws, dues structures, executive board, and bargaining team.

Class sizes will not increase as a direct result of unification. That is and issue that is ultimately up to the board.