Setting up the tri-fold, Student Visionaries of the Year Club President Brooke McKean and her fellow board members prepare for their booth at club rush on Sept. 18.  Only two weeks ago, over 90 club boards including groups like the SVOY gathered together, decorating colorful posters, creating meet-the-board Instagram posts and planning club calendars all in preparation for the bi-anual club rush. During club rush, the student body bustled from booth to booth, each student looking for a club where they could find community. Now, teachers’ doors are locked during lunch, which is when club meetings typically happen. Teachers have enacted the Work-to-Contract strategy, meaning that teachers will not be available during unpaid time which would be time outside of school and lunches.

“I’m having my first SVOY meeting today, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to have any meetings at school in the future if this continues to go on,” McKean said. 

Since last year, the Rocklin Teachers Professional Association has engaged in ongoing negotiations with the Rocklin Unified School District. The union is a group of all the teachers in the district working to support each other, and currently they are strategying for higher salaries. The Sacramento Bee reports that to live comfortably in California in 2025, you would have to make annual earnings of about $111,901 and California is ranked the third most expensive state to live in. Teachers in the Rocklin Unified District are making about 30% less than that.

“Right now, we are in a negotiation that is looking to make sure we are better paid, or to ultimately better take care of our teachers in Rocklin Unified,” RTPA President Mr. Travis Mougeotte said. “Things like getting them a livable wage, so they can live in the area where they work, and take care of health benefits that are becoming more and more out of reach. All of those translate to better working environments, which translates to better learning environments for students.”

Teachers have seen their paychecks decrease compared to what they were making in previous years, further fueling their frustration. In addition, salary negotiations with the district have remained at a stalemate, with the union making minimal progress toward their goals so far. In response, teachers have started participating in work-to-contract.

“The union is encouraging members to do what’s called work-to-contract, which is to walk in at 8:15 [a.m.] and walk out at 4:05 [p.m.], and to value and respect their non-duty time, which would be lunches,” Site Representative Mr. Patrick Gale said. 

As teachers apply this strategy, club productivity is on pause, and many students, especially club presidents like McKean, are worried about how clubs will operate without their teacher supervisors.

“[Our teachers] significantly help us run the program because they allow us to use their space, and they handle the back-end attendance policies when it comes to hosting Bucks-for-Blood, which is one of the programs we do, so their participation in our program is crucial to the success and our ability to raise money for blood cancer,” McKean said.

Right now, neither the teachers nor board members are sure when they will reach a compromise.

“I mean, the timelines are really long if there’s strategying, which has not been super successful, but then the next step on that would be what’s called impasse,” Gale said.

If negotiations reach an impasse, that would mean a mediator would come and talk to both parties, attempting to get them to make concessions. After that, the fact-finding stage would begin, which means research from an outside party about what the district can afford. The entire process could take months to resolve, according to Gale.

However, teachers are not the only ones who can take action in the strategying process. 

In fact, all students, parents and community members are all vital to making a difference in board meetings. 

As of Oct. 1, there are four more Rocklin Unified School District board meetings open for attendance and community viewership for the rest of the 2025 fall semester. 

McKean said, “Any student who’s passionate about having a club on campus should email the Rocklin Unified School District. People like Roger Stock, Rachelle Price, everyone who’s on there. You can find them on their website … If you’re able to, you should go to the board meetings. You should speak your mind, because the more student involvement and parent involvement we have on this issue, the more likely it’s going to be resolved quickly.” 

by ISABELLA CHUNG, MAIRYN OSECHECK, ZOEY RIGDON & ETHAN SMITH