Menlo Park City School District teachers will see a 5% pay hike this school year after the school board unanimously approved a labor contract at its Oct. 24 meeting.

The district's teachers union, the Menlo Park Education Association, endorsed a preliminary agreement after the school board approved a "teacher compensation philosophy" earlier this year that emphasizes giving teachers pay increases that are higher than what neighboring districts offer.

Teachers will receive a higher raise than they have in recent years. The school board last approved raises for all district employees on June 20, 2017, when it authorized a 2% pay increase for the 2017-18 school year and a 3% increase for 2018-19, according to the district website.

According to a staff presentation prepared for the Oct. 24 meeting, with implementation of the 5% raise the district's required reserve funds will drop below the minimum amount allowed by board policy within two years unless voters approve a parcel tax to replace Measure X, a tax with an initial rate of $360 per parcel that passed in 2016 and will expire in 2024.

The school board is scheduled to discuss a possible parcel tax ballot measure at its Nov. 14 meeting. The board has had preliminary discussions about putting another tax measures before voters in November 2020 to help address deficit spending that could be a result of the teacher salary hike, said Chief Business and Operations Officer Ahmad Sheikholeslami.

The agreement comes with a new teacher evaluation system, which was designed collaboratively between the teachers union and the district, according to the presentation, which noted that the focus of the new system is on "direct and ongoing feedback, support, commendation and coaching."

The new system also provides a performance rubric: It requires teachers to be coached when their performance is not meeting student needs or district expectations.

Cheryl Marelich, president of the teachers union, said in an email that the union "appreciated the collaborative, albeit fast-paced, nature of working with the District and School Board in revising the current teacher evaluation system, and will continue to advocate for our teachers as we prepare to move into the next round of negotiations this year."

The pay increase will be retroactive to July 1, and is effective through June 30, 2020.

District teachers made $106,986 on average during the 2017-18 school year, according to California Department of Education data.

At the same meeting, the board approved a contract to hire Mary McElhinney Stark as interim chief business official.

McElhinney Stark will replace Sheikholeslami, who is leaving the district on Oct. 31 to become assistant superintendent of business services in the Pleasanton Unified School District.

Vaping public health emergency

The school board also approved a resolution declaring a public health emergency in regard to the use by young people of e-cigarettes, also called vaping devices, in light of a 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey that shows that vaping among high school students more than doubled from 2017 to 2019, to 27.5% of students.

The resolution expresses the board's support for the efforts by the town of Atherton, the city of Menlo Park and San Mateo County to restrict the sale of tobacco products in order to prevent youth access to vaping devices. The school board suggests these local jurisdictions do this by:

• Prohibiting the sale, manufacture, and distribution of flavored tobacco products, along with e-cigarettes and electronic vaping devices.

• Prohibiting the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies.

• Setting a minimum price and minimum pack size for sale.

• Restricting the marketing, product placement, coupons and promotional materials, and self-service displays of tobacco products in and from retailers.

• Reducing the concentration and density of tobacco stores, particularly near schools and other areas that youth frequent.