SWVEA Home Page

Negotiations Update 10/15/07

Article 26.1 Reduction in Force-The Bd. wants to include language that would allow them to not only have them notify a teacher if their position is being eliminated, but also if their position is to be reduced. This is the beginning of us allowing them to downsize. What this would allow them to do is to downsize positions to below the 50% mark and thus eliminate benefits. They could effectively reduce someone’s position and then hire someone else to do the other part and not pay for benefits for either person.

Article 26.2: Reduction in Force- This additional language would limit you to who you could “bump” within your endorsement areas. You could only utilize an endorsement if you had taught in the endorsement area for at least two years within the prior ten years. Why would anyone want to maintain additional license endorsements if you couldn’t utilize them in the future?

Article 29.1 Hours and Duties- The Bd. wants to eliminate this clause and replace it with 29.1A which would increase our day to a full 8 hr day (up from the 7 hr day plus our ½ hr flex time) which would be under the complete “control” of the Bd. They want the right to establish and modify the beginning and ending times, length, schedule and structure of each teacher’s standard work day. Not only do they want this right, they also want to be able to apply it anyway they want, whether it is by District, building, group, even individual. In this clause they say that individual preparation is included, but later on they say that it can be determined by Administration that it can be replaced by “other professional activities.”

Article 29.1B- This is the language that allows them to extend your workday, without compensation, for participating in activities and providing services. At first this was an open ended clause that gave them carte blanc to have you do whatever they wanted you to do and as long as they wanted you to do it. This would include, but not limited to, open houses, parent conferences, EST, IEP or EPT meetings, COMMITTEE MEETINGS, FACULTY MEETINGS, and STUDENT TUTORIALS. They also talked about having some of those “other professional opportunities” done during this time. This could become their holding PLCs after school ad nauseum. They are willing to limit this to five times per year. Nothing would stop them from doing it as much as they pleased as long as it didn’t go past the end of the school day. They could in essence hold a faculty meeting every day. Let’s say your students leave at 2:15 every day and you have to be there until 3:30, the Administration could hold any type of meeting they wanted to hold, for any group of people, for an hour every day. They also want to limit teachers from leaving faculty meetings for extra-curricular activities unless is a game, meet or event.

Article 29.1C- This clause says that Teachers providing less than the FULL

Complement of professional responsibilities/ obligations required shall be considered part-time teachers. Example: This means that if you aren’t meeting the required minutes of student contact(They are proposing 1500 min/week) because of scheduling issues then you would be part time and thus pay more for your benefits because ,of course, it would be pro-rated. You would still be required to participate in non-instructional activities.

Articles 29.2 & 29.3- The Bd. wants to eliminate any right for a teacher to leave the building either during their lunch or when they are free from all duties (prep time).Evidently some of you have not been good and returned on time.

Article 29.5- Instead of helping to plan in-service days to better meet the needs of students, the Administration will only consult with the Association and other committees as the Administration deems necessary concerning the scheduling and content of in-service days. This is the old Wolf-in-Sheep’s wool trick of we’ll talk to you and make you feel good, but we’ll do what ever we want.

Article 29.6- The Bd. wants to eliminate any language that says how in-service days are to be allocated. They want to able to allocate them anyway they want, in other words, “control” them completely.

Article 29.10 & 29.12- The Bd. wants eliminate this language because it is in opposition to their proposed language in 29.1A & B. This goes back to their wanting COMPLETE CONTROL of your day.

As you can see, the further we go into the language changes that are proposed by the BD. the harder it gets to comprehend why are being so harsh with their proposals. That, coupled with the fact that they refuse to back down from any of them so far, just smacks of their unwillingness to bargain fairly for a fair and equitable contract. They really are out to negate over 20 years of good faith bargaining. We must not let that happen. We need to demand that they bargain in good faith and settle a fair and equitable contract.

Negotiations Update 10/1/07

Article 15.1: The Bd. wants the right to drop our ability to have them withhold fees for a 403(B) or tax sheltered annuity if the regulations change in any way. This means that you would no longer have money pre-taxed and put into an annuity fund. You would be responsible for paying into your fund after taxes are taken out.

Article 16.1: The Bd. wants to change the amount that you contribute towards Health, Dental, Life, and Long Term Disability to 20%. This means for Health Care you would pay 33% more for your Health plan and 100% more for what you now pay for Dental, Life, and Long Term Disability. This would only apply to FULL-TIME teachers only, anyone else would have their premium contribution prorated-this would mean additional premium cost to anyone who wasn’t full-time. Anyone under 50% of a teaching position would not receive any benefit. Right now the language states that anyone working at least an average of 20 hours per week gets full benefit. The Bd. wants to strike this language so they can prorate anyone under 100% or 1.0 FTE. Proposed language in another section allows the Bd. to determine who is or isn’t full time.

Article 16.2: Health Insurance- The Bd. wants to apply only the amount of what they pay towards the Dual Option Plan towards the cost of the Comprehensive Plan C. I don’t know why they want to put this in because our language already says that if a teacher wants the Comp C Plan then they are responsible for the additional cost of the plan.

They also want to eliminate the right for coverage for domestic partners and they want it to be effective immediately.

Article 16 Long Term Disability- The Bd. wants any teacher to apply as soon as possible for LTD so that they can start at the completion of the 180 elimination period, but once you start receiving the benefit then you shall no longer have automatic employment reinstatement rights and District contributions towards ALL insurance benefits shall cease. So, once you go on disability you don’t retain your rights to employment and if you want to maintain your insurances, then you pay 100% of them.

Article 19.2: They want a date certain for notification of a person leaving or retiring. They want the date to be December 15 th. A lot of people haven’t even made up their mind by then and need the time to decide. We have counter proposed Feb. 15 th. This was the old date that used to be in there.

Article 22.2: We have proposed that the Bd. pre-pay tuition costs for any three credit course approved by the Superintendent. They have counter- proposed with that piece in there, but that anyone enrolled in a graduate program shall be entitled to a maximum of 9 credit hours per fiscal year. Anyone else would only get 3 credit hours. It would also remain at the cost of in-state tuition at the UVM rate. We had proposed in our language that everyone still has 6 credits, but you can use three of the credits anyway you want to cover the costs of additional credits from another institution ( for instance, if you can get two course at MCLA for the cost of one at UVM rates then you can do that) or to attend workshops, conferences, etc. without each one counting as an “Opportunity” and limiting what you can do.

The Bd. also wants reimbursement, in one payment, if one fails to successfully complete the course (“B” or better) or voluntarily leaves the employ of the District within 12 months 0f completing the course. This means that if you take a course in July or August, use what you have learned in your classroom all year and then retire at the end of the year, you are responsible to repay the District the cost of the course.

Articles 21.3 & 21.4: The changes just say that if you take a workshop, attend a conference and get travel, board and room and registration costs or attend an “institute” which offers graduate credits the costs will be deducted from the teacher’ entitlement in 21.2- this means that this will count as a three credit course or “opportunity.”

Article 22.3 Worker’s Comp- If you are hurt at school and correctly report it to the principal and receive benefits, after six months the District will no longer pay its share of the health insurance premiums. If you want to continue to keep your benefit then you will pay the full cost of the premiums. This would happen six months from the date you are injured, not when you start receiving Worker’s Compensation.

Article 25.3 Evaluation- the Bd. wants the exclusive right to develop evaluation plans, the Association would only be invited to provide input, but the Bd. could still do as they pleased. They also want to eliminate the Associations right to grieve a plan that violates the standards of an adequate, appropriate or fair evaluation. This would also rescind the freezing of the implementation of the evaluation change until said grievance is resolved.

Taken one by one, some of the changes don’t look that bad, but when you look at the changes as a whole they take on a different persona. They really show the Bds’ desire to “control” everything we do or participate in. Please read your current contract and compare the differences.