We're Getting Close!! Next Meeting, 10am Monday, June 16.

Contract negotiations began at 10am Monday morning (June 2) and ended at 4pm. The day began with a set of counter-proposals from LNEA, then the board’s team took a 3-hour caucus to craft a counter-proposal. We took a long lunch to discuss the possibilities, came back to the office at 1:30 and heard their counter-proposal. We took about a 45-minute caucus and presented another counter. The board at that point suggested that we schedule another meeting for 10am Monday, June 16, to give Kevin Gullett an opportunity to attend a school finance workshop in Topeka. Kevin is hoping he will learn how to squeeze a few more dollars out of the budget for teachers, so we believe it’s to everyone’s advantage to wait.

Here’s the good news:
**The board has dropped its proposal to do away with binding arbitration of grievances.
**The board has also dropped its proposal to do away with the early retirement policy by 2010, in favor of our suggestion to form a committee to study the possibility of a phase-out program that would keep the health insurance benefit intact, and shift the current 5-year payout to a 403b contribution to occur during the teacher’s employment.
**We have tentatively agreed to add 15 minutes to the teacher work day for the purpose of lengthening the instructional day and building in some inclement weather days. (We have also tentatively agreed that this is enough time built in so that the first 3 days missed would not have to be made up.) In trade for working the additional 15 minutes, the length of the teachers’ contract will be reduced from 189 to 186.5 days. In addition, there will be some kind of salary increase yet to be determined. The board’s last offer was ever so slightly more than 4%. We aren’t finished discussing the salary increase.
**Several stipends have been added to the supplemental pay scale, the most significant of which is a tentative agreement to add speech pathologists and occupational therapists to the list of those who are paid for a 30-minute extension of the duty day (just over $3k). This is currently extended to social workers and school psychs. More on the other additions to the supplemental scale later.

We have tentatively agreed to several minor changes to the negotiated agreement – changes in deadlines for application for lateral movement, changes in how the actual physical contract looks, an addition of a separate contract for supplemental duties, as well as a minor change in wording to the evaluation policy and inclusion of the evaluation tools used for teachers, counselors and librarians to the appendix of our agreement.

Here’s what we’re still working on:
In addition to continuing to work on salary, we are also still trying to hammer away at increasing elementary planning time. Non-working days for the 09-10 and 10-11 school years are yet to be determined as well.

Please know that we are continuing to work for a better contract for you, and we will meet at 10am Monday, June 16 at the board office. You are welcome to attend. We appreciate your company.

If you have any questions, please email us at lneanews@gmail.com.

Lateral Movement Alert

The latest proposal the board has made to the negotiations team contained an item we feel we should mention to you. The proposal was to eliminate the list of in-district inservices that could count toward lateral movement. The board's lead negotiator explained that he felt teachers should not get lateral movement for inservice taken at the district's expense.

As a result, we feel we ought to encourage any of you who plan to apply for lateral movement to get your application in (and all documentation provided to the board) before July 1, and ideally to get everything in early enough to be approved by July 1. The lateral movement form has a due date of August 20, but if we have to agree to this provision, then the new contract will go into effect on July 1. Even if agreement isn't reached until after July 1, the contract will be retroactive to that date.

LNEA negotiations team

Negotiations Report

The negotiations team met with the board's team Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 at the BOE. The board presented a proposal that included some tempting things, but it did not include enough of the items that are important to us. This most recent counter-proposal included current language for the grievance procedure - that means they have dropped the proposal to eliminate binding arbitration. But we are far from reaching an agreement. We need an acceptable salary increase, increased fringe benefits, lateral movement for all staff development activities, and increased elementary planning time.

Thanks to all who attended the meeting. We do appreciate your support, and we are glad to hear your suggestions and happy to answer your questions.

The next session has been scheduled for 10am Monday, June 2. Even though your summer will have begun, and you might be tempted to sit on the deck, play with the kids or go shopping, please come join us if you can. We love the company!!

Linda, Ginger, Betty, Shad, Kay and Dennis

Negotiations Update

LNEA's negotiating team met with the board's team Wednesday at 4:30 pm at the board office. We thank those who attended. Your support is much appreciated, and we always look forward to your questions and suggestions. At that meeting, we set another session to occur Monday, May 19 at 5:30, but shortly after the spectators dispersed, the board team informed us that they would be unable to meet at that time. So our next meeting with the board will be as was originally scheduled: Wednesday, May 21 at 4:30 at the board office. We expect to hear a counter-proposal from them at that time. These wheels seem to be grinding slowly. Hopefully we can begin making more progress soon. We appreciate your support and attendance whenever you can manage to be there. Thanks - your negotiating team.