LNEA team met on snow day

     LNEA wants to thank teachers of USD 453 for the patience you've shown throughout the negotiation process.  We know it's sometimes difficult -- in many ways -- to continue putting forth maximum effort when we don't have a contract for 2013-14.  We regret that we were not able to warn you last spring or even in the fall that this would be a possibility.  We certainly didn't foresee that the co-op budget would be as problematic as it has turned out to be, and the dissolution had not been proposed when we started negotiations.
     We have worked very hard trying to generate creative solutions that satisfy the interests of our teachers, the board of education, and the co-op board, but up to now the district has not been willing to compromise.
     All year, the district has been telling LNEA it can't give movement to teachers because there isn't enough money in the special education co-op budget to give movement to special education teachers.  We finally decided we had to stop expecting all teachers to sacrifice because of this issue.  The proposal we made last Thursday may seem radical but please believe we tried everything else first. We believe it would be better for teachers in Leavenworth in the long run than simply accepting their one-time offer.  And please know that we didn't like having to make it, but we must work within and between the barricades that the district and special education cooperative have erected.
     Here is what we proposed in discussion with USD 453 administrators last Thursday.

• Lateral movement now for all teachers who have earned additional degrees or credit hours and filed their paperwork with the district.
• $500 now for all teachers paid from the special education budget.
• Vertical movement now for teachers not paid from the special education budget.  For those whose movement gives them less than $500, we proposed they receive the difference (so no one would lose out by getting movement instead of a one-time $500 payment).
• For special education teachers who continue with USD 453 into next year, we suggested salary schedule movement and back pay (minus the $500) as they enter into the 2014-15 school year.

     This may not seem fair to our out-of-district teachers who will not be with USD 453 next year, but in fact, most of them appear to be getting a fair offer from the school districts they are going to. In general, the neighboring districts are making sure the special ed teachers don't lose pay, and LNEA has learned that some teachers are even being offered $2000 to $5000 more each year than they currently make.
     The first question the district raised during our conversation was whether this is legal.  KNEA has assured us that it is.  Associations bargain for different things for different groups of teachers within their bargaining units all the time.  In Abilene, for example, there are two completely different salary schedules--one for teachers who started before 2005 and another for teachers who began later. 
     Our goal here is to do the best we can for our teachers, and the district insists that $500 per teacher is the best it can do for teachers paid by the special ed co-op at this time, because the Superintendents' Advisory Board (SAB) will not "authorize" more.  So, we proposed that special ed teachers get the $500 the SAB has authorized and that the rest of the cost of movement be postponed and offered only to the SpEd teachers who will continue with USD 453 once they are known. Those are the folks who won't benefit from the offers being made by other districts.  There will be no need for authorization from the SAB once the co-op dissolves.  There will be a need to do the right thing by our special education teachers, especially with higher salaries being paid by our neighboring districts.
     Did we want to make a proposal that separated teachers by whether they teach special education or not? Unequivocally, no. But the district created a division by its handling of this issue from the beginning.
        The district has agreed to meet with us again on Thursday, March 6, at 4:30, at the district office.  If we cannot reach an agreement, the factfinding session is scheduled for 9 a.m. on March 17. We would very much like to hear your comments, either here on the blog, or by email at lneanews@gmail.com.  Thanks for all you do for our students!