Teachers came to the meeting to decry the offer made by the Board calling the raises insignificant, the health benefits the worse in the valley, and the prep time insufficient.
The Board and administration countered saying the health plan has not changed, only the employee contribution, the raises need to be considered over the five year period, and I did not see a response to the prep time issue.
One teacher called on the board to conduct a "morale survey" of teachers to gauge how this situation is affecting them.
If there was more than this, please post a comment to fill those of us not in attendance in.
I did review the District's Final Offer and it does not appear to be complete. I think it only has sections that are changed. There is no indication of teachers work day hours, number of work days, sick leave days among others. Regarding the prep time it simply says the district agrees to further discuss prep time.
All in all, however, I do think the offer is fair. Included in the offer but not necessarily mentioned in the discussion is the following (some is new, some has been in effect):
- Pay is offered every other week beginning the first Thursday after the school term begins for students. A request can be made for a lump sum payment after the last payday in June following the close of term.
- Time after 6:00 p.m. on school days and all time on Saturdays and Sundays is personal and the district may make no demands upon it. This does not preclude a member voluntarily accepting school related responsibilities during this time.
- Inclement weather and emergencies, if schools close, members do not report. When schools are closed early, members may leave 15 minutes after students.
- Tuition reimbursement - members will be reimbursed for tuition for graduate credits and associated fees such as lab, computer, but not books provided it is up to $3,000 per year, a minimum grade of a "B" is earned, and an official transcript or bursars statement is included with written request for reimbursement.
- Personal Leave - 6 days HS, 5 MS, 4 each elementary. Increase from 4, 4, and 2.
- EPED - get paid extra for supervising student activities and sports. Across the board 2% increase.
- Income Protection Plan/Sick Leave - increased monthly benefit toward lost income from $900 to $1,500.00
- Option to provide additional voluntary health insurance plans with one or more offering baby well visits and contraception. New.
- Medical contribution to be set at 1.5%, 1.75%, 2, 2, and 2%. New format/rate.
- Dental Care up to $1500 per person per year and permits utilization of the $1500 for orthodontics. New.
- Association Leave is allowed up to 10 days, no more than 5 for one individual in a single year, but Association must pay school cost of substitute. Revised.
- Maximum of four meetings per month, not to exceed a 1/2 hour before or 1 hour after normal work day.
2006 - 2007 Year:
- Starting Salary 4 year degree - $39,656.00
- Step 16, Masters plus 45 - $78,083
- 319 teachers - 146 BA, 134 M, 13 M+15, 21 M+30, and 5 M+45
- Steps 1 to 5 - 150 teachers and Step 16 - 71 out of 319 total.
- Average salary of all: $54,797
- Starting Salary 4 year degree - $47,000.00
- Step 16, Masters plus 45 - $88,524
- 319 teachers now shifted to steps 5-10 and 16L which is old 16 at top of schedule.
- Average salary of all is $65,235
A teacher must work 180 days per year, but now has 5 (avg. given 6HS and 4 ELEM) personal days. Assuming there is no sick time this means 175 working days. A typical employee works about 235 days (10 holidays, 14 vacation, 3 personal, then weekends). An average teacher in the first year will make $54,797 or $313.13 per working day. This salary over 235 working days would equal $73,584.54, and this is on a 7.5 hour work day including lunch.
I know people are going to cry foul on this comparison, but the pay per working day is good compared to other workers and professionals in the community. The benefits are also good. The ability to now apply dental to orthodontics allows up to $1500 per year that wasn't previously covered. The contraception is worth $50 per month, covering half the cost of the health contribution. And then there is tuition reimbursement which most small companies cannot afford to offer to their employees.
At the end of the day the critical factor is not starting pay or increases it is the top level pay because it is a teachers highest three years of pay that determine their pension paid out for life. My 401k won't guarantee me 75% of the average of my three highest years' pay, but the teachers' will. The top level as noted above jumps $10,500. This will have an annual positive impact throughout a teachers' retirement.
Having looked at this I can't help but side with the district in saying this is a fair and generous contract. Again, until I can see some evidence from the teachers union to show otherwise, I'm not seeing the faults here. Further, I'd like to see what the teachers believe to be fair. That has been missing from the discussion. Last night they again stated the district offer was unfair, but didn't provide an alternative.
What do you think? Has the district made a fair offer? If not, what would make it fair?
12 comments:
The offer is more than fair for the compensation/benefits alone. Add that to the fact that it's a 7.5 hour day and 190 days a year, and yeah, I think it's very generous.
At the meeting last night, I heard alot of statements from the teachers imploring the board to "give them a fair offer". Well, where is the teacher's offer? We haven't heard anything as to what their demands are.
They appear to be very far apart (based on my discussions with parents/teacher/etc) so what exactly is it that the teacher's want?
I can't help but feel that the more the teachers cry of an unfair offer, the more they sound ungrateful.
Teachers want to be treated as professionals. It is only fair to compare the current offer with what is happening outside of the teaching industry.
Most people would be extremely thankful to have guaranteed pay and benefits for the next 5 years! They have guaranteed jobs! Remember it is very difficult to get rid of bad teachers. We all know of teachers at every school who are not performing and there is nothing that can be done to get rid of them.
The majority of the working population never knows from year to year if they will get a salary increase, have increased cost in health benefits, have their employer change or drop their benefit packages, or have a job for them next year.
Yes, this is very fair. I wish my husband had dental insurance and also got the % increase that the teachers are being offered. Summers off are nice too. I think the teachers are hesitant to list their demands because they don't want to appear unreasonable to the parents or the community but they just want the board to keep re-offering until they hit on what they want.
Don't teachers know when they choose to be an educator what the pay scale is? Why don't they choose a different occupation? One that has the pay potential that they want.
There was a time when you were hired by a private company and stayed with that company until retirement. You got benefits paid and a retirement plan/pension. The thought of leaving your employer was almost unheard of.
Today, switching jobs is commonplace. It is a way to advance in your field and to explore new areas related to your current field. You can negotiate terms of your employment and make a decision based on the pros and cons of staying in your existing position or moving to a new one.
I've had to consider other employment options for a variety of reasons. We transitioned a new executive director, during the process I sent out resumes in case it wasn't the person I wanted. There were employees I didn't enjoy working with - put out resumes. Because as a small non-profit company the ability to offer healthcare and other benefits was limited, I've been forced out of necessity to put out resumes in the event company formula's and policies weren't changed. At one time our healthcare premiums adjusted mid year and our pay end of year, so on July 1 new rates kicked in and there was nothing that could be done except to suck it up or look for work elsewhere.
So for the teachers reading these posts, don't look at the comments of look for another job as a negative thing - its simply the reality of most people in the community.
I agree that the more the teachers state they are being treated unfairly the less sympathy there will be for them.
Maybe the schools are finally catching up to the private sector and the teachers won't be with one district forever. Maybe they'll start as one teacher said at Parkland that has a higher starting salary, then attempt to move back to Nazareth with a higher top-end salary.
It will then be on the Board to determine at which step and scale to hire these teachers in at. They wouldn't have to give them all there service.
This would change the dynamic and put the emphasis on performance.
I don't think we'll ever see individual contracts with teachers, at least not in the near term, but I do think we are seeing the process reflect the reality that workers don't stay with one company for life anymore.
The teachers are going to need to do a gut check. What do they want? What are they willing to accept to get it? Where can they go to get it if not here?
Public display of your salary and benefits is no picnic. Most people are uncomfortable discussing this with their employer and would rather their friends and neighbors not know, the teachers have little choice, its part of the process.
As I've said before, I don't begrudge anyone trying to get what they think they should earn or what someone is willing to offer them. To this point though, I've only seen what is unfair in the eyes of the teachers and not what they think would be fair.
Most of us, it would seem haven't been able to find what is unfair. We need their help to present what they want in whole, not nit-pick what the district put forward.
I would really like to see exactly what the teachers want myself. As we know some teachers are much more deserving than others as far as quality educators go. Therefore, seems fair now. Most employees pay in a lot more for less benefits.. I know we have a high deductible and no dental, eye care etc, bare bones and not a great pension plan even not much choice chosing our doctors as compared to teachers' plan including no reinbursement for continuing ed.. But as hard as the times have been after Sept 11, the employment sector has changed. Maybe bonuses make more sense. I would think most know that in general teachers'salary has not been on the top tier of the pay scale as far as careers. Having a job that is very secure with long holiday breaks, shortest school day, and part of the summer off, would be a dream job for many but some of us know before we chose teaching as a career we need more $$$ to support our families. Many teachers also move to this district to teach because of the salary package is better than where they came from.
If Parkland or any other district as far as that matters has a better salary offer based on quality of teachers, then maybe teachers should go for it, as we change employers a few time sourselves... maybe this will spare the taxpayers the burden of higher taxes, too, might even have a pool and better test scores. A hefty relocation fee charge by the nasd district for all those moving in for the quality schools at nasd might of helped matters. However, my children have yet to get those "quality teachers". Maybe if the teachers seek employment elsewhere, maybe we will see residents move into an even better district that offers more. And when the next district's contract expires..here we go again. It ends up to keep going around. Yes, the school board has been and still sounds extemely hostile, morale is aweful and a strike is pending. Teachers lets hear it all.. most of you do deserve better treatment from your superiors.
You hear so many people compariing teaching to other professions. But teaching is a union job and you can't compare a union job to a non-union job. There are just too many variables there. To non-union workers, union workers seem lazy and spoiled. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. But you can't compare apples to lemons.
Finally got around to reading the benefits part of the teachers package as posted on the district web site. All I can say is.... wow! Wish I had "the poorest health care coverage in the valley" -NAEA union pres.
Also, I found that the district does indeed offer 100% coverage of a yearly mammogram to persons over 40 years. This was brought up at the board meeting by a parent who was told by a teacher that this wasn't covered. Now, perhaps this teacher was misinformed. I would hate to think they were trying to sway public sentiment by perpetuating falsehoods....
I haven't seen, and I hope it doesn't come to bashing the teachers in this situation.
The fact is they are acting within the process that the state has given them.
I don't begrudge anyone who is offered a good deal, or who wants a fair deal.
The issue to me is that we've seen one offer by one side. It has been rejected, but what the teacher's want hasn't been presented. That is the critical missing piece.
The district offer looks fair - union or not. And what we need is to understand the teacher's position - to hear their explanation plus what would make the current offer fair.
We've heard some of the explanation, but not what they would accept.
I don't think whether or not an offer is fair has much to do with the fact that the teachers are unionized. Fair is fair. If the raise is over the national and local average, the benefits are above what most others get, and the vacation is as well - its seems at face value to be fair.
Again, we need to find out what they want and we haven't seen it. The fact that we don't know what they want doesn't make a teacher lazy or otherwise. The two have no bearing on one another.
The second comment hit it on the head for me - as long as we don't know what they want, the longer they claim the offer is unfair, the more ungrateful they will sound. And I think the more they are perceived as being ungrateful, the more personal it will become (ie the lazy comments).
Let's hope while the fact-finder is at work the teachers will help us better understand their needs so fair judgement can be made by the people who ultimately pay the bills. No matter the outcome we will be paying more, the question is how much more and is it merited.
I think one of the teachers points is that the 4-5% increase isn't really that because they are asked to give back 2% in the form of contributions for health care.
I think issue that has been alluded to but not openly discussed is the unpleasant curriculum meetings that take place. There are too many, they are too long, and the person in charge (who I won;t meantion) is an unpleasant, demanding individual. Kind if tough to stand up at a public meeting and say we don't like working with Jane Doe.
The time spent at curriculum meetings has gone way overboard along with that.. these meetings are taking place when teachers could be working on classroom plans or planning time.
The prep time issue has been mentioned and as you say, I don't think at this stage at least anyone is going to be calling individuals out. The district's offer does not directly address this, it only says it is open to discussion. This is definitely one area that is contentious and hasn't been settled.
I would disagree with saying a raise isn't a raise because there is a medical contribution. I'd also say you can't deduct the full 2% because in the first year it is 1.5% and the teachers are already making a contribution.
I think the bigger issue with the pay is in regard to what I understand from others of an elimination of certain steps that result in the added charts in the offer noting one time deductions as the teacher pointed out in the letter I posted.
I'll be the first to admit I don't know enough to be able to comment in any more detail or to know what has been removed or what the impact is.
Again, it'd be nice to see the counter proposal by the teachers to get a gauge of how close or far apart they really are.
Thanks to all for contributing the conversation!
Ross
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