STA Negotiation Update

Negotiations Team
2022-2023

Lance Bradshaw   Melanie Harahara   Lori Meaux   
Luke Towne   Patty Wilber   Cameron Williams    

Negotiations Updates

Agreement 2021-22

Article XVI  Employee Benefits- The benefit cap was raised from $9,000 to $12,000 for the year. This means the District will pay $12,000 of your benefits premium. Employees are responsible for the remaining amount if premiums are more than $12,000 for the year. This change will be effective September 1, 2022.

Article XIII Hours of Employment- Language was added that states that hours it takes to complete the yearly mandated trainings will be provided during contract hours. Therefore, administration will have 1 ½ days of the 5 prep days prior to school starting instead of the previous 2 ½ days.

Negotiations for the 2022-23 will begin within the next couple of months. Salary and Benefits along with three other articles can be opened for negotiations. 

The current contract will expire on June 30, 2023.



July 31, 2020

For the last two days, the STA negotiating team and the District met to bargain the MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) for our return to school and distance learning. We have made progress on transfers, professional development, and distance learning. However, we have not come close to an agreement on providing flexibility for work location and contract hours. We have not yet discussed the hybrid AM/PM model because there are still too many unknowns. We will be going back to the table next week to finish what we could not complete this week. Below are some details about key topics that we want you to be aware of because we are getting so close to our first day of work.

  1. Transfers- Human Resources will be sending out transfer opportunities for the 2020-21 school year. This will include year-long distance learning positions for both general education and special education teachers, as well as intervention resource positions. These positions are temporary for this school year only and as of right now will be taught from campus. If you choose to transfer, you will have first priority to return to your current position as long as enrollment change does not eliminate that position. Transfers will close on Tuesday, August 4.

  2. Doctor's Note- If you are planning on submitting a doctor's note to HR, we recommend you do that as soon as possible and submit your request for a distance learning position if that is your desired position.

  3. AM/PM Model- After the county gets off the watchlist, the District plan is to return to school with the AM/PM model. The plan, which includes hours, has not been finalized yet, but teachers will see approximately half of their students in the morning and half in the afternoon, with lunch for teachers in between.

  4. Distance Learning Professional Development- You will have the opportunity to submit to your principal for a stipend any extra distance learning trainings you plan to attend or have attended this summer. Trainings will need to be completed prior to the end of the first trimester. This will be similar to the former PLP but with less paperwork. Please keep track of the trainings and hours you attend and report these to your principal.

  5. Membership Meeting- After we finish bargaining the MOU, we will hold a general membership meeting to go over the details with you and allow you to ask questions. We are working on implementing an electronic voting system to allow us to ratify the MOU and conduct elections from April, once we return.

As you have noticed, things are changing daily. We are doing our best to keep up with all the changes. Because principals have returned to work, you will start getting more information and guidance for the start of our school year.

July 22, 2020

At last night's school board meeting the Board approved the objectives of the Safe Schools Reopening Plan. They also approved the plan to start school on August 19th with a distance model and move to an am/pm hybrid model when the county is off the watchlist.

In the letter sent by Dr. Baranski today, she explained her plan to have all employees working from their campuses. However, STA on Monday submitted a Demand to Bargain anything that affects the working conditions of members related to Covid 19 and the reopening of schools. We've moved up negotiations to July 29th and 30th so we can provide answers to your questions. We will be negotiating the following items;

  1. Working on campus during distance learning. We'd like this to be as flexible as possible and will strive for that flexibility to allow teachers to do their jobs as well as meet the needs of their families.

  2. Transferring to a year-long distance learning position. We know there are many teachers who have underlying health conditions that would necessitate them taking one of these positions. It is STA's position that in a state of emergency such as this, teachers must not be penalized for making decisions caused by the pandemic. Whether or not a teacher gets their position back after this year will be negotiated.

  3. What will distance learning look like? At this point, we do not know the specifics of the distance learning program teachers will be providing when we start school. The Governor's guidelines state daily interaction with a teacher, but not specifics. How instruction is delivered and the amount of minutes are part of the distance learning plan which will be negotiated.

  4. What will the AM/PM model look like? Again, we will be negotiating the effects of this model on the working conditions of teachers. Times and expectations will be bargained and put into effect prior to the implementation of this plan.

July 9, 2020

In light of this week's school board action and Dr. Baranski's communication with staff, STA would like to quickly gather hard data on how teachers are feeling about returning to campuses next month. Please take this survey by this Sunday, July 12.

SURVEY LINK: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/postquarantine

The school board met on July 7 and discussed the reopening plan. About 200 people were in attendance, and seventeen people submitted comments. If you would like to read the comments, they can be found here. Before the discussion, Dr. Baranski shared the points that would be covered in the reopening plan. The PowerPoint presentation that she shared can be found here. The points covered in the plan included:

  • Student and staff arrival procedures, including daily temperature checks and screenings

  • Daily cleaning and sanitizing

  • Social distancing protocols in the classroom and in outdoor spaces

  • Health and safety protocols including handwashing & face coverings, education and routines, and procedures for positive COVID cases

  • Food Services

  • Transportation Services

  • Child care

Negatiation Update Archieve

Dec. 2017

Dr. Baranski also shared a summary of the survey comments that were submitted both by the community and the staff. Because the survey only had open-ended questions, the results were shared by themes that the District's team saw in the answers. The themes can be found in the PowerPoint link shared above.

In addition, the Board of Education with District officials visited classrooms around the District and determined that classrooms could hold about 25 students with 6 ft social distancing in place. As Dr. Baranski shared in her recent communication, she recommended that the Board approve going forth with finalizing the plan for full return with a reduction of class size in 4th-8th grade to about 25 and with keeping cohorts of students together for the full day.

After the presentation, the Board discussed the results and asked questions about a variety of aspects of the plan to return to school including but not limited to social distancing, PE requirements, assessments, the continuation of the music program, and PPE for staff and students. Ultimately, the Board voted to go forward with a full return to school with the reduction of class size to 25 in grades 4th-8th.

The logistics committee will continue with creating the guidelines for implementing the Board's plan to reopen. The guidelines explain what needs to happen in order for schools to open safely. It will be the task of each school's administration and staff to figure out how to make those guidelines work. Each site has different configurations that make it necessary for those decisions to be made by staff members.

In addition to planning for reopening, we must also plan for staffing. It's important that you complete the staffing survey that Dr. Baranski sent. If circumstances change for you at any time prior to our return to school, you can go back and resubmit the form with the change.

At this time, STA is concerned that districts all around the county are creating plans that give parents the option of distance learning. With the spike in cases and the reclosing of some businesses, we feel that it is imperative that we recognize the fact that some parents do not feel safe having their children return to school on campus. The Board's number one priority is getting students back in classrooms. STA's number one priority is to negotiate the plan for safely reopening schools.

September 23rd, 2019

REMINDER, our contract expired June 30th, 2019. We are continuing to negotiate.

  • Article III Employee Rights (agreed)
  • Article V Association Rights (agreed)
  • Article X Transfers (agreed)
  • Article XV Salary Provisions (some movement on both sides)
  • Article XVI Employee Benefits (very little movement by the District)
  • Article XVII Payroll Deductions (agreed)
  • Article IX Class Size (District refused to negotiate)
  • Article XIII Hours of Employment (very little movement)
  • Create article for SPED (STA created an article, waiting for a response)

After meeting on September 23rd,we've moved a little closer on salary and benefits but still have a way to go. We've continued discussions around the hours of employment article in relation to the 27 professional growth hours. We will meet again on Tuesday, October 1st for the afternoon.

At that time, we hope to come to an agreement that is fair for all.

May 28, 2019

The STA negotiating team and the District began meeting in February 2019 to negotiate contract language for the 2018-2019 school year. STA was interested in negotiating language for the following articles:

  • Article III Employee Rights
  • Article V Association Rights
  • Article X Transfers
  • Article XV Salary Provisions
  • Article XVI Employee Benefits
  • Article XVII Payroll Deductions
  • Article IX Class Size
  • Article XIII Hours of Employment
  • Create article for SPED

After meeting on May 28th, we've come to an agreement on transfers, employee rights, association rights, and payroll deductions. We've moved a little closer on salary and benefits but still have a way to go. There's been a lot of discussion around the hours of employment article in relation to the 27 professional growth hours. Please make sure to complete the survey Cameron Williams sent out. The results of the survey will help guide us in the negotiations on this article. Due to the end of the school year, we won't be able to meet again until August 12th. At that time, we hope to come to an agreement that is fair for all.

February 15, 2017

The negotiations team has met twice with the District over the last month. As you know, we are negotiating salary & benefits, as well as the articles pertaining to class size and hours of employment in our contract. At this time, we have made no movement on Class Size and very little movement on Hours of Employment. For Class Size, the District is holding their interpretation of the contract and how it is calculated which is not how class size has been calculated historically. Site reps will be sharing more information on class size at your schools. For salary, the District has offered a 1% increase on schedule and a one-time 1% increase off schedule and feels that this is a reasonable offer of compensation. To clarify, "on schedule" means that we will receive an ongoing 1% increase to our salary. "Off schedule" means that it will be an increase of 1% for the year of 17-18 only and then it will be gone. Off-schedule is more like a 1% bonus for one year. At this time, the District does not have an interest in raising the benefit cap unless it is subtracted from their salary offer. In other words, they are looking at offering us a 1% salary & benefits increase as a total compensation package. At this point, the salary offer is not enough to cover the increases we are expecting to our health care. We will continue to negotiate in good faith to get a fair and reasonable offer before bringing it to a vote.

December 7, 2017

The negotiations team began meeting with the District in May. As you know, we are negotiating salary & benefits, as well as the articles pertaining to class size and hours of employment in our contract. We have shared our interests with the district including class size in general education classrooms, combination classrooms, special day classrooms and RSP caseload. We've also shared our interests in hours of employment focusing on professional development. We have met with the District 6 times total and have made some movement in hours of employment. We are still in the process of negotiating class size and salary. We are set to negotiate again after the governor's proposed budget in January.