Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home teachers and School District 55 reached a tentative agreement on four articles in their contract Thursday evening, but they still have 13 to 15 along with salary and insurance issues to resolve.
District teachers are teaching without a contract, which expired on June 30. The contract was for three years. They began negotiating with the district last spring and both sides took a break for the summer. They have met three times since school started in September.
“We’re just going through things, item by item, trying to make sure both sides understand anything we put into the contract,” Supt. Larry Horton said. He said he believes both sides of the table are doing well recognizing and understanding both viewpoints.
“We did clear some things off, and that felt good for both sides,” Sweet Home Education Association President Dan Swanson said. “And that felt more positive (after the previous meeting).”
Both sides have presented proposals, including salaries and insurance, he said, but they have not yet dealt in depth with those issues.
They also have yet to deal with language issues that would have financial impacts.
For example, one language issue deals with site councils, which include teachers, who receive stipends for their service, Horton said.
Another language issue with financial issues revolves around printing materials for teachers, their personnel files for example.
It’s not a huge impact, but the district would like to recover those costs, he said.
The teachers would like to have started working on salaries sooner, Swanson said. “They did offer a package, which was minimal, but it’s something we can move forward with.”
Thursday’s agreements included “teachers’ rights,” which will explicitly state that teachers shall not be subject to abuse from students, including harassment, intimidation, bullying, cyber bullying and menacing.
Other points of agreement include the following:
– The teacher work year, protecting teacher pay in the event the district is closed due to inclement weather or a declared public emergency that doesn’t impact district revenue. The district reserves the right to make up those days.
– Definition of vacancies while preserving the district’s right to declare when there is a new or vacant position the district wants to fill.
– Language cleanup regarding the intern teacher program, changing terms like “buddy teacher” to “support teacher.”
The contract has a total of 13 articles left, Horton said, but the union wants to add two more articles.
The union would like to split a couple of articles, Swanson said.
“I think we’re moving in a cooperative way toward resolution,” Horton said.
“We’re still moving in a positive direction. We’re still cooperating together.”
The teachers and district bargaining teams are scheduled to meet on Nov. 13, Nov. 24, Dec. 1, Dec. 16 and Dec. 18.
“It is everyone’s desire we be done no later than that last meeting date,” Horton said.