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School board, teachers ink new contract

Bullying concerns from student and parent include call to action for board

David Colburn
Posted 5/25/22

VIRGINIA - ISD 2142 teachers will work the final days of the school year with a new contract after school board members, without comment, voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve an agreement …

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School board, teachers ink new contract

Bullying concerns from student and parent include call to action for board

Posted

VIRGINIA - ISD 2142 teachers will work the final days of the school year with a new contract after school board members, without comment, voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve an agreement that’s been nearly a year in the making.
EdMN Local 1046 and district negotiators reached a tentative contract agreement last October, and there was optimism that they were done. But union members deadlocked on the first vote and then rejected it soundly in the next, the key sticking points related to issues of compensation.
Mediated negotiations failed to produce results, and a resolution for the board to declare an impasse was on their January agenda. But they removed it when both sides agreed to return to the negotiating table. A second tentative agreement was voted down, but a breakthrough came in early May. This time, 152 voting members “overwhelmingly passed the offer,” according to Local 1046 President Tim Herring, and on Tuesday, without saying so, board members appeared happy and relieved to give it their stamp of approval as well.
Herring described components that helped shift the needle for approval by the teachers.
“A fair stipend was agreed upon for this past year of the contract, and a fair percentage on the salary matrix was agreed upon for the second year of the contract,” Herring said. This was something our members were very clear about needing in order to vote yes.”
Teachers will receive a one-time $2,000 stipend for the 2021-22 school year, the first year of a two-year agreement. Pay levels on the salary matrix for the upcoming year will increase by two percent.
“We were able to negotiate a slightly higher 403b lifetime contribution amount,” Herring continued, “but in the future would like a higher district amount matched based on years of service. We also agreed to research our health insurance plans to make sure members are utilizing each plan to its fullest, and making sure members are on the right plan based on needs.”
The new contract sets the maximum lifetime contribution at $55,000.
Coaching stipends were a hot topic for board members before negotiations on the new contract ever commenced last year. Coaching positions and activities directors were all bumped up by $100, and a simmering dispute about differential pay levels was resolved by moving softball and baseball head and assistant coaching positions up to the same level as their football, volleyball, basketball and swimming counterparts. Head coaches in those sports will be paid $5,438 for a season. Track, cross country, and golf head coaches will be paid $4,383, with the head coach for track and cross country receiving an extra $100 stipend for each extra school they supervise.
• Heard from a district student and a parent about how bullying this year, primarily in the form of derogatory attacks from other students both in person and online, has impacted them to the point of needing regular mental health counseling sessions to get through each week. The pair also criticized school administrators who they said have not handled investigations of complaints in proper and timely fashion and have not communicated effectively. Both ended their comments with a question to the board, “What will you do about this?” As the presentation was during the public comment period of the meeting, board policy dictates that members do not respond to presenters, and they did not. However, at the end of the meeting, member Bob Larson addressed the comments and sparked a short discussion that led to members agreeing that they should get a good overview of the processes in question in an upcoming working session before considering any future action.
• Approved numerous personnel actions, including accepting the resignation of North Woods boys basketball head coach Will Kleppe from that position, effective immediately. Kleppe also submitted his resignation from the Grizzlies’ boys golf head coach position, but will coach next spring before the resignation becomes effective.