REA Bargaining Update
Reynolds School District and the Reynolds Education Association have been bargaining since May 3, 2011. So far, seven sessions have been held, most of which were four hours long. The sessions were open to the public on May 3, May 17, June 2, June 9, August 8, August 29 and September 20, 2011. The next session is also open to the public and will be held at Woodland Elementary Library on October 3, 2011 from 4:30 to 8:30pm.
You may have heard that the district recently “refused to bargain.” We want to set the record straight. The public employees’ collective bargaining act designates some items that are mandatory and some that are permissive. Mandatory subjects require the parties to engage in good faith bargaining. Permissive subjects enable either party to refuse to bargain. In Oregon, class size and when teacher preparation time is scheduled during the work day (within the student instructional day or before or after school) are permissive topics.
Over the last several bargaining session, the District has discussed with the Association several proposals related to class size and scheduling teacher preparation time. On the matter of preparation time, the district wants flexibility to schedule the required amount of preparation time before, after, or during the instructional day instead of the current language that requires that preparation time be provided during the instructional day. After considerable discussion on both of these topics, the District reached a decision and notified the bargaining team that we would discontinue bargaining on the two permissive subjects of class size and preparation time.
In addition to the language on these two permissive topics of class size and preparation time, there remains plenty to discuss about how to resolve preparation time scheduling and how to handle class size loads. The District is committed to resolving these other matters at the bargaining table.
What does this mean about teacher preparation time?
The district is not taking away or trying to reduce the amount of preparation time for teachers. The District has not proposed reducing any preparation time requirements. The only issue the district has raised is the requirement to schedule those minutes during the instructional day. The district needs flexibility in scheduling as the number of elementary specialists has been reduced in recent years. The district has not made any proposals to changes in preparation time for middle or high school teachers.
What does this mean about class size?
The district does care about class sizes and we want to have the smallest class sizes possible. The issue of class size is important and worth discussing. We cannot agree to allow the association to set the class sizes as their proposal attempts to do. The district has offered keeping the current language if the association would agree not to grieve the current class size guidelines.
In the current financial crisis, we are committed to our teachers’ and our students’ needs. Please review the current proposals and updates on bargaining at: http://www.reynolds.k12.or.us/go/negotiations
Rered to provide licensed teacher staff with step raises of approximately 3% for 2011-12. The District is offering no step, cost of living or insurance raises for 2011-2013.
Please check back at: www.reynolds.k12.or.us and click on Negotiations for additional updates on the mediation process, which the District believes will assist in reaching a resolution to our differences.
