The BEA and BSD Bargaining Teams met for the second and third times on Wednesday, April 16 and Wednesday, April 23.The majority of the discussion focused on the calendar for the 2008-2009 school year.The parties came to a tentative agreement on the calendar, highlights of which include:
Two additional “Restricted Wednesdays,” for a total of 8 – meaning there will be 8 Wednesdays where no district meetings will be scheduled
The process of negotiating the calendar provides a great example of how important input from BEA members is.Survey data clearly showed that BEA members preferred to keep the current vacation schedule intact and that members desired more Wednesdays that were meeting-free.This information was used specifically to negotiate the extra “Restricted Wednesdays” and to keep the Mid-Winter Break a full week long.
Discussions also began regarding a calendar for the 2009-2010 school year.That year poses a few more challenges than a standard calendar mostly due to a later than usual Labor Day.No conclusions were reached, but substantive discussion occurred.
You Should Know
The Association will soon be providing the district with proposals regarding compensation (specifically increases to salary and health benefits) and regarding the Curriculum Web and its impact on workload.
Other Bargaining News
We have started a series of informational dinners where BEA members can sit down with members of the Bargaining Team and discuss many of the issues that concern them.The first few dinners have been very productive, with lots of great information and discussion between members.There is one more dinner for high school attendance areas (May 1 – Interlake/International attendance zone) and we are scheduling at least four more to rotate through each attendance zone again.Thanks to everyone who has attended these dinners so far and we are looking forward to meeting with many more of you in the future.
General Membership Meeting
Save the date – Tuesday, June 10, 2008.There will be a general membership meeting after school to get an update on bargaining before the summer break.Every member should plan on attending!Specifics on time and location will be coming soon.
Our next bargaining session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 7th.
One morning I had breakfast with a retired BEA member who worked in the district for nearly 30 years.Since we were both Social Studies teachers, we naturally began to talk about the past.
He mentioned how the rights of employees improved dramatically once public school employee unions were created.This veteran member was concerned that current members don’t know how different it was even as recently as the early 1970s.
For this reason, we have created a new section in the BEA Bulletin titled Thanks to Unions.As we participate in the full contract bargain that is occurring right now, it is important to remember the rights that were earned years ago through bargaining, legislation, and/or protesting.
Not all of these gains were initially achieved by NEA, WEA, affiliated local unions like BEA, or even in WashingtonState.Often, other unions led the way.However, the common theme is that the collective power of union members made it possible to improve the working conditions of millions of people over many generations.As one bumper sticker I have says…
“The Weekend…Brought to You By Unions!”
Talk With the BSDSchool Board
The conversations with the BSD School Board have been very open, honest, and constructive.We hope the following BEA members will honor the time commitment of the Board and meet with them on the following days.The BSD Board wants to hear your opinions on any topic.
A mistake was made last week when indicating what room the meetings would take place in.All remaining meetings will be in the LIBRARY of Odle or SHS.
PE, Fine Art, and CTE4/24/08 in the SHS Library at 4:15 PM
Math5/1/08 in the Odle MS Library at 4:15 PM
Social Studies5/8/08 in the SHS Library at 4:15 PM
Librarians, Counselors5/15/08 in the SHS Library at 4:15 PM
& Psychologists
World Languages5/22/08 in the SHS Library at 4:15 PM
Grades 2-3 Elementary5/29/08 in the Odle MS Library at 4:15 PM
