Brownsville board approves teachers’ contract
Classes are back in session today as the Brownsville Area school board and teachers came to an agreement Monday after a two-week strike that followed more than a year of negotiating. Teachers unanimously approved the proposed agreement early Monday and the board of directors at a special meeting unanimously voted to ratify the 2001-2006 contract, that includes a steady percentage increase in salary, a benefit package available to all teachers during the life of the contract and a conversion of health insurance carriers.
Both parties said they were happy to finally come to an agreement that they believe is fair to all involved.
“I’m very pleased. That was our priority to get the kids back in school,” said Director Stella Broadwater, chief negotiator for the district.
President Andy Dorsey said he realizes the whole ordeal has been hard on everyone, especially parents. He said the Brownsville Education Association’s (BEA) negotiation team and the board of directors worked together to come to a settlement that was good for both the teachers and the district.
Teachers in attendance were equally as pleased and clapped and cheered after the last director voted in favor of the contract.
“We’re elated. We’re ready to go back to work,” said, Diana Michael, BEA spokesperson. “We’re very thankful the board worked diligently to come to this agreement.”
Teachers worked without a contract for more than a year and took to the picket lines after negotiations that began in January 2001 failed to produce a contract.
Michael said negotiations finally began to produce positive movement after the board and the BEA negotiation team began negotiating one-on-one.
According to Micheal, this contract agreement follows only two “formal” and one “informal” meetings at the bargaining table where both parties negotiated directly instead of through solicitor Matt Hoffman, who had initially been negotiating on the district’s behalf.
Residents opposed to Hoffman’s involvement at a regular meeting earlier this month prompting the board to remove him from negotiations and meet with the board that same night. It was that meeting that officially put the negotiation process in motion.
Michael said taking Hoffman out of negotiations and negotiating directly with the board made a “big difference.”
“Things started happening after everyone began working together,” Michael said, noting that before Hoffman was taken out of he equation, meetings were “spaced out and not consistent.”
Broadwater agreed.
“I said from the beginning. If we go eye to eye with these people that we entrust with our children and remove the big dogs, we could come to an agreement. You have to put the issues on the table and be honest and that’s what we did.”
Broadwater said she had never felt that the teachers were asking for much.
“I feel what they asked for was not much and if we had more I would give them more because the majority of our teachers do have masters degrees and they deserve it.”
Broadwater said the main working issues in the agreement were the conversion of health care providers and the change in the retirement benefits.
Under the new contract, the teachers’ main compromise was the conversion of health care providers. Teachers will convert from Blue Cross Indemnity Plan to Select Blue Managed Care Plan, a move that will save the district $162,000. Teachers resisted the move at the onset of the negotiations, but the district contends the change does not present a difference in the level of benefits but in the delivery of service.
But the new contract does give all teachers a salary increase during each school year and provides a non-restricted retirement benefit that is available to all teachers during the life of the contract.
Michael said the BEA’s negotiation team worked out a revised salary increase that is a little higher than that originally proposed and gives all teachers an increase the first year of the contract. She said the new supplemental retirement benefit is now good for the entire length of the contract and will “benefit more teachers than just a few.”
Teachers have said that they are the lowest paid teachers in the county. The new contract includes higher salary increases that will put Brownsville teachers’ salaries up to par with the rest of the county in the last year of the contract.
In 2002-02 and 2002-03, teachers will receive a 3 percent increase in salary. From 2003 to 2006, teachers will receive a 4 percent yearly salary increase. The contract sets starting salaries at $25,183 in 2000-01 and will increase to $30,053 in 2005-06. Under the new contract, maximum salaries are $53,420 in 2000-01 and will increase to $63,750 in 2005-06.
John Ball, BEA’s chief negotiator said the new contract in the last year makes Brownsville’s salaries “comparable” to what other teachers are currently earning.
Laurel Highlands pays teachers with masters degrees at maximum salary $62,300. Uniontown pays a maximum salary of $61,700 and Frazier pays top teachers $56,188.
The biggest difference in the new contract though is the retirement benefits, which includes a contribution of $350 per month for 10 years toward health insurance and $40 per day payment for up to 200 days maximum of unused sick leave.
The district’s earlier offer proposed a $300 monthly contribution toward health care for seven years but limited that benefit to teachers with a particular number of years served, which varied during the years of the contract.
Michael had said under the proposed agreement the incentive was only beneficial to four teachers who had 35 years of service during the first two years of the contract.
The new contract also reduces the teachers’ workday by 15 minutes, a portion of the contract Director Rocky Brashear opposes.
“I’m in favor of the whole contract, except the 15 minutes. In good conscious, I feel students are at risk and I hope we never have that come into play,” Brashear said, explaining that students may be in the building before teachers and will only be supervised by the building principal.
But both Ball and Michael said students would not be in buildings when teachers are not.
They said 15 minutes were added to the teacher’s day, not for instruction time, but because of bus-scheduling conflicts in the elementary schools when students were moved to different schools. They said that time was meant for teachers to use as prep time, but that under the current schedule, teachers will still be in the buildings when students arrive.
The new contract also included the following language changes.
Commitment to employ one part-time paraprofessional assistant per elementary building.
Secondary preparation time revised to 45 minutes (from 85 minutes) with the remaining time to be scheduled for student mentoring or tutoring.
Professional dress code.
Students will begin making up for the lost school days on Nov. 5, originally and in-service day.
Dorsey said the board will work with teachers to develop a new school calendar to make-up for loss school days.