This has been another rigorous and successful school year for our students, employees and community! So much has been happening, including recent meetings between the District’s and Teachers Association’s bargaining teams. During two recent sessions (on May 19 and 31), the teams addressed some key issues and began preliminary planning for 2017-2018 negotiations.
PLC/RtI. The teams discussed important progress made and positive challenges ahead for Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Response to Instruction (RtI).
Budget Adoptions and 2017-2018 Reopener Negotiations. District representatives shared that the State Budget and the District’s Budget are both expected to be approved later this summer. As set forth in the current collective bargaining agreement, 2017-2018 negotiations will be limited to Class Size, Hours, Total Compensation and two additional articles per team. The teams agreed to begin these negotiations in August 2017.
Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI). The teams negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding SAI for the 2017-2018 school year. Several years ago, the District began to transition its instructional delivery model for students with disabilities to an SAI delivery model. SAI began at one school in the 2014-2015 school year and has grown to nine schools by the end of the 2016-2017 school year. The SAI delivery model will be implemented District-wide during the 2017-2018 school year. The MOU clarifies the applicability of existing collective bargaining agreement provisions to SAI teachers (e.g., additional preparation time, time to complete assessments and clerical assistance time). The MOU also clarifies the applicability of District-Initiated Reassignments language (Article 9.5), caseloads for SAI teachers and additional support options to be considered in the event that SAI teacher caseloads reach certain levels. The MOU also provides that SAI will be addressed during the parties’ 2017-2018 negotiations. A copy of the MOU is available here.
Amended Job Description. Lastly, the teams agreed to an amended job description for the Assessment Resource Teacher position.
Have a wonderful summer!
