Teachers Handbook Negotiations/Rebuttal

Wednesday’s Assignment

1. We would like to see the district change the nomenclature it gives to sick days. We currently can accrue up to 90 sick days each year. When the public sees that all teachers can have up to 90 "sick" days each year, it is easy for them to think negatively of teachers and imagine that teachers are "sick" 90 days a year. Most members of the public do not know the that past school boards We believe it would benefit both staff and the district if the district designated these days as income protection days.
   
   Rebuttal Statement: We understand the staff view have concerns about the designation of these days, but staff members could potentioally abuse the system if the naming switched from "sick" days to "income protection" days. Sick days should be used in cases of genuine illness. We believe that this designation encourages staff to take off only when ill. Current data shows that with the designation of "sick" days, staff only use between two and three sick days a year. Removing that designation may result in more time off used by staff which will reduce the number of days present for their students. This disruption may result in inadequate instuction for district students.
   
2. The handbook recently changes to include hefty penalties for a staff member breaking their contract. Traditionally, staff members giving less than 30 days notice were required to forfeit $250 for breaking their contracts with less than 30 days notice. he current change states that teachers who resign on or after July 15th will forfeit $750 and teachers who resign on or after August 15 will forfeit $1500. This seems like an excessive amount of forfeiture and has only recently been added to the handbook, giving employees insufficient notice of the changes.
   
   Rebuttal Statement: The district has a responsibility to provide every student with highly qualified teachers. In the past, the forfeiture of $250 did not deter staff from resigning even days before the beginning of the school year. This places the district in the untenable position of having to find a highly qualified teacher after most districts have alread hired the best available candidates. The deadlines and forfeitures are designed to help staff make decisions in a timely manner so that the district can better hire needed staff and project their expenditures for the year.
   
3. We would like to see modifications to the teacher salary schedule. Currently, teacher salaries have been frozen since the passage of Act 10, and many yeachers who had already completed approved graduate courses and programs of study did not receive the salary increases promised to them if they took these courses. We would like to see the district use available monies from the recently discovered fund surplus to fund a one-time movement on the salary schedule to honor the commitment made to those staff members.
   
   Rebuttal Statement: Act 10 has created a new framework under which we must all operate. It may seem simple enough to utilize the fund balance surplus to reward teachers for taking graduate courses, but that type of reward does not fit into the merit pay system the district is currently investigating. Moving that surplus into teacher salaries will result in a reduction of revenue for next year. In addition, moving that money into Fund 73 instead will allow the district to meet its post-employment obligations for already committed retirement benefits.
   
4. Current language in the employee handbook regarding transfer and reassignments simply states "The District may transfer and/or reassign employees to a different building or department at its discretion based on the needs of the District." This single sentence undermines the years of service or the level of expertise a staff member has. It appears callous to use a single sentence to change the career arc of a teacher.
   
   Rebuttal Statement: While we will attempt to honor current placements of staff members, the District has an obligation to put the best teachers we can in front of our students. The District requires flexibility to ensure that all teachers benefit from a highly qualified teacher. By reserving the right to transfer or reassign staff as best meets the needs of the District, we can ansure a quality education for all of our students.
   
5. We would like to see the addition of personal days to the employee handbook. While the district does allow for up to 90 sick days, the designation as "sick" days requires staff to be untruthful if they have an appointment that is not medically related. By providing staff with two personal days, the district would allow teachers to truthfully miss a day if they have a sick child or need to attend to the needs of a parent.
   
   Rebuttal Statement: The addition of two personal days would mean a total possible of 92 missed days a year. Even if this represents an extreme case, the District would have difficulty convincing the public of the need for any staff member to miss 92 days of work. Staff currently can accrue up to 90 sick days per year and should utilize those days appropriately. An addition two days of paid time off represents an additional expenditure to the district that would have to be balanced against other necessary programs funded under Fund 10.