- This is a public hearing on the Teacher Collective Bargaining Contract, and we're all standing, so we
- can do it. Pledge of Allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for
- which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all
- very much. Please be seated.
- And so I will turn it directly over to Dr. Sanders to present the collective bargaining agreement. Yes,
- so we have obviously we have a very talented and dedicated group of teachers that work for Edgewood
- schools and
- So when we come to bargaining, we really have already established a good working relationship. And Brandy,
- who's the new president of the Teachers Association, has really worked hard this year to be proactive,
- get a lot of information ahead of time. And so really when we went to our bargaining meetings,
- went very well and. We we kind of wish we do wish that that we could have done more given the economic
- circumstances that the state legislature legislators has put have put the school corporations in has
- put us in a really difficult situation. So we we the whole time we had two goals. One is to try to.
- recognize the hard work of our teachers, but also make sure that we kept our school corporation in a
- good spot financially. And so I think we came up with an agreement that accomplishes both those goals.
- Before you, you have a summary of the tentative agreement and you have the red line version of the teachers
- contract. I'm just going to go over the summary.
- and talk about that for a little bit. On page three of the contract, there was a change in language
- on ECA guidelines and definitions, and it now reads, the parties agree that a committee will be formed
- to review the ECA schedule proposed by the association. This committee will make a binding recommendation
- no later than January 1st, 2026.
- The positions will be added to the ECA schedule at that time and bargaining unit members holding those
- positions will be compensated for performing these duties retroactive to the beginning of the 2526 school
- year. So we wanted to take our time to look at the ECA positions
- and make a good decision and a collaborative decision. And so rather than to kind of rush into it during
- bargaining sessions, we decided to work on this over the next couple months. And then page eight, section A.
- We have the, when a teacher takes off, they, before a holiday like Labor Day, fall break, Thanksgiving
- break, winter break, spring break, summer break, and other holidays, that if they take off either before
- or after they're charged two days for every one that they take off,
- We wanted to put more specific language in there for teachers who might just take a half a day. And
- so if they take a half a day instead of being charged two, they will only be charged one of those days.
- And also, we wanted to do a little better job. Last year was the first year we did this, and it was
- kind of a trial year.
- So, we want to become more timely on getting the appeals approved and communicated back to the teachers.
- So, we added the language that these appeals would be responded to within
- 10 school days of the date of the appeal But we've come up with a way to to do this that it's just going
- to be immediate So we're not going to have any problems meeting that 10-day period We increased the
- next one of the page 14 section and for teachers who Need to take paid parental leave we
- increase that from five to 10 days. And then on the back of that page, that summary sheet is appendix,
- if you look at appendix A, this salary grid, we agreed that there would be no base salary increases
- for the 25, 26 school year. We agreed that the teachers
- who have earned their early literacy endorsement would receive a $200 base increase and the parties
- agreed that each teacher will receive a one-time stipend payment in the amount of $2,000 for the 25-26
- school year and that stipend will be paid in a special check probably
- a little after Thanksgiving for end of November 1st of December. So that's it. I don't know if Brandy,
- do you have anything you want to add to that?
- I just want to say that it was really a great opportunity to have this new experience. We had a brand
- new team. We had one returning member on our bargaining team. And then, of course, we have a brand new
- Uniserve director. And so she was navigating nine different school corporations, but was able to honor
- the dates that we had established. We sent out after last year, and last year was my first year, but
- I was more just an observer, but realizing we needed just
- have more transparency, more communication, and so our team sent out several surveys to our members
- just gathering information, what was their input, what
- did, what were their priorities? And again, I think everybody knew this year after last year, it was
- going to be a leaner year. But again, going into next year, I feel like we have a better plan for next
- year. Again, the two for one is a top priority for members, but we are, Dr. Sanders and Mrs. Barrett,
- they're going to give us data to let us see
- you know, how are those days being utilized before this came into the contract? What is happening now?
- So at least, you know, there's still negotiations to happen, conversation, but we also want to be able
- to tell members, hey, this is why this is in place. And so, you know, we'll be gathering that data over
- the next year and, you know, be able to, you know, refine that or,
- explain why that is in play, but thank you. And yes, we ratified, we had the majority ratified it, so
- that was good news too. So thank you. And this is a public hearing in case anybody from the public wanted
- to ask a question or speak to the issue.
- and so we don't have anybody who signed up to talk, but we'll have the special board meeting October
- 29th for the school board to approve the contract. Well, if there's no visitor comments, I will close
- the public hearing on the teacher collective bargaining tentative agreement, and we thank you all for
- being here.
- and we will have a building corporation meeting in about three minutes and then back to our regular
- board meeting at six.