New process aids teachers, board to come to agreement
By Virgil Hervey
After an unusually brief negotiating period, the Yellow Springs Board
of Education approved a tentative contract with the school system’s
teachers at its June 12 meeting. The teachers union had approved the
agreement earlier in the month. In past years, negotiations have gone
on through summer to the start of the school year. In 2005, an agreement
was not reached until October.
According to Chris Rainey, newly retired president of the Yellow Springs
Education Association (YSEA), the key to successful bargaining was a
new approach in health insurance that will free up dollars for teacher
salaries. Another factor was the fact that both sides bargained without
lawyers and union representatives. At the start of the process, Rainey
said, Superintendent Norm Glismann suggested that the school system
employ a method called Interest-Based Bargaining (IBB). In IBB, the
two groups set aside their personal agendas and work for the benefit
of all involved. In the past, this method had not worked in the district,
but this time around “it worked like a charm.”
“We are lucky to have a community that backs us,” Rainey
said. “And the board wanted to protect the community’s investment.
It’s amazing how collegial two sides that are adversaries can
become when they are working together to solve problems. Both sides
were sick of issues not being resolved until the next school year. Both
sides were looking for a calmer, swifter resolution. Kudos to Norm for
suggesting IBB.”
Each side was represented by five people. For the teachers, rotating
participants were Rainey, Dave Smith, Robin Fast, Kevin O’Brien,
Becky O’Brien and Sarah Amin. The board team included Glismann,
board members Richard Lapedes and Anne Erickson, treasurer Joy Kitzmiller
and administrative assistant Susan Griffith.
Interviewed before the board meeting, Glismann said the teachers’
raises amounted to a 4 percent increase in the first year of the contract
and 3 percent raises in each of the last two years.
According to Rainey, money was less of an issue than “transparency
in communication.” The teachers want to know why decisions are
made in budgets, assignments and expectations for their working hours,
he said. Third party teacher evaluations were another item of importance
to the teachers.
“A committee will be formed for next year to create a completely
new teacher evaluation instrument,” Glismann said. The committee
will consist of the two principals, Glismann, two Mills Lawn teachers
and three teachers from YSHS/McKinney School.
“We brought it to the table,” Glismann said. “The
old method was too complicated and burdensome. The teachers didn’t
really like it either. It was too procedure oriented, rather than teacher
improvement oriented. And it took up too many pages in the agreement.”
The new approach to health care has its “pluses and minuses for
both sides,” according to Rainey. “It will save the board
money and result in better pay raises for the teachers. The teachers
passed it by a huge margin.”
In the past, medical coverage options were limited to single coverage
and family coverage. Kitzmiller brought to the table policies from four
different companies, two of which were offering a new feature, single
parent coverage, which costs less than full family coverage, because
only one adult is covered. According to Rainey, about 11 percent of
the teachers fall into this category. The teachers have also agreed
to a higher deductible and 90 percent in network coverage, where in
the past, 100 percent of bills were paid if treatment was in network.
Teachers make monthly contributions to the health insurance premiums,
but the schools contribute at a greater rate.
In return, in addition to increased salaries, at the beginning of every
year, each teacher will have $500 deposited into a Flexible Spending
Account (FSA) also known as a 125 Plan, to which they can add up to
another $1,900 tax-free with which to pay for whatever is not covered.
After two days of training with a federal mediator in the IBB system,
the two sides met for seven sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., to
hammer out the agreement in short order, Glismann said.
Contact: vhervey@ysnews.com