USEP and District Negotiations Going Nowhere Fast

USEP and District negations quickly turned sour when the District stonewalled USEP proposals and sought major restrictions on teacher transfer rights and illness/injury on the job leave time.

The District is also proposing to eliminate National Board Certification reimbursement and is resisting signing non-controversial Memorandums of Understanding that have been signed for years. Further, District representatives indicate that the District will seek to end early retirement incentives despite positive actuarial projections! So much for valuing employees!

In light of continued substitute shortages, USEP teams have proposed compensation for teachers who volunteer to substitute at their schools and improved compensation for SRP who substitute. Instead of making a counter proposal, the District threatened to deduct the costs of the USEP substitute proposal from teacher and SRP salary pay raises, which the District estimates to be around only 2 percent.

“It seems pretty clear that the District prefers to exploit teachers and SRP than pay them for the extra services they provide,” USEP President Kenny Blankenship remarked.

The instructional negotiation teams return to the table this Thursday!