Bargaining Update: New Proposals

After another week of bargaining sessions, proposals are moving and progressing along.  USEP confirmed the District’s intent to allow a few long-standing MOU’s to expire and received the District’s initial proposal on teacher evaluations. USEP also made progress passing opening language of our own.

The SRP team met on Wednesday and the Instructional team met on Tuesday of this week. Both teams had open conversations about the proposals on the table. The District has passed language to expand the Reasonable Suspicion Drug/Alcohol testing program from a “5-Panel” to a “9-Panel” and to establish the “Voluntary Sick Leave Donation” program which USEP responded by suggesting this program is better established, initially, as a Memorandum of Understanding as stated earlier.   USEP is also seeking to improve working conditions for all SRP and to address several Transportation Dept. concerns.

At the table –

Both USEP Teams Passed:

• Voluntary Sick Leave Donation MOU (as mutual) – reiterated USEP’s desire to introduce sick leave donation as a pilot program and proposed the expanded use of donated leave to include leave to care for family members with major illness.
• Opener #2: Article III-Union Rights – requiring district committees and advisory groups with teacher participants to be appointed equally by the Superintendent and USEP President.

The Board passed:

• Mutual Proposal – Article VII, Section D&E – attempt to move electronic job ads MOU into language; it appears that the proposal goes beyond simply moving the MOU into language.
• Article VII, Section BB – School Choice Preference Employee Request – (Both) attempts to move School Choice MOU to language, but adds condition for entry into specialized programs; such situations do not currently exist in the county.
• Implementation of the Student Success Act for the 2015-2016 School Year – (Instructional Only) attempts to establish one lesson observation for every teacher each semester, make DP inclusive (part of Domain3), shift balance of summative evaluation (to 65% instructional practice/35% student performance), and raise thresholds for Effective and Highly Effective ratings in observations.

Copies of proposals can be found at http://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/er/contracts/it-06-09-15

The District has concluded that they will not be passing the following MOU’s:

• Indoor Air/Environmental Quality
• Multi-Tiered System of Supports
• School Utilization-Skinny Periods
• FL K-12 Comp Reading Program (PLC) – district has indicated that PD points outlined as part of this MOU will still be offered through admin at each work site

USEP asked that the District present data regarding the impact of an additive DP on teacher evaluations. USEP also asked the District to provide some broader data on teacher evaluation results, and if possible share the projected difference the proposed changes to the thresholds would make. USEP wants to know to what extent HE ratings will be restricted by the threshold adjustments the District is recommending.

All bargaining sessions are open to observers, and we invite you to attend as your summer schedule permits. Our next bargaining sessions will be:

• Instructional– 1:30pm on Tuesday/Thursday, June 16^ and 19, at the USEP Office
• SRP– 1:30pm on Wednesday, June 17, at the USEP Office

Future bargaining updates will be emailed to the work email addresses of all bargaining employees and to the home email addresses of those who signed up to receive bargaining updates over the summer. Updates will also be posted online at the USEP website.

Other news:

District Success Plan Community Meetings take place on Monday, June 15, at 6:30 p.m., at Fox Hollow Elementary School and Thomas E. Weightman Middle School to provide details about how the district plans to measure its success.

School Board meets, Tuesday, June 16 at 6:00, at the District School Board meeting room

Negotiations Education

The Board and USEP essentially bargain two kinds of proposals:

language and memorandums of understanding

Language is more enduring and carries automatically from one contract term to the next. Changes to language require that one or both parties “open” a section of the contract, and the number of “openers” for each party is limited within each bargaining cycle. Language tends to be more difficult to modify.

Memorandums of Understanding are limited agreements that can expire with each contract year. They must be reviewed and agreed to by both parties in order to carry from one contract year to the next.

As you plan your summer budgets, it may be helpful to know that the District has agreed to the following 2015-2016 pay dates:

Teachers:

• First paycheck next year…………………September 4, 2015 (moved up from Sept. 11th)
• Next paychecks next year……………….September 11th and every 2 weeks thereafter
• Final paychecks next year………………four (4) checks on June 10, 2016 and (1) more on June 24th

** Every Teacher will receive 26 equal paychecks as always

SRP:

• First paycheck next year (for most SRP).………….September 11,  2015
• Next paychecks next year…………………………..September 25th and every 2 weeks thereafter