Teachers Bargaining Update and Rep Council meeting

Happy Monday!

The ongoing bargaining team met on Wednesday. Some key points:

--We are considering lowering the number of years that we will grant new hires for teaching experience, from 10 years to five years. This will help save costs from the general fund.

--Hard to fill positions may have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

--We looked at leave time taken: 70 fewer sick leaves day and 111 more professional days taken for the same period, first quarter, 2018 and 2019. We are collecting this information for a wider discussion around training and grade level meetings. Question: would you give up a "choice" PIR day for an added required day in our calendar that was devoted to in-district training?

--We are looking at the cost of all the district testing and computer programs--are they still the best, is there a better, more cost efficient option out there?

--We are looking at the number of students in high school classes, cost effectiveness vs class choice.

--A change to the salary schedule, as talked about last year, is off the table at this time, although we will certainly be talking about salaries and salary schedules in both the short and long term.

The administration is willing to give us a full picture of any questions that we have concerning the budget. We are having a "Financial Summit" the end of January so that we can run different scenarios and get all questions answered.

The Rep Council is meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 3:45. If you have any questions or concerns that you want brought up, please make sure that you see your building rep before Tuesday afternoon.

Thanks for all you do!

Jane