A Message from FEA President Danette Peterson:

Dear FEA Family,

Words fail to express my gratitude for the members of our bargaining team. It is a diverse team that brings many perspectives to the table to elevate your experiences and goals for the future. I am proud of the initial proposal they have put forth, which captures many of your concerns and addresses the challenges facing public educators during these unprecedented times. Public educators are caught in the political crossfire, leaving those who passionately show up for students doing more and having less time to focus on our Why - our students. 

Here are some highlights from our initial proposal:

Fair Compensation

• Salaries that account for the increased cost of living

• Being able to bring in all years of experience to remain competitive with other districts

• Fair compensation for those selling their prep periods for a semester/year

• Reimbursement for national board certification expenses incurred as required by state law

• Continued advancement on the salary schedule whenever credits are earned

• Increased 403(b) employer matching contribution

• Giving value to unused sick leave, coupled with longevity incentives

Healthcare

• Moving toward a healthcare provider that will offer greater stability and transparency

Prioritizing time to focus is on student learning

• Moving PLCs into the contract day

• Eliminating elementary report card narratives

• Time to complete mandatory trainings during the contract day

• Increasing SPED paperwork days

Safety of staff and students

• Creation of a District SPED Committee

• Systematic tracking room clears and other unsafe conditions

• Educator access to room occupancy rates

• Ensuring educators are not required to search for firearms and other weapons

• Ensuring educators are not required to perform skilled nursing procedures

• Ensuring educators are not required to use their own accrued sick leave when injured on the job

• Posting of visitor guidelines in all buildings

Building closures and involuntary transfers

• Clear and fair procedures for placing impacted teachers based on certification, seniority and preference

• Provided additional time to move and set up new classrooms

• Ensuring moving expenses are paid as required by state law

Vacancies, sub shortages, and addressing teacher exhaustion

• Providing compensation for missed prep periods and split classrooms which are happening at alarming rates due to sub shortages

• Supporting educators with year-round onboarding for late hires

• Providing extra duty contracts for those doing their job plus

• Allowing greater opportunities for voluntary transfers

• Allowing greater flexibility to use personal leave 

• Supporting educators by recognizing the need for comp time and flex time when other duties take away from student instruction and prep times

The team could have merely focused on salary and healthcare, but they felt that would have been remiss. Our job demands, the labor market, and the needs of our students have created a very different and more complex working environment than existed when we began our latest round of bargaining. The language proposed has been crafted with your input and reflects our current realities. 

What is not realistic is the District’s salary proposal to you. Just a 1% increase to the salary scale over the next three years with ephemeral bonuses scattered along the way is an insult to hard working employees and is not an effective way to retain or recruit the best educators for our community in a labor market faced with teacher shortages nationwide.

It is worth repeating that the success of the team depends on you. You are the 10th member of the bargaining team. There are many ways, both big and small, to support our collective effort. One of the most visible ways is to wear your FEA Blue shirt/sweatshirt on Bargaining Days.  Still need a shirt? Click here. As we proceed, we will need your further input so please respond to surveys and attend informative meetings led by FEA leaders. 

See you for our first two bargaining sessions. Stay for a lot or a little. Bring kids, knitting, grading or whatever. None of us can do it all, but each of us can do a little - every act, big or small, matters.

March 4 FEA Office 12-5 pm

March 5 ADC Office 2-7 pm

Stronger together, 

Danette

I am FEA. You are FEA. Together, we are FEA.

Together, we can and do make a difference.