Chris Christie boasted that his administration “punched teachers in the face” last week while talking with his supporters. This week teachers in Jefferson County were punched in the face by their own school board majority of Ken Witt, John Newkirk, and Julie Williams. The JeffCo school board majority offered teachers a 10-month expiration for their collective bargaining agreement. The team bargaining on behalf of the district made it clear this was a firm offer and they would not negotiate on the timeline. After hundreds of volunteer hours by a team of teachers, tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, and months of creating a new agreement from scratch, we are told it will only be good until June 2016.
The reasoning behind this according to Dan McMinimme, Jeffco’s superintendent, is that it allows the terms to be reexamined each year. What Mr. McMinimee seems to be unaware of is that for decades, the agreement has had a multiyear expiration date as well as the ability to be renegotiated each year. The district and JCEA have always been able to meet in the spring to renegotiate parts of the agreement they felt needed adjusting. This collaborative process has served the district well. It is especially unclear why Mr. McMinimee and the board majority believes it should be changed especially given the fact that this year other agreements were negotiated this year all with multi-year expiration dates, including the superintendent who was given a contract expiring in 2018.
Mr. McMinimee will state there is a difference between a contract stating terms of employment and a negotiated agreement. In the case of teachers, I disagree. Our negotiated agreement is a contract that protects the learning environment for students; teachers agree to work for the school year and the district agrees to provide the resources they need to effectively do their job. It provides teachers planning time, limits class sizes, provides librarians and counselors to support student learning, and provides time for professional development and collaboration. All of these directly impact student environment and learning conditions. This agreement is absolutely necessary to provide quality education to students. Without these items being expressly stated, elementary schools could see first grade class sizes of 32 kids, high schools could lose counselors and librarians, and high school teachers could be asked to have 180 students each semester. These changes were seen in Douglas County and these changes are not good for kids.
The content of this negotiated agreement is good. The work that was put into its creation is good. The length that the board majority wants it to remain in effect is insulting. However, I intend to vote for ratification to the terms so that I can focus on teaching and know that, at least for this year, I will have the resources I need to provide students a quality education.