Contract negotiations continue

“We thought it would be best to get into the school year a little bit,” Nelson said of the three-month break in negotiating a labor contract. “With the Boise announcement in May, we didn’t know where we’d be sitting as far as student numbers go.”

The district’s about 70 teachers are working under a 2011-2013 contract that expired June 30. Nelson said the groups are back at the table to determine the number of class periods during a school day and clarify some of the expired contract language.

“The seven-period day is still on the table, but there hasn’t been any progress on that,” the superintendent said.

Falls High School students now have a six-period day and Nelson said an added period would allow for more electives.

“The district here really needs to remain and increase its competitiveness with all the other options that are out there for kids,” Nelson said. “The district needs to offer more classes that students may be interested in.”

He said some 11th-grade students are satisfying their graduation requirements early with a lack of electives to choose from their senior year. Having one more period is something the board is pushing for; the teachers, Nelson said, want to see what is available to them before they agree to anything.

John Sandberg, teachers Local 331 president and FHS social studies teacher, said many discussions during summer negotiation meetings centered around the seven-period day and how it would impact both students and teachers.

“There is a concern that there would be reductions in staff,” he said. “We’re not opposed to a seven-period day, but we need to have some reassurances (before we agree to it).”

Sandberg said students are top priority, and with an added period, the workload of teachers would be increased when it is already “tough to create lesson plans for five different class periods.”

He said the real hurdle to overcome before agreeing to anything about class periods is for the board to address concerns the teachers have and make adjustments to pay that would go with it.

“Since we met last, we’ve talked to several schools that have made the same kind of switch,” he said. “We heard their concerns and what districts have done to ease those concerns...We will be bringing some of that information next time we meet.”

In addition to the number of class periods, Tuesday’s negotiation discussions also included “smoothing out” some of the expired contract language, Nelson said, adding it is common for language to expire over time.

“When language is written, the person writing it knows what they are thinking about,” he said. “As time goes on, new people coming in may not understand what was really meant.”

Nelson said the bulk of the items in need of clarification are requests made by teachers for personal, sick and funeral leave.

“We really didn’t agree on or present any new language or major changes,” he said

Sandberg also said some items in the contract needed to be changed because of legislation, but it wasn’t “anything huge.”

Minnesota lawmakers this year made it mandatory that principals undergo a formal observation, and beginning next year teachers will be required to do the same.

“Under new legislation, the teachers need to be evaluated on a regular basis next year,” Nelson said. “But the difficulty with that is that with the workload of principals, time doesn’t always allow for timely observations”

The superintendent said the two sides have made verbal agreements to get ahead of the new requirements. He said observations for non-tenured teachers will be performed in the middle of November, February and April.

Overall, Nelson said talks have been going smoothly and he anticipates the same when the groups next meet Nov. 18 following the regular school board meeting.