Before leaving for spring break last Thursday, International Falls School District teachers gathered to vote on a long-awaited tentative two-year contract agreement, the superintendent and teachers’ union president said.
A special Independent School District 361 School Board meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. today in the Falls High School cafeteria to consider whether to “ratify the 2011-2013 Master Agreement between ISD 361 and Local 331” as well as give at least one lingering sticking point a shot and then perhaps jump right into the next round of talks, according to the agenda.
There’s no public word yet on the teachers vote’s outcome. But both sides have spoken casually and optimistically about breaking an almost two-year-old impasse by ratifying what’s now an unofficial accord agreed upon last month.
However, the 2011-2013 contract would only bring the sides up to date since it would expire June 30.
Still, it also would allow them to turn around and face what’s expected to be more challenging 2013-2015 contract talks and begin to speak once again seriously about issues that helped sink previous talks, proponents have said.
“We are voting on the contract today,” wrote John Sandberg, Local 331 president and social studies teacher, in an email to The Journal Thursday, the day before the public schools emptied until Tuesday. “The votes will be tallied after school today.
“The board will vote next Wednesday (today) on the tentative contract. At this point, I still wish to not divulge too much or at least until we and the board approve the contract,” the email continued.
The sides had a tentative agreement in hand in October, then the teachers resoundingly rejected it.
Superintendent Nordy Nelson on Tuesday morning said he still had not heard yet what the results are of Thursday’s vote.
He and a few others involved in discussions have not returned messages or declined further comment about what was described as delicate stage in the process.
Since June 2011, teachers have been working under a continuation of their 2009-2011 contract. But a lot has changed since the last teacher vote. The school board has two new members following November’s elections.
One, Gordon Dault, is on the negotiating team and a retired educator and principal. The other, Michael Holden, is a union leader himself, master electrician and team alternate.
And Nelson, who just started last year, has said he is leaving in June to focus on his St. Cloud, Minn.,-based consulting business.
But he’s said he is determined to resolve the contracts first or at best help set the stage for his successor. And there’s been no talk to date of bringing back the state mediator called in last time around.
Earlier last month, Sandberg and Nelson said their teams had come to an understanding after just 1 ½ hours of talks. Sandberg even called the board’s offer “good, very positive,” that it had some language changes his colleagues wanted.
Without releasing details, they have said most of what’s been agree-upon to date was previously discussed language.
Dault and Nelson have said they hope this contract is ratified so they can turn around and delve right into the 2013-2015 discussions. And if the contract was approved by the teachers and then the board, they would get their wish.
Today’s meeting would then be closed to the public. According to the agenda, the board will “enter into a closed session to discuss negotiations with Local 331, Falls Principals’ Association, and Local 4798 (the paraprofessionals’ union) and at will employees,” according to today’s agenda.
The detailed information packets that typically go out with agendas were not made available prior today’s special meeting.
Susan Karsnia, Independent School District No. 361 administrative assistant, said they will distribute handouts instead this evening.
The central debate’s been about salaries and benefits, which, of course, are not unusual bargaining topics, particularly in this economy and for any Minnesota district with a shrinking student body, participants have said. (The state chips in funding on a per-child basis.)
Other impediments have been installing a seven-period day and Q-comp – or quality compensation from the state for teachers who increase student performance.
Today’s agenda says there’s a recommendation from Nelson to “approve a request from Local 331 for participation in (Q-comp) for the 2013-2014 school year.”
The board actually would vote on that proposal prior to deciding whether to ratify the 2011-2013 contract, according to the agenda. That’s all if the teachers voted in favor of it.
