Wednesday, April 30, 2008 

Superintendent Fails to "Walk the Walk" of His Collaboration Talk

Superintendent Andrekopoulos has taken an ill-advised step away from the cooperative spirit which was the hallmark of jointly developing the school district's "Working Together, Achieving More" strategic plan.

On April 28, without concluding a signed agreement, the superintendent sent an e-mail to all employees announcing the student make-up days. This communication was disrespectful to our union - our members, our leaders, and our staff - and to the collective bargaining process.

Two days later, the superintendent failed to accept our union's proposal to add a provision on record day to the agreement MPS had proposed on the make-up days.

MTEA Proposal on Record Day

On April 25, our union proposed that teachers who complete their records by Friday, June 13, be excused, with pay, on Monday, June 16. (We made a similar proposal for the record day at the year-round schools and the IB high schools.) Our rationale included these points:

• For teachers who work on their own time to complete records before record day, there is no reason to come back an extra day to work on records.
• Based on the 20+ year history of never being required to work on the emergency make-up day, many educators made plans for June 16 - months ago - plans to start a summer job; attend a class; leave town on a family vacation; doctor, dentist, and other appointments; etc.
• Teachers earned a banking day for professional activities on May 14 by increasing instructional minutes throughout the school year. Since teachers were losing a professional day they had banked, excusing them on record day would be a way for MPS to give a little back.
• Excusing teachers from record day attendance - if their records were completed - is not without precedent. Our union worked out an agreement with Superintendent Peterkin to release teachers for a lobby day in Madison on the June 14, 1991 record day (a Friday).

Proposal Rejected - Opportunity Missed!

MTEA Executive Director Tom Morgan discussed our union's proposal face-to-face with Superintendent Andrekopoulos on April 30. Tom pointed out our proposal would:

• Not cost MPS a penny.
• Not impact students and instruction.
• Could be structured to guarantee that all records and routine closing steps were completed.

The superintendent did not agree to add our union's proposal to the MOU. In fact, he, along with two of his top administrators, accused our union leaders of not being collaborative.

Agreement on Snow Days Make-Up

The text of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is below:

...the parties agree that in order to meet the minimum requirement for student contact and instruction in light of the inclement weather days that occurred on December 11, 2007, and February 6, 2008, it is necessary to make the following changes to the 2007-2008 calendars, including one banking time day:

1. The last banking day of the 2007-2008 school year, originally scheduled for May 14, 2008, for the regular calendar, Rufus King IB calendar, and for the year round calendar shall instead be a regular student and teacher attendance day.

2. For the regular calendar, the emergency make-up day shall be used as a regular student and teacher attendance day on June 13, 2008, for the regular calendar. Record day for the regular school calendar shall take place on June 16, 2008.

3. Rufus King International Baccalaureate High School calendar shall be modified as follows: The emergency make-up day shall be used as a regular student and teacher attendance day on June 2, 2008. Record day shall take place on June 3, 2008.

4. The emergency make-up day for Marshall Montessori and Ronald Wilson Reagan IB High Schools shall be used as a regular student and teacher attendance day on June 2, 2008. Because no banking days remain, Marshall Montessori and Ronald Wilson Reagan IB shall have an additional student and paid teacher attendance day on June 3, 2008. Record day for these schools shall take place on June 4, 2008.

5. In schools utilizing the year round school calendar, the calendar shall be modified as follows: The emergency make-up day shall be used as a regular student and teacher attendance day on June 23, 2008. Record day for these schools shall take place on June 24, 2008.

Tuesday, April 27, 2008

Premature Announcement on Make-Up Days

MTEA and MPS negotiators have not reached an agreement on the impact of making up the 2 snow days.  The superintendent’s e-mail to employees and public messages on April 28 were premature.  The superintendent has again failed to walk the walk of his collaboration talk. 

What About June 16?

As soon as educators received the superintendent’s premature e-mail, the MTEA phone lines and Web site were deluged with the same question:  What about Monday, June 16?

Without a conclusion to the make-up day talks, there is no definitive answer!

MTEA and MPS negotiators are considering Monday, June 16 – the emergency make-up day – as the record day.

However, MTEA negotiators have proposed that teachers who complete their records by Friday, June 13, be excused, with pay, on Monday, June 16.  This proposal is reasonable for several reasons including:

• If a teacher chooses to work on his/her own time to complete records by Friday, there is no reason to come back to work on records the following Monday.
  
• Based on the history of not ever being required to work on the emergency make-up day, many educators made plans for June 16 months ago - plans to start a summer job; attend a class; leave town on a family vacation; doctor, dentist, and other appointments.
  
• Excusing teachers from record day attendance - if their records are completed - has been done previously. Our union worked out an agreement with Superintendent Peterkin to release teachers for a lobby day in Madison in 1991 - on the June 14 record day (a Friday).

Year-Round Schools 

The superintendent’s e-mail on converting May 14 (banking day) and June 13 (record day) to student attendance days did not address year-round schools.

A student attendance on the May 14 banking day would apply to year-round schools.

As to the record day for year-round schools,  MPS is proposing that Monday, June 23, become a student attendance day (instead of record day) and Tuesday, June 24, become the record day. (Employees would work on the emergency make-up day.)

IB High Schools

For employees at Rufus King, May 14 (banking day) would also become a student attendance day.  MPS is proposing that students also attend on Monday, June 2 and move the record day to June 3.  (Employees would work on the emergency make-up day.)

For Reagan and Marshall IB, May 14 is scheduled as a student day, and there is no banking time day left to convert to a student attendance day.  As a result, MPS is proposing student attendance days on Monday and Tuesday, June 2 and 3.  The record day would be moved back two days to Wednesday, June 4.

The net result is that teachers at these two IB high schools would work and be paid for an extra student day in June.  They would be paid at their individual daily rate.  EAs would also have an extra paid day.

Superintendent’s Actions Spur More Questions

The superintendent’s premature e-mail to employees prior to concluding negotiations reinforces questions many educators have raised this school year:

Does the superintendent want to genuinely collaborate with our union? 

Does he understand the two-way nature of bargaining? 

Does the superintendent grasp the impact that his top-down approach is having on staff morale?