Reynolds Educators Vote to Ratify Agreement

From a press release sent out tonight:

After extended discussion and following a question and answer session on the terms, the members of the Reynolds Education Association (REA) voted overwhelmingly (98.2% yes) tonight to ratify the tentative agreement reached with the school district early Saturday morning.

The final step will be for the Reynolds school board to conduct its own ratification vote. If the school board votes to approve it, then the tentative agreement will be the new contract between REA and the district.

REA does not expect the agreement details to be made public until after the school board’s ratification vote.

REA President Joyce Rosenau: “After five days on strike, we are glad to be back in our schools. We are proud of our bargaining team and the support we had from the community including parents, students, local businesses, and fellow educators. Building a fair contract takes time. The district coming to the table to understand the variety of school issues that needed to be addressed, and staying at the table, was what made this deal happen. Hopefully the school board has learned that all parties need to listen and spend time to understand what our schools and students need.”

Reynolds Educators and School District Reach Tentative Agreement

In a process that began May 2011, the Reynolds Education Association (REA) finally reached a tentative agreement with the Reynolds school district after more than 18 hours in a mediation session that started May 25, 2012 at noon. The strike ends after five days.

REA members will be restoring their classroom and work areas packed up for the strike, and students are expected back in school for classes on Tuesday after a two-hour late start.

REA President Joyce Rosenau: "We are proud of the courage our members showed during the five days of our strike. We will remember this experience for many years."

REA President Joyce Rosenau: "Beyond doubt, a massive factor for us in this bargain was the support we saw and felt at every site, every day, every hour we were out on our picket lines. We were sustained by the words and actions from parents, students, community members, labor advocates, fellow educators, and local businesses in Reynolds, across Oregon, and across the country."

REA President Joyce Rosenau: "We knew what we were doing was important, but to have it affirmed by so many helped us get through the days of heavy rain and the days we wanted to be back in our schools."

Details of a tentative agreement are typically not shared until the constituents of the two parties can review them and conduct a ratification vote. REA members will try to meet next week to conduct a ratification vote, probably on Wednesday May 30.

The Reynolds school board has a regular business meeting scheduled June 13, but may try to conduct a ratification vote at its May 30 work session or an ad hoc public meeting.

Reynolds board again turns its tail and runs

From our May 23 Press Release —

The Reynolds school board has again chosen to leave the bargaining table early, and continues to not be serious about getting a deal done or understanding important education issues.

They moved on their previous ultimatum on financial issues, but gave a new ultimatum and again while the mediator was sharing the details with us, the school board abruptly left. The school board once more refused to engage us on conditions affecting our work and students.

We are willing to meet at any time and challenge the school board to join us in-person Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday to get a deal done. We will meet with or without a mediator. The community, our parents, and students need a fair deal and a serious school board.

But despite glimmers of new approaches on Monday, today the school board reverted to past behaviors and left early, despite the hundreds of educators, parents, students, and community members who were encouraging them to do their jobs and get a deal done.

For over a year, we have had one primary message to this school board: come to the table and talk with us about a full contract.

Our priorities include student safety, planning time, and many other working and learning conditions. The last several months, the school board has insisted on ignoring these important issues talking almost exclusively about their often-fluctuating financial numbers.

In the last two years, the school board has laid off 220 employees while growing its surplus to over $18 million. This is way over the proportional average for Oregon school districts.

This school board behavior affects resources and programs and help for students. These are jobs the school board has taken from the community instead of doing what it reasonably and responsibly can for the local economy and our students.

School board paid for several security officers (one near flag)

School board claims aren't credible, we need solutions

The school board claims they have given REA all of the language we asked for. Not true. We wish they would listen to us about these important issues. What we see over and over from this school board and its advisors, especially their legal counsel Paul Dakopolis, is a lack of understanding our schools and students.

Often what the school board considers progress on their part is a mere withdrawal of onerous language they put forward, and reverting to status quo language. We need the school board to understand there are substantive problems in our schools and working conditions that need to be addressed for staff and students. Among the issues the school board has not acted on:

• We asked them to set up a process to address building safety and health concerns, and the school board members have refused.
• We asked them to set up a process and offer training to address student and staff safety concerns, and the school board members have refused.
• We asked them to add language to make sure all members have a chance to use the restroom during the work day. The school board members have refused. This lack of provision has led to serious health issues. The school board wants this to be up to each building principal's judgment (but the problem exists largely because of individual building principals).
• We have asked to be able to meet the wide diversity of working parent needs with parent/teacher conference scheduling. The school board members have refused.
• We have asked them to keep current contract language to ensure a fair process for layoffs and recalling employees back to work. The school board insists on dismissing people without a fair process.

The school board has insisted that we meet their arbitrary financial demands for over a year now. During this time, they refused to discuss working conditions and contract language unless we agreed to their subjective number. Even to this day, they repeat this number over and over like a mantra in public and in the negotiations. The school board instead needs to focus on the bargaining process, community, and school needs. Things the school board and its advisors aren't telling the community:

• On Sunday, we met the school board's financial demands, and they turned their own offer down.
• Monday morning we met their financial demands again. Despite their clamoring for this condition for over a year, when we gave it to them they ended the mediation session. 
• The school board continues to cry bankruptcy while at the same time proposing a 2012-13 budget that calls for millions in new staffing, equipment, programs, and administrators.

In recent years we have accepted pay freezes. Additional financial concerns we have with this school board, and why there's cause to distrust their claims:

• For the last five years, the school board has not spent an average of $914,582 annually on PERS costs that it budgeted. Where does that $4.5 million go?
• For the last five years, the school board has not spent an average of $834,613 on health insurance benefits that it budgeted.
• This is a combined average of $1,749,195 per year for the last five years in overestimated expenditures. Where does that $8.746 million go?

And the school board's approaches to finance the last few years has hit our local economy:

• In the 2009-10 school year the school board increased their year-end surplus by $10,838,736 from the previous year. They did this while laying off 150 teachers.
• In 2010-11 the school board increased the budget surplus by another $2,612,614. They then laid off 70 instructional assistants who work with students.
• In the last two years, the school board has laid off 220 employees while growing its surplus to over $18 million instead of keeping local jobs and class resources.

All these hits to our workload, the layoffs, and bad financial management have happened while administrator salaries and benefits rise.

There are signs of hope. May 2012 is the first time the school board has agreed to meet with us more than once in a calendar month during this five-month mediation process. The May 20/21 mediation session showed the school board was willing to put in substantive time instead of its typical 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. approach the last several months (often disappearing for hours in the middle).

We hope the school board is starting to understand there are complicated issues to address, and that bargaining is more than slapping a number on the table and leaving when you don't get your way.

Reynolds school board needs to stop hiding

How the Reynolds school board hides millions, cuts local jobs & classroom resources & student programs, then hides more millions

Caveat #1: The district acts as if this is all about financials, for educators it's about much more.
Surveys of REA members show that we feel even more strongly about working conditions and learning conditions like:

• Getting enough time to plan quality instruction for students.
• Student safety issues.
• Scheduling issues.

Caveat #2: Districts should be fiscally responsible and open and lauded for it. The Reynolds school board is not honest with the public about its finances, however, and seems unclear even among its own bargaining team members what the facts are.

Waiting out the school board tantrums…

The Reynolds school board proclaims it will not deign to come to the bargaining table to talk about real issues, days (now hours) before a strike, unless we meet their arbitrary financial line in the sand. There are years of reasons to not trust their budget numbers.

Solidarity cupcakes, from the February mediation session.

Superintendent Joyce Henstrand told REA members yesterday that if a strike happens, at all, she will cancel the remaining 20 or so days of school outright for the year. Leaving principals to do the report cards? A big cost savings for the district, sure, but four weeks of putting the burden on parents and the community for student time rather than bargain with educators?

While we remain at the bargaining table, ready to talk about real issues, these dramatics by the district and school board to evade bargaining leaves us drumming our fingers waiting for them to get serious and bring solutions.

The school board's behavior and petulance has already harmed our district and community and students, and threatens to do much worse.

Why the school board's claim, with $18 million in reserves, it can also be "bankrupt" is not credible

IF YOU READ NO FURTHER — The school board needs to be asked: "Every year you set aside millions more for salaries and benefits than you pay out. Why isn't that extra money going to keep jobs? Why isn't that extra money used to keep resources in the classrooms? Why are we going into a strike with that extra money not going to help our students and teachers now?

• In the 2009-10 school year the school board increased their year-end surplus by $10,838,736 from the previous year. They did this while laying off 150 teachers.
• In 2010-11 the school board increased the budget surplus by another $2,612,614. They then laid off 70 instructional assistants who work in the classrooms.
• In the last two years, the school board has laid off 220 employees while growing its surplus of over $18 million instead of keeping local jobs and class resources.
• We've taken hits to our income and losing take-home pay compared to the cost of living during these years, while admin salaries and benefits rise.

The Reynolds school board is way above the statewide average for reserve funds (see below). Fiscal responsibility is important, but it gets to a point where such a large ending fund balance instead of investing in classrooms and student programs is unwise.

Regional Audited Expenditures Comparison

2010-11 AUDITED	ENDING FUND BALANCE	PORTION OF EXPENDITURES	STATEWIDE AVERAGE	+/- DIFFERENCE FROM STATEWIDE AVERAGE
REYNOLDS	$18,618,114	20.8%	11.0%	+9.8%
GRESHAM	$12,714,159	14.2%	11.0%	+3.2%
PARKROSE	$2,230,299	7.8%	11.0%	-3.2%
PORTLAND	$31,541,472	7.3%	11.0%	-3.7%
N. CLACKAMAS	$6,351,528	4.9%	11.0%	-6.1%
CENTENNIAL	$5,267,188	10.4%	11.0%	-0.6%
DAVID-DOUGLAS	$7,750,939	8.9%	11.0%	-2.1%
AVERAGE		10.6%		-3.86

More questions for the school board and budget committee:

ADMINISTRATOR SALARIES

• In 2008-09 the District general fund budget stated $3,682,306 would be spent on administrator salaries.  The district actually spent 3,784,045 on administrator salaries.  The district spent $101,739 more on administrators than budgeted.
• In 2009-10 the District budgeted 3,162,630 but actually spent 3,364,592 on administrator salaries.  This is a difference of $201,962.
• In 2010-11 the District budgeted $3,327,495, but actually spent $3,623,592 on administrator salaries.  This is a difference of $296,097.

This means that since the start of the recession the District has spent $600,000 more on administrator salaries than it has budgeted.


Question: “What will the district budget be for administrator salaries next year, and who is going to make sure that the District does not continue to spend more than it budgets?"

According to audited data from 2001-02 to 2010-11, Gresham-Barlow, Portland, David Douglas, Centennial, Parkrose, and the North Clackamas Districts all decreased the percentage of their general fund expenditures that went to administrator salaries.  Reynolds is the only district in that group that actually increased our percentage for administrator salaries.  In 2001-02, 3.6% of the general fund budget went to administrator salaries.  In 2010-11, 4.1% went to administrator salaries.

Question: “What percentage of our general fund budget will go to administrator salaries for next year? Will Reynolds continue to be the only district in the region that increases its percentage for administrator salaries?"

HIDING BUDGETED FUNDS
According to audited data for the past five years ending in 2010-11, the school board annually budgets far more money for PERS and health insurance benefits than it actually spends.

• For the last five years, the school board has not spent an average of $914,582 annually on PERS costs that it had budgeted. Where does that $4.5 million go?
• Additionally, the District has not spent an average of $834,613 on health insurance benefits that it has stated it would spend.
• This is a combined average of $1,749,195 per year for the last five years in overestimated expenditures.  Where does that $8.746 million go?

Question: “Is it possible that the school board might avoid a teacher strike if it actually spent the money that it budgets on annual basis for employee costs?"

TELL THE SCHOOL BOARD TO MEET TEACHERS AT THE BARGAINING TABLE AND STAY UNTIL A CONTRACT IS DONE!

Theresa Delaney Davis (Chair) – theresa_delaney-davis@reynolds.k12.or.us 503.489.5316

Robert E. Lee – robert_lee@reynolds.k12.or.us 503.969.8447

Joe Teeny – joe_teeney@reynolds.k12.or.us 503.667.6630

Tamara Schaffner – tamara_schaffner@reynolds.k12.or.us 503.805.8687

Dane Nickerson – dane_nickerson@reynolds.k12.or.us 503.255.3879

5th grade teacher April Azizi on packing her classroom

Packing up a classroom is an emotional, exhausting experience for educators, their family, and friends. But for 5th grade teacher April Azizi, role modeling for her students and standing up for what she believes in is important. It's also served as a time of reflection for her and her husband on all she does for her students.

VICTORY! Event to train subs to cross our picket line canceled!

Today at the Multnomah ESD, an event to train substitute educators to work during a possible Reynolds EA strike was schedule from noon to 4:00 p.m.

Because of the work of REA members and supporters (including Jobs with Justice, We Are Oregon, IBEW, Occupy, parents, and others) with informational flyers, the handful of people who did show up for the training read the info and decided to not attend. The Multnomah ESD Superintendent came out to chat with us at our informational picket to let us know she was sending her staff out of the room and cancelled the training. She then called our OEA office in Gresham to confirm the cancellation.

Times are tough, and we appreciate the vast numbers of substitute educators who are making the choice to stand in solidarity for the working conditions and fair contract we all can benefit from!

Reynolds EA - Karina Guzman

Bilingual elementary teacher Karina Guzman: "I do it because I love the kids, but I feel that we do deserve some respect and appreciation."

I Am A New Teacher

I am a new teacher in the Reynolds School District, but I have taught in public and private schools, as well as a community college, in Ohio, Iowa, Pakistan, Mexico, and now Oregon. My colleagues at Reynolds High School are the most professional and most compassionate teachers with whom I’ve ever worked. This has helped alleviate some of the intense stress we’ve experienced this year as we’ve waited, hoped, and also demonstrated while contract negotiations, and then mediations, have stretched on and on.

I can’t analyze the current Reynolds situation from an historical perspective, as many of my colleagues can. But I do have over 10 years of experience as a community conflict facilitator and mediator in Ohio. My training was that if a party was not working towards resolution in good faith, the alternative dispute resolution process was over. Let me be clear—I am not a neutral 3rd party in this conflict, but from my newcomer’s observations, it has not appeared as though the school board has considered union proposals in good faith. I questioned some individuals who were here when school board members were running for election. No one can remember any campaign platform committed to breaking the union.

Under the guise of fiscal responsibility—which seems to be misplaced, given the inaccurate number-crunching—the collective board has cynically proposed contract changes that would limit effective teacher planning, destroy assurance that fair investigations of teachers would be conducted, and driven over 500 dedicated professionals to the unwanted but necessary brink of voting to strike.

After months of watching, listening, demonstrating, and pondering the nonevents leading to impasse, I will describe my feeling today this way: it’s like being in a marriage, with all of the promise, work, stability, and potential chipped away through deceit, bullying, name-calling, and posturing. The assertive energy generated by the solidarity of my esteemed “red-shirts” which took me through these months is gone today, replaced by grief similar to that of realizing that this marriage may end in divorce.

I am speaking today to request the community, our district administrators, and the school board to save our relationship! Don’t let this alternative dispute resolution process end in bad faith. Believe me, teachers aren’t in the profession for the money, the ease of the job, the prestige, or the perks. We’re called to be teachers for your children, for our community, and in these schools. Please don’t continue to let us down. Thank you.

Karen Swinger

A Parent Letter to the School Board

Reynolds School Board Members,

I am writing today as a parent of three children in the Reynolds School District - I have 2 daughters going to Woodland Elementary and my son is a 6th grade student at Walt Morey Middle School, and as a voter, home-owner, and volunteer in the Reynolds District. My goal is to encourage you all to genuinely work towards a settlement with the teacher's union, and to do so quickly.

My family is one that stays highly involved with our children's education. My wife has spent countless hours volunteering in classrooms, and helping to run events at our children's schools for years, and we have regularly stayed in touch with the teachers our children have been lucky enough to work with over the past 7 years. I can tell you all that these teachers are not only caring and compassionate mentors for my children, but also that they have gone above and beyond both in terms of giving their time to my children, and in terms of preparing an outstanding education for them on a daily basis. It appears to me as I read the district's proposals that you all feel (among other things) that your teachers are not efficient enough with their time, and are not properly training themselves under the current contract to best do their jobs. Based on everything I've seen from them these past 7 years, I couldn't disagree more.

I am concerned about how the district has conducted negotiations throughout this process. The money spent by my children's school district to hire the Hungerford lawyers (money I would much preferred to see spent re-hiring support staff in our schools, or reducing class sizes), and the time following spent following their game-plan to break teacher's unions frustrates me beyond words, especially when I read the proposals from the two sides. It appears that the teachers proposals at this point almost entirely fall on the side of maintaining the status-quo and in using common-sense approaches to solve problems, while the district is asking for severe changes in a time when teachers are already faced with dealing with severe changes in class sizes and support staff in which they must fill that gap for kids ... a situation, by the way, in which they have succeeded in ways that should be appreciated far beyond what they are being told by their employer at the moment through these negotiations.

I realize that financial times are tough. I also think it needs to be acknowledged that Reynolds teachers have already been punished for the tough times beyond what the teachers in surrounding districts have faced because of poor choices made at the administrative level over these past few years, and the the district has it's current surplus in part because Reynolds teachers have been working in tougher conditions, both financial an in terms of support, than neighboring teachers these past few years. I would prefer to see the district try to become a place where the best teachers want to work and stay, and where available money is spent on the children the district is given the responsibility to educate right now. I want it to be a place where every teacher feels supported in working to be the best they can be for every child, and where every teacher can feel thet their own well-being is a genuine concern of the district. 

My children's teachers are experts at what they do - true professionals who don't deserve to be pawns in the political games being played right now. I hope to see the district change tactics in the upcoming days so that all members of this district can work together as professionals with the common goal of best educating children. The district appears to be more concerned right now with making sure they are "winning" these negotiations that with doing what is best for my kids. Please be willing to compromise and to get this settled before it costs my children. In Gresham the board was unwilling to truly negotiate until the teachers were actually on strike, and children were missing class because of it. Please make a true effort to settle this before our district suffers the same or worse. My children deserve it.

Alan Simpson
Troutdale, Or 97060

School Board's Ultimatum is NOT Good Faith Bargaining

The Reynolds School Board has delivered an ultimatum to the members of REA that completely shuts down bargaining on ALL issues, not just the financial ones.  This behavior is consistent with their Refusal to Bargain letter on prep time, their lack of availability to bargain, and their lack of proposals on issues that matter to REA members.  Join the Gresham Outlook in asking the board members to come back to the table and BARGAIN!

http://theoutlookonline.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=133677288865935400

The school board doesn't walk their talk, they just walk away

May 10 - at our mediation session today, the Reynolds EA bargaining team made significant movement.

However, the trend continues at the table, we discuss the school board's issues, not the issues we as the educators in the schools need to discuss (that's when the school board actually deigns to stay at the table).

On their newsletter they dropped all over the place at our important strike vote this week (image below, "?" added by us), the school board claims "Continue to Bargain" as a principle, but their actions are the opposite.

May 2012 is the first month in five months of mediation the school board has agreed to meet with us a second time within a calendar month. Are they serious about "Continue to Bargain"?

We have offered three future mediation dates for bargaining, the school board has rejected all of them. Are they serious about "Continue to Bargain"?

They limit the mediation times to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with school board members disappearing for hours as a group in the middle of the day (not just for lunch). Are they serious about "Continue to Bargain"?

Today they left the table saying they refuse to meet with us unless we give up our right to bargain over financial conditions.

Much of their public claims at progress and good faith offers are false. They are tied to contract re-openers, meaning bargaining can open up all over again before the contract expires. We believe a contract is a contract, and the community needs the stability of a set contract.

FINANCIALS

We can understand why the school board's various legal counselors are motivated to extend the bargaining crisis. They benefit. The school board has paid $67,213 to one law office for fees related to negotiating with Reynolds Education Association. That was up to December 22, 2011. It's now five months later with even more costs incurred.

It's hard to deal with the school board numbers that constantly change even during the day. It's easy to find school board proposals and newsletters that have conflicting numbers within the same document. We plan to post more information about financial factors in the next day or two.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Among the working conditions we need to discuss with the school board:

Student & staff safety
When it comes to special education or special needs students with behavioral, criminal history, or safety issues the school board proposes a strange "need to know" condition on which staff members are alerted to the student's condition. Many of these students need to be within staff line-of-sight at all times. Who will be on this vague "need to know" list? The classroom teacher? Educators on lunch duty? Recess duty? Bus duty? For student and staff safety, we need broader language as other districts have.

Accommodating real-world parent and student schedules
Reynolds is a diverse community and our parents work long and varying schedules. Our teachers want to be available to meet when the parents can so that we have meaningful parent teacher conferences. The school board refuses to acknowledge this need and has not proposed any flexibility around parent teacher conferences.

Teaching materials
The school board continues to ignore our proposals about the need to provide adequate teaching materials for district programs. Teachers already, on average, spend hundreds of dollars out of our own pockets to keep our classrooms running. We simply want the school board to only hold us accountable for programs which the district provides the required materials and training for so we can deliver quality instruction without spending even more out of pocket.

School board members and their legal consultants need to better understand actual school conditions to engage in pragmatic discussions and solutions. We also need them to come to the bargaining table, and be serious about staying, so we can get a fair contract for our community.

REA Members Vote To Strike On May 21st

The members of the Reynolds Education Association met this afternoon at Reynolds Middle School to discuss negotiations and to vote on a motion to strike.  After hearing from the REA president and bargaining chair, the members overwhelmingly voted to strike on Monday, May 21st if a settlement has not been reached.  The members clearly supported a strike with 94.2% voting yes.  None of the members took this decision lightly and it was not an easy decision for many.  However, members have had to endure the School Board's disrespect, lack of honest intent while bargaining and the constant dissemination of inaccurate and misleading information for too long.  The members, while not wanting to leave their students, have chosen to take a stand and say, "Enough is enough!" to the Reynolds School Board.  We hope that this will motivate the School Board to begin to take the negotiations process seriously and proceed with intensity and integrity.

District newsletter at our union meeting

At our strike vote tonight, the district printed HUNDREDS of two-sided color copies (which we know are expensive!) of a newsletter with a huge "REA BARGAINING SUMMARY" headline. Lots of us thought it was OUR newsletter at first glance, until educators noticed the facts were all wrong, then saw the fine print about it being from the district.

The district put these in our meeting room before the start time and at several entry points for people to see when they walked in. They have a right to share out their news, but making it look like an REA newsletter is not classy.

Take A Walk In A Teacher's Shoes

A Reynolds Middle School Social Studies teacher gives us a play by play account of what his day looks like when Work to Rule was enacted for 3 days. Working to "the rule" means that teachers follow their contract, but do not volunteer to work extra hours or purchase materials with their own funds, etc...  It is simply done to show how much a teacher does outside of their contracted time and what gets left out when they don't volunteer hours of their own time. Imagine what school would look like if this was done all school year?!

Media Advisory: May 8 Strike Vote

Sent out today about tomorrow's important strike vote:

MEDIA ADVISORY – May 7, 2012

Reynolds Educators to Conduct Strike Vote May 8

The Reynolds Education Association (REA), a nearly 600-member union of educators, will conduct a vote on whether to conduct a labor strike against their employer the Reynolds School District. The vote will take place 4:15 p.m. on May 8 at Reynolds Middle School.

There will be a discussion among REA members preceding the vote. A potential strike date may also be announced at the May 8 meeting.

While the meeting itself will be closed to non-members, REA members will be available for interviews before and after the meeting.

Our members are frustrated by the lack of seriousness the school board has had with us at the table. They continue to come after the working conditions and student learning conditions provided for in our contract. Their numbers keep changing, and they propose to insert contract re-openers that would require bargaining to continue on even after signatures are put on paper.

We believe a contract is a contract. We have been working without a contract since June 2011. Our schools, our students, and the community need the stability of a fair contract.

If passed, a strike vote authorizes a local union to officially announce a strike date. Local unions must give the employer a minimum of ten days notice before going out on strike.

WHO:
Reynolds Education Association Strike Vote
Reynolds Middle School, Big Gym, 1200 NE 201st Ave. Fairview, OR 97024
May 8, 2012 at 4:15 p.m.

MORE INFO:
On Facebook, search for “Reynolds Education Association"
Website: SupportReynoldsTeachers.org

SPOKESPEOPLE:
Reynolds Education Association: Joyce Rosenau, teacher, REA President

Contract Re-Opener is "Unacceptable".

con·tract - (noun) an agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified.

Alder English Language Development (ELD) and Literacy teacher April LaCombe talks about her frustration with the district’s continued attempts to include a contract re-opener in their proposals. April shares concerns about the district's proposal that would allow the contract to be reopened at any time. Her statements that it is “unacceptable" and "lays on another layer of stress" are echoed by our 560 members.

A Comparison of staff to student ratios in Reynolds' Schools

The ratio of students to staff in the Reynolds School District has steadily risen over the last few years, while the school board builds a large reserve fund.  Class sizes are larger and teachers therefore have a more difficult time meeting the needs of every student.  Click on the link below to see each school in the Reynolds district and how much the ratio of staff to students has changed since 2008.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/120196187/Staff-ratios

"Where is our contract?" sing Davis teachers

Where is our contract? Excellent question and one felt by REA members for almost 14 months of bargaining and mediating. In true teacher spirit, these ladies look for the positives and enjoy solidarity in the soon to be number one selling single "Oh Where, Oh Where, Has our Contract Gone?" Will the Reynolds School Board listen and collaborate with us and join in a song of celebration of settlement?

Ending fund balance and students, classrooms, and this bargain

What is an Ending Fund Balance?

Public school districts are not permitted to end the fiscal year (June 30) with a negative balance in their General Fund. Because of this, districts always include a projected “ending fund balance” amount when developing their budgets each year.  Districts also commonly place some money in a "Contingency" category, to be used only during an emergency, and an "Unappropriated Ending Fund Balance" category which cannot be used for that year's budget.

An appropriate amount for an actual (versus budgeted) ending fund balance is 3% to 7% of the district’s total General Fund amount. In June 2011 the Reynolds School district reported an ending fund balance for the 2010-2011 school year of $18,618,114 which represented 20.8% of their General Fund amount.

This is far above the average ending fund balance for Oregon school districts. The Reynolds School District has more than tripled its ending fund balance since the 2008-2009 school year. While other districts struggle to maintain staff, programs, and other resources for students, the Reynolds School Board has amassed this huge slush fund even as they were laying off the teachers and instructional assistants who work directly with students. As these cuts to the classroom and student services happened, administrative personnel got a 2% pay increase.

Yet even with that pay increase, district office staff is in a mass exodus. Administrators and others are choosing to retire or leaving for other districts. Teaching staff have also chosen to leave as classloads have increased with fewer resources given to them to help meet the needs of their students. Yet the Reynolds School Board cries "Insolvency!” despite the numbers showing just the opposite.

It’s time to tell the Reynolds School Board to make support of students their first priority. This includes offering a fair contract to teachers, making sure that they have adequate support so that they can meet the needs of students, and trying to make Reynolds a district that can keep the dedicated staff they have, and attract the best when there are positions to fill.

April 27th's Mediation

The district's and REA's bargaining teams held a mediation session on Friday, April 27th.  There were 13 articles remaining to be settled.  No new agreements were reached.  REA was fully prepared and committed to staying as long as it took to reach a settlement.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the district.  This has been a pattern throughout negotiations.

The session began shortly after noon, with the district handing REA a package proposal for all of the articles that remain to be settled.  Both the district's final offer and this proposal included articles that had been previously agreed to by both parties but were now changed by the district.  Our question to the district: was this incorrect final offer handed to us in error, or was this the district's way of reopening those articles? The district then gave REA a package proposal that corrected the articles that we'd referred to.

In this proposal, the district showed little movement.  They claim to have proposed to give teachers back their prep within the contact day, but this is misleading.  The district actually proposed to create a Memo of Understanding (rather than leave existing contract language) that would allow for prep within the contact day only in the next school year.  On June 30, 2013, that prep time would no longer be a protected part of the contract. We need this time to plan quality instruction for our students, and are already often working into the evenings and weekends as it is.

The district did make the following movement:
         * allow teachers to keep the step that they've already been given this year
         * continue to honor the contracts that they bargain by keeping language that ensures rights and process in the contract stay in place even if the contract expires during negotiations
         *continue to ensure that members cannot be disciplined or terminated due to unsigned, oral or anonymous complaints

The district also essentially proposed to eliminate several REA proposals that would solve problems brought forth by members,  by asking that Articles 5, 13 and 26 return to current contract language. 

At 3:00pm, REA gave the district a counter proposal that also included all of the remaining articles.  REA made the following movement:
         *eliminated our proposal for reimbursement of damaged/stolen personal property
         *modified our proposal around use of students' test scores in members' evaluations to better fit new law and the district's stated concerns
         *modified our proposal around teaching materials to answer stated district concerns
         *offered to return to current contract on Article 13
         *modified our proposal concerning student discipline to reflect the stated concerns of the district
         *decreased the requested insurance benefit increase by $100 per month
It should be noticed that REA's final offer also included concessions in language.

At 7:10pm, the district gave REA a partial proposal that included language only - no financial proposals.  The district assured REA that a financial proposal would be presented.  This proposal was not substantially different from the first, although there was some "tinkering" with language that REA will be able to respond to at the next mediation.

At 8:30, the mediator informed REA's team that there would be no financial proposal.  The board wished to re-examine their budget.  The board then proposed two additional mediation sessions for May 3rd and 10th, both from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

District's First Mediation Proposal:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/119923377/District-mediation-proposal-_1

District's Corrections:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/119923570/final-offer

REA's Mediation Proposal:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/119923670/REA-mediation-proposal

District's Second Mediation Proposal:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/119923784/District-mediation-proposal-_2
    

Upcoming REA Actions

Members of the community have been asking how they can help and how they can get involved.  REA welcomes the community at any of the following events:

     Wednesday, May 2: The district is holding two meet-and-greets for the incoming

superintendent at the Reynolds High School Performing Arts Center. We will be there to picket and attend these events. The first opportunity is to picket & hand out fliers from 4:30pm to 5:30pm.

                                         The second is to picket & hand out fliers from 5:30 to 6:00pm and then attend the event, which begins at 6:00pm. We will be wearing red for public ed!

       Thursday, May 3:   REA and the district will be holding the fifth mediation session from 9:00 to 3:00pm.  This session will be at the Professional Development Center, 2408 SW Halsey, Troutdale, in Building A.  There will be food and beverages and all are welcome.

         Thursday, May 3: The district’s first budget meeting will begin at 6:00pm at Reynolds High School, in the multipurpose room. We will picket and attend the meeting, especially in light of the district’s inability to be sure of their numbers!!  We will begin picketing at 5:30pm, after a brief update on the day’s mediation.

       Wednesday, May 9:  The School Board holds their regular business meeting at the Fairview City Hall at 7:00pm.  We will picket and attend the meeting, beginning at 6:15pm.

       Thursday, May 10:  REA and the district will be holding the sixth mediation session from 9:00 to 3:00pm.  This session will be at the Professional Development Center, 2408 SW Halsey, Troutdale, in Building A.  There will be food and beverages and all are welcome. 

The members of REA would like to thank everyone for all of the support that you have shown us.  Thank You!!