HEA members voted Wednesday to authorize their negotiators to call a strike in the case of impasse. Teachers had already rejected a contract offer last month and the Board's news release said the strike vote followed a turndown on a second offer. HEA's Friday release said, no, it was only a reaffirming rejection on the original one. "With nearly twice as many members voting, the result was substantially the same as the first," it read.
"The statement that a second tentative agreement was reached is patently false and can only be construed as an intentional misstatement by the BOE," the release continued.
Reached Friday afternoon, bargainer and Board spokesman Don Drzal declined comment, saying he intended to stop arguing in the tabloids. "It's not a very healthy way of negotiating," he said.
The next bargaining session for D158 is Nov. 13, giving everyone plenty of time to cool down . Drzal said that wasn't the purpose of more than three-week delay, though. He said it was the earliest the federal mediator in D158's talks could work the district into his schedule of other fractious negotiations.
Editor's note:
HEA this morning sent a superceding news release to Friday's statement.
Friday's formulation, "The offer was widely received as a disrespectful attempt to devalue the certified staff," changed to, "The offer was widely viewed as being unresponsive to educator needs and inadequate in the effort to attract and retain high quality professionals."
The Friday statement, "Our hope is that the Board comes to the realization that its (sic) continued soliloquoy (sic) in not bargaining in good faith. The HEA correspondingly requests that the BOE compile a bargaining team capable of understanding that their repeated failure to make a reasonable offer, taking into account the concerns expressed by the HEA membership, reinforces a lack of respect for the certified staff" morphed into, "Our hope is that the BOE comes to the realization that building a quality school district is in everyone’s interest. Fairness to current professionals is a means of building to the future. It is the best pathway toward attracting and retaining the high quality professionals our students and community deserve."
7 comments:
Hey, If the teeachers don't like the BOE maybe they should go to district where they do like them? Hope the district holds the line but I'm sure they will fold under the pressure.
Are these the same teachers who sat in the audience of a board meeting last year and cried in relief when the board bent over backwards to minimize layoffs?
While every district in the state was laying off dozens, if not hundreds of teachers, our district only lost 10 teachers.
From what I've seen, school funding hasn't changed much in the last year. Who's being disrespectful here?
teachers do not know the meaning of respect.They have no respect for the students or the taxpayers. They only respect the dollar. afaire all of them and let them respect the people in line in front of them at the unemployment office. When they go for unemployment they should borrow someones old car, they should not be seen in their new caddilacs.
sould say fire all of them
Real professionals don't walk out on their jobs or responsibilities. When I was taught about respect, no one linked it to money. I guess my parents were wrong, and I should have taught my son to show respect by throwing money at people yinstead. Why can't the union just be honest and tell taxpayers they demand egregious raises every year beyond what the community can stomach? Instead we get this nonsense - during the Great Recession.
It's very hard to live on the measly salaries teachers get.Remember they only get to work 9 months of the year and then those days are part time.It is a good thing they do not have to pay for insurance. If they did they most likely would not be able to afford food.
Considering to strike in this economy? Get real. Be thankful for the job you have and perform to the best of your ability.
Fire all who strike. Their positions will quickly be filled by people who will be thankful to have a job.
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