The Oregon Trail School District (OTSD) and the Wy’East Education
Association (WEA) agreed on a new four-year contract, with the district’s
board of directors expected to vote on it at the Monday, June 13 board
meeting. The two sides met eight times over the course of nine weeks to
hammer out the agreement.

“The best word to describe bargaining was ‘collaborative,’” said Steve Snow,
WEA’s bargaining chair and an elementary school counselor. “We have a great
working contract and a great working relationship with the district.”

OTSD Human Resources Director Ken Bucchi added that the working
relationship includes heated debate on some topics, but that each side is
willing to yield and recognize strong logic from the other.

“It isn’t about winning,” Bucchi said. “Too often, I think districts believe
they’ve won, but at what cost? The expense of relationships and ability to
work with those people later on.”

The contract, which starts July 1 of this year, includes a cost of living
adjustment of two percent each year, a benefits increase of five percent each
year and no reopeners. It also addresses class sizes, the number one issue for
the WEA in negotiations, by setting caps on the numbers of students for each
grade level.

If class sizes exceed that number, the teacher of that class receives an
additional $21 per child beyond the cap, per month.

“It’s not a remedy for large class sizes, (but) it at least represents an
acknowledgement that having a certain size classroom might potentially
create a greater workload,” Bucchi said.

The contract also includes new language guaranteeing two weeks of paid
family leave for younger teachers, including instances such as having a baby,
on top of other leave time they have accumulated.

“We didn’t feel it was fair that the group most likely to have a child is the
group least likely to have time to spend with that child,” Bucchi said. “(We’re)
trying to be a more family friendly environment.”

The contract also formally adopts language regarding salary exempt status
from the Fair Labor Standards Act, offering teachers the ability to perform
some duties, such as grading, away from the school and not requiring
teachers to remain at the school if they have completed their essential duties
for that day. The status also means teachers may work longer than eight
hours per day on other occasions due to the demands of the job and the
essential functions of their responsibilities.

The district has offered teachers the ability to perform grading duties outside
the school for approximately four years, which has proven popular.

“It was overwhelming, the vast majority of everyone loved it,” Snow said.

Each side has the opportunity to pull out of that language in the next four
years, while Bucchi noted he believes the OTSD is the first district in the state
to adopt the standards.

The contract also offers the district the unilateral right to transfer teachers
once every four years, and adds one additional day of orientation for brand
new hires. The additional day will be paid at the substitute teacher rate. The
contract does not include guaranteed daily teacher preparation time, which
the WEA had asked for, but the district will “make every effort” to
accommodate that, according to Bucchi.

Snow noted that the two sides do a lot of work between bargaining, including
a monthly labor management meeting at the district level, and he added that
the teachers are pleased with how the district manages its finances.

“They’ve been good stewards of the money and making sure there is a
cushion there, which there should be,” he said.

Welches board position opening
Citizens interested in applying for the Zone 3 (Welches) open board position
can find the application and other information at
http://oregontrailschools.com/school-board/. Applications are due by 4 p.m.
Thursday, July 7.