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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2011)
NWLP-03-18-11:NWLP 3/15/11 10:16 AM Page 12 Portland school teachers ratify new contract By DON McINTOSH Associate Editor Portland teachers agreed to another belt-tightening union contract, but that wasn’t enough for a crowd of well-con- nected critics who attended a March 7 school board meeting. Stand for Children, a national school reform group headquartered in Port- land, mobilized scores of would-be school reformers to attend the special board meeting, which was called to vote on the teachers union contract. The con- tract is the product of an employee-em- ployer negotiation between the board and administration of Portland Public Schools (PPS) and teachers represented by Portland Association of Teachers (PAT). But Stand for Children members complained that they didn’t have suffi- cient input into bargaining the contract, and they criticized the contract for pre- Sixth grade teacher Rebecca Levison — president of Portland Association of Teachers — testifies at the March 7 serving step increases and seniority meeting of the Portland Public Schools board as her fellow union members look on. The Board voted 5-1 to approve rights. Their testimony — and attitude a new contract with the district’s 3,500 teachers and librarians. toward teachers — drew rebukes from several PPS Board members. the end, the Board voted 5 to 1 to ap- tinue to contribute 7 percent of the cost. among teachers. PAT leaders felt teachers had made “Putting teachers in a more corpo- prove it. Martin Gonzalez, the sole dis- The agreement also contains some concessions in the contract, and thought changes the District has asked for in rate environment,” King said, “would senting vote, said he voted “no” because Board approval would be uncontrover- teacher workload and the length of the cause suspicion, competition, and an at- he lacked confidence that the District sial. The two-year contract, which workday. Teachers at each high school mosphere of distrust, instead of the col- will properly implement it. teachers had ratified March 4, contains will vote whether to add a sixth daily laboration that is needed to keep learn- One factor in the early settlement no cost-of-living increases. class to their teaching load and get ing and work well with the same may have been the district’s desire for “That was difficult for us to swal- smaller class sizes in the bargain. The students.” labor peace as it asks the public to ap- low,” PAT President Rebecca Levison two sides also agreed on a new method Board member Trudy Sargent was told the Labor Press. “But in tough eco- of evaluating teachers, which is being unable to attend, but she voiced her op- nomic times, we know that teachers worked out by a labor-management position to the contract in a letter that need to tighten our belts. We’re going committee that began meeting weekly was read aloud by a Board secretary. to move forward and do what we do in October. Sargent said the contract was overly best, which is teach.” Bargaining on the contract started generous given the district’s budget, and A schedule of “step increases” re- Feb. 15, and the two sides announced said she would have preferred a freeze mains in the con- tentative agree- on wages and benefits and a cap on the tract however, and ment March 2 — district’s contribution to health benefits. that drew com- “I would have believed nearly four months Money going to step increases could be plaints from some before the existing used to hire more teachers, she argued. Stand for Children you all about your agreement expires. Echoing Stand for Children, Sargent members and at respect for teachers, if That breaks the also criticized the District’s failure to least one Board pattern for much eliminate seniority protections in the member. Step in- tonight, having heard of the last decade, event of layoffs. creases are raises Stand for Children has in the past al- during which ne- employees receive from a sixth grade gotiations dragged lied with teachers unions around better periodically until on months, even funding for education, but it has in- they reach the top teacher who represents over a year, after creasingly advocated a conservative- step in a wage 4,000 of them, your contracts expired. tinted reform agenda — focusing on scale. PPS teachers PPS Board chair “bad teachers” as a paramount problem with a master’s de- response had been even Pam Knowles de- in education, portraying teachers union gree, for example, scribed the new contracts as an obstacle to student start at $42,794 a polite applause.” contract as a turn- achievement, and promoting CEO-style year and get annual ing point toward a school leadership as the solution. Stand raises of 3 to 5 per- relationship based for Children promoted Waiting for Su- D AVID W YNDE cent until they top collaboration perman, a 2010 documentary that tarred S CHOOL B OARD M EMBER on out at $62,940 after — not conflict — teachers union leaders as villains stand- 12 years. The new between the dis- ing in the way of reform. contract also adds a new top step in July trict and the teachers union. “One great benefit of not running for 2012, which amounts to a 2 percent But members of Stand for Children re-election is you’re finally free to say raise for the roughly half of PPS teach- criticized the contract for leaving sen- what you really think,” said Board ers who are topped out. Those teachers iority protections intact. The group’s member Wynde, whose term ends June will not have had a cost-of-living in- members said layoffs should target the 30. Addressing the Stand for Children crease in three of four years. worst teachers, not those with the least contingent, Wynde said, “I would have David Wynde, who serves on the experience, and they proposed that the believed you all about your respect for Board’s finance committee, said PPS pay system be changed to reward im- teachers, if tonight, having heard from a teachers’ top salary step is currently the proved teaching, not longevity. sixth grade teacher who represents lowest of 16 metro-area school districts; Hearing that, Portland Jobs with Jus- 4,000 of them, your response had been after the raise, it would be 10th of the tice board member Laurie King got up even polite applause.” [PAT President 16 if other districts don’t give increases to testify in defense of seniority. King Levison is a teacher at Clarendon- in the meantime. used to teach at Sellwood Middle Portsmouth, a K-8 school.] The new contract makes no changes School, and told the Board that getting Because she was absent, Sargent to health benefits. Teachers will con- rid of seniority would lessen collegiality wasn’t able to vote on the contract. In PAGE 12 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS prove two funding measures on the May 17 ballot. PPS is seeking voter ap- proval for a $548 million school facili- ties bond and an extension and increase in an existing operating levy. The facil- ities bond, Measure 26-121, would fund safety and other improvements to school buildings. The local option levy, Measure 26-122, would pay for teach- ing positions, replacing a levy approved in 2006. The new contract covers 3,500 teach- ers, librarians, counselors, school psy- chologists and other educators. It’s the largest of PPS’six union contracts. PAT, which is an affiliate of the Oregon Edu- cation Association, has a separate agree- ment covering substitute teachers that runs through June 30, 2012. Contracts covering members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 and Service Employees International Union Local 49 run through the same date. A multi- union District Council of Unions con- tract runs through December 2012. PPS is in informal negotiations with Portland Federation of Teachers and Classified Employees over a new contract cover- ing classified employees; the existing agreement expires June 30. PPS, with 42,000 students, is Ore- gon’s largest school district. MARCH 18, 2011
