Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 17, 2015 15A
Polk County Education
Congratulations Class of 2015
Perrydale teachers
agree to contract
Board, union finally able to
hammer out agreement terms
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
PHOTOS BY JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Above: A Western Oregon
University graduate cele-
brates as he and more than
900 fellow graduates filed
into McArthur Stadium at
WOU Saturday morning for
commencement. While ab-
out 900 students attended
gradation, more than 1,300
students earned degrees in
2014-15. Oregon’s Senate
President and former WOU
employee Peter Courtney
gave the commencement
address, telling graduates
to not be afraid about their
future.
Right: Morrison Campus
Alternative School gradu-
ate Paisley Baylis poses
for a photo with her
daughter, Saylabrialle
Baylis, 1, Thursday
evening after receiving her
diploma at the school’s
graduation ceremony in
Dallas High School’s gym.
Morrison’s Class of 2015
included 37 students. Bill
Fischer, the school’s writ-
ing, personal finance and
social studies teacher, was
the featured speaker at
the ceremony.
PERRYDALE — After
more than a year of negoti-
a t i o n s , t h e Pe r r y d a l e
School Board and the Asso-
ciated Perrydale Teachers
(APT) have approved a
three-year contract.
The new contract in-
cludes the current (2014-
15) school year and expires
June 30,
2 0 1 7 .
Both sides
were able
to ham-
mer out
an agree-
ment dur-
ing a five-
hour face-
Deters
to-face
meeting earlier this month
that included the district’s
lawyer, Superintendent Eric
Milburn, and a teacher
group’s representative.
In previous mediation
sessions, the two groups
were kept in separate
rooms, and Milburn didn’t
participate in negotiations
beyond providing informa-
tion.
APT President Dean De-
ters said he believed those
changes were part of the
reason the two sides finally
came to an agreement.
“It was pretty productive
and it seemed like every-
one was focused on finding
something that worked,”
Deters said.
Milburn agreed.
“It helped tremendous-
ly,” he said. “The contract is
definitely fair to the teach-
ers and fair to the district as
well, because now we can
move forward.”
In the agreement, teach-
ers will receive a 1 percent
cost of living adjustment
(COLA) for the 2014-15
school year, a 1.5 percent
increase in 2015-16, and a 2
percent increase in the final
year of the contract.
“We were looking for a
little more. We had taken a
couple zeros (on COLAs)
the last couple years, but I
will say it was pretty close,”
Deters said.
Insurance caps — the
amount the district pay to-
ward employee insurance
plans — increased to
$1,079 per month this cur-
rent year and will increase
another $25 in each of the
next two years.
In order to agree to the
third year of the contract,
APT dropped the unfair
labor practices complaint it
filed against the district in
December 2014. After the
first day of hearing on the
c o m -
plaint,
Milburn
said both
sides were
ready to
forgo fur-
ther ac-
tion to
Milburn
come to
an agreement.
Deters said when negoti-
ations begin for the next
contract, both sides agreed
to take a different approach
to prevent the situation
from happening again.
“We feel like part of the
problem was lack of experi-
ence on both sides,” Deters
said.
Milburn added: “I think
it was a learning process for
the board and teachers as-
sociation.”
When negotiations begin
again, the superintendent
will be involved, and the
groups will meet before-
hand to list the items they
would wish to discuss be-
fore formal meetings begin,
Deters said.
“We want to make sure
we have some structure in
place before we sit down
for negotiations,” Deters
said.