Teacher contract still at standstill

By John Howell
Posted 6/28/16

The Warwick School Department and teachers union were in Superior Court Thursday, but like so much of the prolonged lack of agreement between the two parties, there was no visible progress.

The …

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Teacher contract still at standstill

Posted

The Warwick School Department and teachers union were in Superior Court Thursday, but like so much of the prolonged lack of agreement between the two parties, there was no visible progress.

The parties met in chambers with Associate Justice Bennett Gallo and, according to Superintendent Philip Thornton, a hearing will be held later this summer on the department’s request for a ruling it has the authority to determine “the number and type of personnel employed to effectively operate schools,” including layoffs consistent with declining school enrollment. The School Committee is also seeking a judgment that arbitration has exceeded the 20-day limit set by law and “that all mandatory negotiations, mediation and arbitration under the law have concluded between the parties.”

Meanwhile, confirming a verbal decision, the union received a written decision from the state Labor Relations Board, finding that the committee violated the terms of the 2014-15 agreement and ordered the committee to pay the union’s legal expenses and “cease and desist from refusing to participate in the processing of grievances, including proceeding to arbitration.”

“We are arguing the Warwick School Committee could save a lot of trouble if it did not violate terms of the contract and negotiate together,” union president Darlene Netcoh said yesterday afternoon.

In a press release she goes on to say, “The Labor Relations Board has reinforced and vindicated our position that the terms and conditions of the CBA that expired on August 31, 2015 are in full force and effect until a successor agreement is reached. Furthermore, we continue to maintain that only meaningful negotiations will yield a successor agreement.”

While the parties would appear to still be at odds, both Thornton and Netcoh are happy they will meet in mediation next week to resume negotiations.

Also, while court action appears to be at a standstill, arbitration continues.

“We’re winding up our part of it,” he said.

At the most recent session last Tuesday, Thornton said the committee got halfway through its argument to eliminate class weighting that considers students with individual education programs (IEP) as more than one student for the purpose of establishing class size.

He said arbitration would continue this week and that the committee is looking to address “co-op” and sick days. He said salary is expected to be the final issue the committee will address in arbitration. So far, the union has not itemized those issues it seeks to address with arbitration, he said.

Co-op, Thornton explained, is a formula the department has used to determine the number of special education teachers in a classroom based on the number of students with an IEP. The formula has been a contractual agreement for years.

“We want to eliminate it and base it [special education teachers in a classroom] on student needs and the IEP.” Thornton said the system that is based on numbers of students with IEPs “is blind to student needs and not in best practices.”

On the matter of sick days, teachers currently have 90 paid sick days a year. The committee is looking to reduce that to 18 days and create a “sick day bank.” Under the proposal, unused sick days would accumulate in a bank that a panel made up of representatives from the union and the administration could assign to individuals who had depleted their sick days. The committee is also suggesting that temporary disability insurance be made available to teachers at a cost of $30 per pay period (every two weeks). Teachers don’t have TDI now and their decision to get it would be optional.

As a benefit that would be paid on retirement, the committee also proposes to pay $100 for every accumulated unused sick day up to a total of 90 days, Thornton said.

The superintendent said the department is implementing individual administrator contracts in place of an overall policy that has guided the department for years. He said administrators get 12 sick days and will receive a 2 percent pay raise, which is accounted for in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

“These are standard contracts,” Thornton said, explaining they are similar to administrative contracts in other districts.

Thornton said the contracts don’t require the department to pay a year’s salary to an individual whose position is eliminated, or suspended, prior to the end of the contract. The contract would run from July 1 to June 30.

The Warwick Teachers Union contract expired last August. The union has been operating under the assumption that terms of the previous contract apply, including the provision limiting the committee to 20 layoffs a year, until a new contract is in place.

Thornton contends there is no contract, and with the consolidation of secondary schools, which will give the city two senior and two junior high schools this year, the system needs to eliminate the equivalent of about 60 full-time educator positions.

In its appeal to the court, the committee reasons the department is responsible for educating students, and without the savings from staff reductions students will suffer “irreparable harm, because the School Department will be unable to implement educational programs.”

Comments

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  • falina

    90 sick days in a 180 day working year?

    Tuesday, June 28, 2016 Report this

  • Imhere

    The teachers who teach the future don't get a contract, and not all deserve it but most do. Last year the school dept decides to give principals a pay raise. Then you have the principal at Norwood Elementary who hides in his office and doesn't tend to minor issues and completely doesn't tend to major ones either. He calls in his "cover up crew" lead by Philip Thorton and his trusty elementary director Lynn Dambruch to cover up a very serious issue that they turned a blind eye to. When Thorton is done pillaging the Warwick tax payer he moves on to the next city to cover things up in all for a pay check. Phil Thorton leader of " The Cover Up crew" second in command for elementary schools Lynn Dambruch and the coward who let's it all happen on his watch and says "his hands are tied" the one and only John Gannon. These people are very incompetent and doing a great job of screwing things up!

    Tuesday, June 28, 2016 Report this

  • richardcorrente

    Dear Falina, Imhere, and everyone else,

    Now is not the time for criticizing, finger-pointing or verbal assaults. Now is the time for a contract for the teachers.

    Here are the facts:

    The teachers are willing to sit down and negotiate. The School Committee is not. Advantage: Teachers.

    You can't argue who is in the wrong here. The School Committee must come to the negotiating table that the teachers have been sitting at for months! I jokingly said to one of the union leaders that we should lock the two sides in a room and insist that they talk to each other. If both sides did that voluntarily it would certainly show "good faith". From "good faith" will probably come the beginnings of a new contract that would benefit everyone, especially our forgotten students. Please, someone, suggest that to the other side? What do you have to lose?

    Richard Corrente

    Democrat for Mayor

    Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Report this

  • Imhere

    Mr. Corrente this is a great time for these incompetent people like Thorton, Dambruch, and Gannon to be told exactly what they are. I agree the teachers need a contract, but the three named need to be unemployed for the cover ups they perform all over Warwick and especially at Norwood Elementary. I think a whole new administration is needed from Thorton to Lynn Dambruch and across the board. The whole administration is a joke and Thortons " cover up crew" is being shown for who they are. They are on the hummel report, wpro620, all over social media. These people should be ashamed for their cover ups.

    Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Report this

  • JohnStark

    Mr. Corrente: Anyone who has been paying attention over the last couple of decades recognizes that public employee 'unions' have long outlived their usefulness. Our schools are not 1920's era sweat shops employing 14 year old kids for twelve hour work days around dangerous machinery. What steps will you take to de-certify public employee unions, which are bankrupting the very taxpayers you claim to defend? Given that the existing contract with teachers has expired, now would be the time to take these necessary steps. Are you ready to take these necessary and bold steps to turn around an unsustainable system? Or are you another shrug-of-the-shoulders, go-along to get-along guy?

    Thursday, June 30, 2016 Report this

  • moreofthesame

    Falina,

    Yes, 90 days. However, people usually don't abuse it. If someone has a medical emergency or issue it is beneficial as there is no disability insurance. As in any profession, there are people that will abuse the system. The majority of teachers conduct themselves in a professional manner.

    John Stark,

    Do you want to eliminate the unions for the Fire and Police Department's too?

    Teachers are an easy target. This School Committee is not doing it's job. It has cost the city.

    I'm not a teacher in case you were wondering.....

    Thursday, June 30, 2016 Report this

  • Scal1024

    "Now is not the time for criticizing, finger pointing , or verbal assaults" The very next sentence "The teachers are willing to sit down and negotiate, the school committee is not". - Rick Corrente

    So I guess it's ok to point fingers Mr. Corrente....as long as we share the same opinions as you? There is blame on both sides and to pretend there isn't is an insult to every taxpayer in this city. The language you use comes across as such a pander towards the teachers, who may not vote for you anyways.

    Thursday, June 30, 2016 Report this

  • markyc

    90 days does appear excessive.

    However, I believe the School Committee knew/planned the consolidation process PRIOR to 6/1/15; they could have issued 20 layoff notices at that time & 20 layoff notices prior to 6/1/16. That would have allowed the SC to operate under/within the EXTENSION of the expired contract(I believe under RI State law teachers contracts that have expired are extended to prevent teacher strikes which are prohibited). Between the 40 cumulative notices & teacher retirements that usually occur normally over the past two school years, the desired reductions could have been achieved by now & this would be one issue that wouldn't need to be addressed. The teachers will likely win & as Superintendent Thornton has indicated he will find the funds within the budget which means some school programs will be cut(maybe middle school sports, fewer computers purchased, fewer math specialists, or some other school program). "Winding up our part of it" ? The same issues being arbitrated were being negotiated over one year ago! Hopefully, the consolidation will go smoothly by the time school begins in August & that all the necessary improvements are completed 10 days before opening day. There is also the issue of deciding which three elementary schools will be closing & which school will be converted to the new early learning education center. One finds it difficult to believe that there won't be some issues that weren't anticipated for consolidation. Even if there aren't any, it's hard to have confidence in the SC & the publicity the Warwick School System as a whole has received during the last several years is not good from an outside perspective.

    Thursday, June 30, 2016 Report this

  • JohnStark

    moreofthesame: It never occurred to me that you might be a teacher and, Yes, I would enthusiastically embrace a de-certification of fire and police unions. This has nothing to do with teachers, firefighters, secretaries, trash collectors, ditch diggers or anybody else being "targets". Rather, it is about the usefulness and, frankly, validity of a public sector "union". And curiously, Mr. Corrente has failed to respond.

    Monday, July 4, 2016 Report this