Essential Training
In 2013 we ratified a contract that included Essential training. This is about training the District wants us to attend outside the normal work day or calendar. The original language spelled out the programs that the District felt were necessary at the time. There were provisions around pay, on sharing a room if sent out of town, a limit of 7 days every 5 years that could be required, 6 months advance notice required , and a few more items. See Article 6 in the current contract.
What changed?
The tentative agreement calls for changes in the list of essential training programs. The list in the new language is: IB, AVID, OIP, PBIS, Equity Training, AP for high school, and CTE (for career tech).
We also changed the method used for determining changes to the list. In 2013 the District had to negotiate changes. In the new language Summit must arrive at consensus to make changes. In previous proposals from the District this Summit language was much looser than what we settled on. We believe that the new language provides protection. We also added specific language around OIP and Equity Training to be reviewed annually.
We made clarifications to some practices that are already in place. The District pays for “seat time” for essential training and if a member wants to have their own room for 3 or fewer nights the member has the opportunity to pay the difference. We now have language that reflects that practice.
Most of the other changes were slight language changes that do not affect the training.
Overall we would prefer that this whole section is removed from the contract, but it is difficult to remove things that we dislike from the contract once they are part of the agreement. For instance, we are sure that the district would prefer that Retirement Severance Pay were not part of the agreement, but it is. This is the same for dozens of sections that we have. At the time we put this language in the 2013 contract, we thought there were protections in place.
These protections remain:
· Cannot be required to attend more than 7 days every 5 years. Keep track!
· Need to be notified at least 4 months in advance. Don’t go if you are not told at least 4 months ahead of time. This is a change from 6 months, but we accepted this in a previous proposal when things were going better, but by itself did not seem to be a huge issue.
· You get paid for your seat time. Don’t accept the “Oh, we can’t pay you” line. You get paid if the District sends you to ANY training-even if it’s not on the list.
· We interpret “DAYS” to be how many non-contract days you lose by attending training. If you go to OIP training in the summer for a morning, it should count as one of your days. We also believe that after school cannot be required for these trainings because the contract talks “DAYS” not HOURS. We will grieve if this happens.
Essential Training is a lodestone around our necks. The District wants to ensure that everyone gets trained in skills they think are important. We believe our time is valuable. The fact is that even when training is not “essential” many of our members choose to attend. Our members want high quality training, but their time needs to be respected and honored. Essential training is not horrible until it is abused by forcing people to attend PD for no good reason. We hope the District will choose wisely in order to get buy in from our members.
In Union,
Ari and Karen
Ari and Karen