As of July 1st, our contracts are now expired. What does this mean? We are going into the upcoming school year with the same working conditions and wages that we had last school year, and we need member involvement to make those conditions and wages competitive as we continue to negotiate with the District.

Wages

People will still move steps and lanes according to their years of service or new educational gains, but we will start the year with the same pay scales as this past school year. When we reach a settlement with the district, back pay and when we receive it is part of the negotiations. As a reminder the district’s offers sit at 10% and no new lanes for educators, 10% and 2 new steps for clerks, and wages for paraprofessionals that start at only $28,351.05 per year and top out at $45,236.10.

Working Conditions

Our working conditions stay the same until we reach a settlement with the district. So far the district has agreed to shared prep time before or after school for paras and teachers, but has refused enforceable language on class size and caseloads, refused to extend lunch to 30 minutes, refused to reduce the number of PD days, and refused to increase time on learning with kids to bring us in line with surrounding districts.

Leave

Leave conditions stay the same until we reach a settlement with the district. Any sort of “back application” would be part of negotiations. For example, if you go out on parental leave on September 18th, and we are still negotiating the contract, you have to plan to use sick time to cover your leave. The last time we made changes around parental leave, the changes applied only to people who were currently out on leave and those moving forward, not people who had already returned from leave that school year.

So far the district has agreed to language changes on personal days, snow days, and pregnancy loss for clerks (matching what paras and educators have), religious days for educators, and commencement leave for everyone. The district has refused to allow use of sick time to care for family members, refused to provide paid parental leave longer than ten school days, and refused use of sick bank in cases of serious illness of spouses and children.

So what do we do?

• Join our summer organizing meeting on July 30th at 1 pm – 2 pm via Zoom! Learn about how to get more involved and help us win a strong contract. 
• Reach out if you are interested in getting coworkers and community members to sign our petition in support of our contract proposals.
• Commit to wearing your CTU red T-shirt at convocation on Monday, August 26th on this Google form!