Schools

Union Says Elmbrook Teachers Need Seat at Table

Head of Elmbrook Education Association says teachers are concerned about losing input over finances, school calendar, class sizes and work duties.

Elmbrook teachers are willing to pay more to reduce school district personnel costs, but they do not want to lose input in setting working conditions, such as the school calendar, work assignments and class sizes, a teachers union leader says.

Every day after school for the past week, Elmbrook teachers have been traveling to Madison to protest the governor's proposal to end almost all collective bargaining rights for most public workers, including teachers, said Janelle Geyser, president of the Elmbrook Education Association.

"I went to Madison," Geyser said. "It was amazing. It was peaceful."

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The teachers union negotiated a compromise with district administrators to avoid the walkouts that shut down other districts. In exchange for staying in their classrooms, the district agreed to allow teachers to leave at the same time as students on early-release Thursday. Rather than participating in teacher collaboration time, staff was allowed to go to Madison. 

At Tuesday's Elmbrook School Board meeting, Board President Tom Gehl praised staff for staying at work, saying that other than a couple of "disappointing" situations, absenteeism was at normal levels. 

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Geyser, who has taught for 23 years in the Elmbrook district and currently teaches sixth-grade science and language arts at Wisconsin Hills Middle School, said teachers were more upset about losing their power to negotiate than they were about losing money.

"There's a balance when both sides are at the table," she said. "It's not a financial thing."

But she did speak at length about the monetary hit teachers would take under Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget repair bill, which would require most public employees to contribute 5.8 percent toward their pensions and 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums.

In Elmbrook, teachers currently pay 3 percent of their health premiums and administrators pay 10 percent. The school district pays 100 percent of both the employee and employer contributions to the pension plan.  

Geyser said: "Angst is probably very common and an understatement, especially if you are a two-teacher income family."

She said families with two working teachers could lose about $10,000 a year.

Some may have to get a second job at night "instead of grading papers," especially those with student loans for bachelor's or masters degrees, Geyser said.

Superintendent Matt Gibson has said he supports the governor's repair bill because personnel costs need to be controlled to fix school district deficits without cutting programs.

Currently about 84 percent of the district's expenses are salary and benefits. The district would like to get that down to about 80 percent, he said.

The district is projecting a five-year deficit of more than $14 million. 

Geyser said the union plans to meet again with its members this week, and the School Board's Personnel Committee is meeting in closed session Friday to discuss teacher negotiations.

Teachers last fall ratified a 2009-11 contract that will expire June 30. 

Staff is very concerned about what will happen July 1 and after, Geyser said.

"We'll have to wait and see," she said.

Geyser said no job actions are planned by the Elmbrook Education Association in response to the controversial changes proposed by the governor.

She urged the governor and state Legislature to preserve teacher bargaining rights and instead focus on reforming state education funding.

"The school funding system is broke," she said. "Let's take a realistic look at school funding."

Creative ideas should be in the mix, Geyser said, such as an alcohol tax or a voluntary $5 education donation box on state income tax forms. 

She said school principals have shown support for their staffs. "Our principal delivered bagels yesterday," she added.

But teachers remain wary of how the administration and School Board will respond if teachers lose their bargaining rights. Geyser said the first time teachers heard of Gibson's support for the labor concessions was in a about comments Gibson made to a parent council.

At Tuesday's School Board meeting, Gibson urged board members to assure staff that despite the financial hit they may face, they are valued members of the district.

"There's fear right now out there," Gibson said, that seniority rights will be eliminated and the oldest teachers could be forced to part-time status. 

He suggested the board draft a statement indicating it is "supportive of the concessions but we're also supportive of them (staff) as human beings.... Showing that we care for our employees." The board did not issue such a statement Tuesday.

School Board member Glen Allgaier agreed. He said salary, benefit and pension concessions will give teachers more job security and avoid the need to issue layoffs or increase class sizes.

"You're still going to be here and our classes aren't going to get as big as we've been fearful of," Allgaier said.


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