Schools

New Contract Negotiations: Process Remains Private, Not Public, Avon School Officials Say

As the current contract reaches its last year, the Avon Education Association and Avon Board of Education Negotiations Committee deliberate a new three-year contract for 2012-15.

Negotiations for a new three-year contract for Avon Public Schools certified staff are underway.

“Topics of negotiations could include anything contained within the original agreement or anything that either party wants to add or delete,” Avon Superintendent Gary Mala said.

Certified staff includes teachers, guidance counselors, school psychologists and speech pathologists. The current contract expires at the close of the 2012-13 fiscal year, Mala said.

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Some Avon residents, like Avon Taxpayers Association President Florence Stahl, have asked the school board to let the public observe the negotiations that include contract items like salary and benefits. A unanimous agreement between the Avon Education Association and the school board’s Negotiation Committee is required in order for this to happen, Mala said. As is, contract negotiations are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and are therefore not required to be held during a public meeting.

Historically in Avon, and many other locations, Mala said that the negotiations take place in private sessions. While the board and the certified staff bargaining unit discussed whether to hold the meetings in public last week, no agreement was reached, so negotiations will still not be open to the public, Mala said.

Find out what's happening in Avonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Traditionally, contracts last for three years, Mala said, but the last one was extended by a year because of certified staff concessions for the 2010-11 fiscal year on the heels of the nationwide recession.

The education association and negotiations committee will deliberate the contracts over the course of several meetings.

If they do not come to an agreement, the negotiations are taken to the mediation level and an attorney with experience in contract mediations will be hired to work with both parties, Mala said. The deadline for that is late September.

"I’ve seen agreements reached right as the mediator’s been walking in,” Mala said.

Come October, if an agreement still hasn't been reached, a binding arbitration panel – representatives for both the education association and negotiations committee, as well as a third neutral party assigned by the state Department of Education – will be assembled. The mutual arbiter writes the final decision for the contracts based on the information presented by each side.

The last round of Avon Public Schools certified staff contract negotiations went into binding arbitration, Mala said.

Avon Public Schools have six bargaining units in total including the education association.

“I’m hopeful that a negotiated settlement is reached without the necessity of using other processes and I believe everyone will be reasonable and responsible as we approach this.”

PDFs of the current contract and teacher salary schedule (pay grades) for certified staff in the Avon school district are included in the article photo gallery.

Here are some highlights from the latest contract:

  • Starting salary for certified staff is $47,673 for someone with a bachelor's degree, $52,550 for employees with master's degrees and $57,927 for those who have completed a "sixth year" of collegiate study.
  • The maximum salary a certified staff member with a bachelor's degree can receive (Step 6) is $58,605 annually. Someone with a master's degree can earn up to $82,551 a year (Step 12-Max) and those with sixth-year degrees can make up to $91,008 a year (Step 12-Max).
  • At the end of every school year, each teacher moves up a pay grade, or step. Teachers who have doctorate's degrees receive $2,000 in addition "above the sixth year schedule."
  • Teachers are paid bi-weekly.
  • When teachers retire, they are paid an additional stipend during their last year of work that depends on the amount of years they've been employed with the district – $1,200 for 10 to 19 years, $1,800 for 20 to 24 years, $2,400 for 25 to 34 years and $3,000 for 35 years or more.
  • The school board can reward teachers with "financial awards" for exceptional service to the school district, but the amount can't be more than $1,000. There must be a public vote for this to occur.
  • Avon teachers who are not residents can pay for full tuition for their child to attend Avon Public Schools.
  • Class sizes cannot exceed certified staff to student ratios of 1 to 20 for kindergarten, 1 to 23 for first to third grade or 1 to 25 for fourth through 12th grade. If a teacher's class size is higher than it should be and the school board doesn't assist the teacher within 45 days, "affected teachers shall receive a cash stipend of $350 per additional student for that teaching year."
  • A teacher who is terminated because a position is eliminated will remain on a "reappointment list" for two years unless he or she declines a re-employment offer or does not respond to one. The teacher would have 10 days to submit a written decision if offered re-employment. No new teachers can be hired until the "reappointment list" is exhausted.


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