The Benefits of Shopping with NEA Member Benefits
HOLIDAY SHOPPING USING NEA MEMBER BENEFITS
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Successful member organizing helps Maysville EA become first Ohio local to win back salary schedule
In 2014, midway through the freeze, the administration presented MEA with a “white knight” solution known as alternative compensation developed with the guidance of Battelle for Kids, a non-profit organization intent on tying teacher employment and pay for performance based upon student test scores.
Still reeling from stagnant wages and the defeat of SB5, members made the short-term decision to accept the alternative compensation proposal that came packaged with sweeteners and incentives, many of which were grant-based. Despite warnings from the local’s OEA labor relations consultant that the inequities of the system would be revealed once grant money disappeared, and that a return to their salary schedule might be impossible, 95% of voting members accepted the new compensation plan and, ultimately, its failures.
This year the exit of prior school district management and hiring of a superintendent who was not a strong advocate of tying teacher pay or evaluations to student test results, encouraged a group of MEA members to pursue a return to a traditional pay scale—used by 97% of Ohio school districts.
According to MEA President Myra Warne this was no small challenge for a local with 140 members in rural southeastern Ohio. “Nobody could remember the last time more than 25 or 30 people had come to a meeting,” Warne said. “And, as is often the case with small locals, previous negotiations had been informal and often occurred without the benefit of labor experts at the table.”
As newly elected MEA president, Warne, an English teacher at Maysville High School, promised member involvement and transparency in the process, recognizing that neither would be possible unless teachers were willing to unite behind the goal of achieving an equitable contract that would serve the best interests of all members.
“Nearly a quarter of our members were doing better with merit pay than they would have with the traditional system,” Warne said. “Some wouldn’t receive a raise if MEA returned to the old salary schedule because they had passed the top rung, but the other 75 percent of members had seen their pay stagnate for years. We had to convince those who were benefiting from the new system to support our efforts with the understanding that when management pits us against one another, it’s bad for the union as a whole.”
The MEA Executive Committee recognized that achieving its goal would require a plan to foster member engagement, beginning with a negotiations committee. An all-call for negotiating committee members produced 10 volunteers from different work areas and buildings who agreed to meet weekly, beginning in January 2017.
At the initial meeting, the team developed a plan with each committee member assigned an article of the existing collective bargaining agreement for review and recommendations. With the help of the local’s new LRC Jeremy Baiman, the group dissected the agreement, focusing on key areas. The team sought input from non-committee members in specific disciplines such as special education.
The group then took the unprecedented action of opening every article of the contract, something that had not been done in decades. They discovered a clause suggesting that the superintendent had the right to determine whether a teacher who had given birth was emotionally fit to return to work. In other areas, such as family medical leave, contract language was in violation of federal law.
Committee members were assigned review of specific articles. They also examined contracts from other locals and survey responses from MEA members, and made recommendations based on their research. After discussion, the group agreed on bargaining priorities.
Another critical step was analyzing the district’s spending and financials. On behalf of the MEA, the OEA filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all district salaries and compensation that revealed wide disparities in pay.
Warne said the committee found one teacher who would need to work 21 years under the alternative compensation plan to reach a salary of $51,500—the amount earned by the district’s executive secretaries. The member agreed to serve as a poster child for MEA’s efforts.
“It wasn’t enough to just say, ‘This is good for young teachers,’” Warne said. “We made sure we had permission to use member names, both at the bargaining table and with other members, so that we would have concrete examples.”
MEA’s research also revealed that the district was
top-heavy in administrative salaries—employing 17 administrators at a cost of $1.5 million to taxpayers, compared to 12 administrators in a similar-sized neighboring district. The union’s analysis of the district’s financials showed that the year it implemented merit pay, Maysville saved $700,000 in staff payroll. While the district was pleading poverty, its books showed $1.3 million in revenue over expenses.
Warne said, “exposing and highlighting these financial disparities engaged members, but we needed a strategy to sustain engagement and support throughout the bargaining process to ensure our success.”
Regular communication was key to providing the transparency promised to members early in the process. Committee members secured personal email address and cell phone numbers for each member and contacted teachers to collect accurate information regarding years of service and education levels.
Determining the cost for MEA’s proposal was crucial to securing a deal and math teacher Amber Williams spent hours creating formulae and manipulating data with respect to various counter proposals on compensation.
Communications team members Toni Stoepfel and Samantha Mitts kept members informed in real time, sending emails and text messages updating teachers on the progress of negotiations, and encouraging them to show solidarity by wearing member shirts, participating in group walk-ins, and wearing daily assigned colors to demonstrate unity.
Committee members were motivated and encouraged when, on the first day of negotiations, teachers showed up at school in MEA shirts and posted group pictures
to Facebook.
“As negotiations continued, we received motivational texts and emails from appreciative members, demonstrating the real reward—the fact that we were working hard on behalf of all members,” Warne said.
MEA kept members informed of the substance of negotiations and made sure they were involved in key decisions.
“After the first two days of bargaining, in which the district insisted on maintaining the merit pay system,
we told their negotiating team we needed member input before we could proceed,” Warne said. “On May 9, we held a meeting attended by two-thirds of our members—absolutely unheard of in our district—and presented members with three choices: continue to fight for the traditional step system; acquiesce to the alternative compensation scheme, but try to get a better deal; or work with the administration to come up with a combination of the two.”
Attendees voted soundly (91%) to continue MEA’s fight to regain the traditional pay scale, and the committee secured petition signatures from 87% of all members, signaling that they would do whatever it took to achieve the desired result.
A turning point for MEA was the attendance of 90 members at a school board meeting—so many members that the school board hired a deputy sheriff to attend the proceedings.
Bargaining concluded June 2 with a return to the traditional pay scale—making MEA the first local in Ohio to win back its salary schedule after giving it up.
Additional contract gains included a grandfather clause, ensuring that members who had exceeded their step-based salary would not take a pay cut, financial penalties for the district for exceeding class size targets, and additional release days for our special education teachers. The lone concession was an agreement to add 15 minutes to the workday, bringing Maysville into alignment with other local districts.
The contract was ratified with a 91 percent yes vote.
Preparation, communication and unity were the keys to MEA’s success.
“We began preparations early, sought member input and engagement in the process, created an expectation that our members would support these efforts, and refused to back down at the table,” Warne said. “Countless hours of preparation and research resulted in a successful negotiation for our local.
“We were willing to do the hard work required to negotiate a meaningful contract that serves all our members. It is this unity that brought us success. Our challenge is to maintain that solidarity and continue to develop relationships among members going forward.”
OEA Member Resource Guide 2017
Use this guide as an overview to help you make the most of your OEA Membership. Within, you’ll learn more about:
- Ways to Become Involved
- Fighting for Public Education
- OEA Staff, Leadership, and Board of Directors
- OEA Higher Education Benefit
- Awards and Scholarships
- Valuable NEA Member Benefits and Services
Throughout our more than 150-year history, OEA members have been involved in every struggle and effort to advance the finest of America’s dreams: a quality public education for every child.
If you have additional questions, contact us at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or send us an email to: membership@ohea.org.
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Fact Finder for the Ohio Teacher
The Teacher Contract
Ohio teachers work under one of two basic types of contracts–limited or continuing. Limited contracts must be renewed periodically. State statute or your collective bargaining agreement determine the procedure the employer must use to non-renew a limited contract. A continuing contract remains in effect until a teacher dies, resigns, voluntarily retires, is suspended or terminated for cause.
Supplemental: Supplemental contracts are limited contracts issued for extra duties assigned beyond the regular teaching assignment. Contracts must set forth in writing the additional duties to be performed and must specify compensation to be paid for that assignment. Supplemental contracts should cover all educational responsibilities outside the regular teaching assignment other than voluntary duties. There is no notice requirement for termination of supplemental contracts, unless otherwise negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement.
Types of Licenses
Resident Educator (Four-Year)–Upon completion of an approved teacher education program, graduates are given a four-year Resident Educator license, which may be used for full-time or substitute teaching. The Resident Educator license is non-renewable, but may be extended on a case-by-case basis. Advancement to a five-year Professional Educator License requires the successful completion of a four-year Resident Educator Program.
Reading Requirement for Teachers Holding the Following Resident Educator Licenses: Early Childhood Education, Middle Childhood Education, and Intervention Specialist. Newly-licensed teachers who hold the resident educator license in early childhood, middle childhood, or intervention specialist should be mindful of how many semester hours of reading they completed during their pre-service teacher education program. Some teacher education institutions require that graduates in these fields complete six semester hours of reading, including instruction in phonics, in order to qualify for graduation and the two-year provisional license. Other teacher education institutions require students to complete 12 semester credit hours. Because the five-year professional license for early childhood, middle childhood, or intervention specialist requires a minimum of twelve (12) semester credit hours, or the equivalent, in reading including phonics, newly-licensed teachers should determine whether they need to take additional hours in reading to meet the twelve-hour requirement. Assuming that the teacher has completed course work in the teaching of phonics, additional reading courses might address a range of instructional strategies for teaching reading, the assessment of reading skills, and the diagnosis and remediation of reading difficulties. If a resident educator license holder has not completed the necessary course work before the expiration of the license, her/his application for a professional license will be denied.
Professional (Five-Year)—Conversion from the Resident Educator (four-year) license to the Professional Educator (five-year) license requires completion of a four-year Resident Educator Program in an assignment under the four-year Resident Educator license, including a state-required summative prescribed performance assessment.. No additional professional development credits are required, except as explained below.
Senior Professional Educator (Five-Year)—Advancement to a Senior Professional Educator license (five-year) from a Professional Educator license (five-year) requires that an educator meet the following requirements: 1) Have a Master’s degree or higher from an institution of higher education accredited by a regional accrediting organization; 2) have nine years experience teaching under a standard teaching license with 120 days of service as defined by ORC, of which at least five years are under a professional/permanent license/certificate; and 3) have successfully completed the Master Teacher Portfolio.
Lead Professional Educator (Five-Year)— Advancement to a Lead Professional Educator license (five-year) from a Professional Educator license (five-year) requires that an educator meet the following requirements: 1) Have a Master’s degree or higher from an institution of higher education accredited by a regional accrediting organization; 2) have nine years experience teaching under a standard teaching license with 120 days of service as defined by ORC, of which at least five years are under a professional/permanent license/certificate; and 3) have successfully completed the Master Teacher Portfolio AND earned the Teacher Leader Endorsement OR hold active National Board Certification.
Professional Development for Licensure Renewal
An educator’s Individual Professional Development Plan [IPDP] must be filed with and approved by the Local Professional Development Committee[LPDC] prior to earning credits for course work or continuing education to renew a license or to transition from a certificate to a license.
Transitioning to or Renewing a Professional (Five-Year) License—Transition from an eight-year professional certificate to a professional license requires the completion of a combination of course work, CEUs or other equivalent educational activities, equal to six semester hours, according to an LPDC-approved Individual Professional Development Plan and in accordance with LPDC criteria for professional development. There is no provision for reducing the course work or professional development requirements on the basis of work experience.
Professional License (Five-Year) renewals—The educator must successfully earn six (6) semester hours or 18 CEUs or other LPDC-approved educational activities, according to an LPDC-approved Individual Professional Development Plan and in accordance with LPDC criteria for professional development.
For more information about the Ohio’s licensure standards, including fees for application, contact the Office of Educator Licensure at the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), 25 S. Front St., Columbus, OH 43215- 4183, (614) 466-2006 or visit the center’s website at www.ode.state.oh.us.
The necessary application for a new certificate or license or a renewal may be obtained at the ODE. An LPDC must review an individual’s professional development and verify that it meets the requirements for renewal before ODE will act on an application for renewal. For current licensure fees, visit ODE’s website search term “Educator License Applications.”
Teacher Sick Leave
The law requires that teachers be permitted to accumulate at least 120 days of sick leave at the rate of 15 days per year credited at the rate of one and one-fourth days per month. Any accumulation beyond 120 days is covered by the collective bargaining agreement and/or board policy.
The law permits the use of sick leave for personal illness, pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions, injury, exposure to a contagious disease, and absence due to illness, injury, or death in the employee’s immediate family.
Under the law, teachers who are disabled and who have exhausted their sick leave are entitled to unpaid leave for the duration of their disability, not to exceed two years, and may receive leave renewals after the two-year period has expired.
Any public employee may carry accumulated sick leave from one public employer to another, provided the break in service between jobs does not exceed ten years.
Parental Leave
Members wishing to take a leave of absence for reasons of maternity, adoption or child rearing may be granted such leave based upon negotiated contracts. They may be entitled to such leave under equal employment opportunity laws and under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
Important Teacher Dates
May 1: Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) and Ohio School Counselor Evaluation System (OSCES) educators must have completed their evaluation, if applicable. The final evaluation report must be received not later than May 10.
June 1: Any limited contract teacher must be notified not later than June 1 of the board’s intent to non-renew their contract. Failure of a board to provide such notice, or failure of the board to perform three observations, automatically results in re-employment for one year under a limited contract.
Unless teachers notify the board of education in writing to the contrary by June 1, they are presumed to have accepted re-employment under the provisions of the contract offered by the board.
July 1: Teachers must be notified in writing by July 1 of their salary for the coming school year. The salary may be increased due to schedule improvements through negotiations.
July 10: A teacher must resign not later than July 10 for the next school year. After July 10, the teacher must have the board’s consent or face a possible suspension of their teaching license for up to one year
Teacher Severance Pay
Teachers can receive severance pay based upon accumulated unused sick leave at the time of retirement. Payment may be for all or part of accumulated unused sick leave based upon the policy in force in the district or the negotiated contract. If the district has no policy, or there is no local contract language on this point, the law provides for severance pay in an amount equal to one-fourth of the accrued unused sick leave, up to a maximum accrual of 30 days.
Discrimination
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and various Ohio state laws offer protection against discrimination in the areas of supplemental salaries, pregnancy leave, promotion, termination, transfer and other areas. If a member believes he or she is being discriminated against for legally proscribed reasons, the member should contact their OEA Labor Relations Consultant.
Removing Disruptive Pupils from Class
Ohio law gives teachers the legal right to remove disruptive pupils from the classroom. OEA-backed legislation gives teachers the right to “remove a pupil from curricular or extra curricular activities” with the condition that the teacher submit written reasons for the removal to the principal as soon as possible. This right applies when, in the judgment of the teacher, the “pupil’s presence poses a continuing danger to persons or property or an ongoing threat of disrupting the academic process.” In addition to regular suspension and expulsion, the law also permits a school district to permanently expel a pupil under certain circumstances.
Children with identified learning disabilities are subject to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law which may guide how to deal with disruptive students with such disabilities.
Teachers and Corporal Punishment
Corporal punishment is prohibited in Ohio schools unless a school board has established a policy that permits it. If your school board has a policy permitting corporal punishment, get a copy of that policy and adhere strictly to it when considering the use of corporal punishment. If you are unsure whether your district has a policy permitting it, refrain from using corporal punishment until you are certain of your school district’s policy.
Ohio law allows the use of such amount of force and restraint as is “reasonable and necessary” to quell a disturbance which threatens physical injury to others, to obtain possession of weapons or other dangerous objects within the pupil’s control, for the purpose of self-defense or for the protection of persons or property.
If A Member Is Assaulted
If a member is the victim of an assault while on school property, the following procedures are recommended:
- Write down as soon as possible after the assault incident all particulars of the situation, including names, witnesses, date, time(s), location, and general conditions.
- Contact the proper school authorities.
- Contact the local association.
- Have the person determine his/her rights to assault leave under the Ohio Revised Code or the collective bargaining agreement.
- Take pictures, if relevant and possible, of injuries or property damage.
- Get a doctor’s statement if there is even a remote possibility of personal injury.
- File all appropriate police reports.
- Press charges against the assaulting student(s) or others.
- Avoid talking to anyone representing the student or others without prior counsel.
- Remember, members are covered by the OEA/NEA Legal Services Program if charges are filed against them.
For Member Protection
Under Ohio law, public employers bear responsibility to indemnify their employees against certain tort claims for acts occurring within the scope of their employment. However, as OEA members, individuals have the additional protection of $1 million in professional liability insurance. This program provides for: *
- Liability Protection. Payment of up to $1 million in damages assessed against a member as a result of a lawsuit.† There is a $3 million aggregate limit per occurrence for this coverage. This is excess coverage, meaning that it is available when the employer declines to provide coverage or where liability limits are exceeded.
- Legal Costs. Payment of all legal costs in defending such cases.
- Civil Rights. Payment of up to $300,000 in damages, attorney fees, and court costs if a member is charged with the violation of the civil rights of an individual.†
- Criminal Cases. Reimbursement of attorney fees and other legal costs up to $35,000 if a member is charged with violating a criminal statute in the course of employment, provided the member is found innocent of the charges or the charges are dropped. If charges stem from an incident involving corporal punishment, the member can be reimbursed up to $35,000, regardless of the outcome of the case.
- Bail Bond. Reimbursement of up to $1,000 of the bail bond premium if the member must post bond.†
- Personal Property Damage. Payment of up to $500 for damages to personal property when caused by an assault in the course of employment. If you believe there is a claim under the liability protection program, contact your local OEA/NEA Labor Relations Consultant immediately.
†In an incident arising out of the member’s education employment.
* In civil actions related to your education employment activities. Please note: This is not a full description of the coverage. For a complete description of OEA/NEA liability coverage, please contact your Labor Relations Consultant.