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Kent Education Association
BARGAINING NEWSLETTER
Keeping You Informed & Up-to-Date
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Article No. 2 March 17, 2016
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Your KEA bargaining team met for the second time with the District on Friday, March 11th. After one year and a month, a grievance, and an Unfair Labor Practice, the District was finally able to bring an offer to the table that we could agree to on the terms and conditions of the use of video surveillance in schools and on buses. We hope that some recent changes in District leadership, including the sudden departure of Chief Talent Officer Keith Beeman, will help the District to be more willing to meet us at the bargaining table, rather than hiring lawyers to defend them in court.
On Friday, the team was also joined by Dual Language teachers from across the District, who were present to show solidarity and support as the KEA team continued bargaining the Dual Language MOU for changes that were made to the program this year. KEA believes that all teachers should be treated with respect, and that they should be fairly compensated for their time and dedication to their students. We will stand together with the Dual Language teachers until the District makes a fair proposal.
We will present our comprehensive proposal for 2016/2017 when the District makes significant progress on the items still open for this school year. Still on the table: Dual Language for 2015/16, expansion of WA Kids testing in the summer of 2016, District imposed changes to TPEP forms in 2015/16, and District imposed changes to IEPs for students who may need to be isolated or restrained.
We will be meeting again as a team soon and again with the district in the coming weeks. See your building rep on how to sign up for text message updates with the latest bargaining news and updates!
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Impressive Showing for March General Membership Meeting!
Many thanks to the hundreds of you who packed the East-Wing Auditorium at Kent-Meridian High School. Members listened to KEA President outline the bargaining priorities based on member surveys and interviews. Uniserv Staff Elizabeth Collins followed with statistics from OSPI and WEA comparing Kent to other local districts in our area. Members received information about the current reality of legislative action, comparative salaries amongst the top largest districts in the state and the reality of continuing workload demands. The Bargaining Team is appreciative of all the support that they have received from the Bargaining Support Team and the general membership.
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Stay in the Loop During the Bargain
You can now opt-in to receive bargain updates, information on upcoming events and other timely information via text. To sign-up follow the directions below:
Send a text message to # "81010" in the message field put "@keaba" and hit send. You will get a message with directions to complete the set-up.
You can opt-out anytime.
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Bargain Team Profile
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Donna Pirog
Our next bargaining team profile is our KEA Secretary/Treasurer, Donna Pirog. Donna, now at Northwood Middle School, has been an elementary and middle school tech specialist, librarian, TOSA and even worked in our IT Customer Service Department during her past 19 years. She has served in various KEA roles including building rep, specialist rep and exec board.
"My main goals are to work to reduce unnecessary requirements that stress out all teachers and to help with bargaining representation and contract solutions for our specialist groups."
Donna has organized listening sessions for Librarians, Music and PE teachers. Other specialists have advocates on the team as well.
"It is so worthwhile to meet with staff and hear their personal stories of issues that impact their ability to do their best for Kent students. We hope to make things better for staff and students in our district."
Her priority for this bargain is to make significant improvements in working conditions and hopefully reduce stress levels for staff so that we can all address the focus of our jobs, helping students to learn and grow.
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2016-2017
Bargaining Team
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Secretary/Treasurer, NW Middle School
Kent Elementary
KEA UniServ Rep
OT/PT
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