Bargaining Update: October 8th

This week's bargaining session had the best turnout of this bargaining cycle! Over 150 attentive, passionate educators wearing red and carrying signs descended on the RHS library and put the district on notice that we are engaged, committed and demand a fair contract!
The district presented counters on Article 17: Substitute and Student Teachers and then presented a series of counters on the articles they consider part of their “financial package”. This included their latest proposal on salary, insurance, and class size and caseload levels, among others.
The district’s current proposal on salary - which is 5% in year one, 3% in year two, and 2% in year three – barely keeps up with the cost of inflation, does not reflect our district’s historically low COLA increases or our place near the bottom of the Metro 14 districts, and is much less than neighboring districts who have similar ending fund balances (such as David Douglas School District, who just recently offered their employees 9% in year one and 3% in year two).
Similarly unacceptable was that our district’s counter to our class size and caseload proposal was to strike our proposed language around smaller, more balanced numbers and instead actually increase sizes at the secondary school levels. This reflects both a lack of awareness and a lack of commitment to creating the best possible educational experience for educators and their students. We need our district’s priorities to be more than just how many students can be fit in a room, but in what atmosphere do students most successfully learn and thrive?
We appreciate our members support and involvement, but the fight’s not over yet. We meet again with the district next Tuesday, October 15th, at the RHS Library at 4:30. We need to turn out in force and show the district that we are committed to making the changes our educators, students and families need to make Reynolds a better district for all.
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See you then!

-Your bargaining team