Interest Based Bargaining and Meet and Confer Committee ... · Interest Based Bargaining and Meet and Confer Committee Monday, May 13, 2019, 3:45-5:00PM Special Services Training

Interest Based Bargaining and Meet and Confer Committee

Monday, May 13, 2019, 3:45-5:00PM

Special Services Training Room

MINUTES

Attendees: Karen Bienz, Mark Bittner, Tamara Bretting, Kendra Burns, Ami Cass, Jeannine Collins, Joyce

Engebretson, Sean Fimmel, Ed Goetz, Paige Gustafson, Dave Hardesty, Greg Herold, Chelsea Kuhn, Taimi

Kuiva, Mariah Learned, Janice Marshall, Pat McLean, Heather Moro, Stella Nowell, Steve Slyman, Patricia

Smith, Rebecca Stossel, Tammy Sullivan, Paul Weaver, Nicole Wilson, Dr. Yennie, Mary Jo Yost.

Dr. Yennie called the meeting to order at 3:46 PM.

1. Review of Minutes from previous meetings of April 8 and April 29, 2019. There were no changes

requested.

2. Review of Non-salary Item changes during 2018-2019 (on attached agenda). Decisions made

during 2018-2019 will be reviewed with principals and staff in the fall of 2019. Dr. Yennie asked

employee group representatives to let Administration know if there are any changes/corrections. The

following comments/clarifications were made to a couple items:

a.ii. Building Level Administrative Assistants. Dr. Yennie added that Administration may also

consider limiting the years of experience used for placement on the Unified Salary Schedule.

c.viii. Certified Personnel. Rebecca Stossel explained that November is when employees can

choose a VSP option, to start January 2020.

3. Review of Salary Items approved for 2018-2019.

a. Certified Personnel: Nurses and School Psychologists request the National Board Certification

monetary award that teachers currently receive, starting next school year. This item will be

addressed in the fall of 2019 with the Certified Salary Schedule Task Force. Dr. Yennie added

that the Task Force will address about 13 different items.

b. Technology: Two to three new technology positions to replace those eliminated in the past few

years. Administration is working with technology on the level of staffing required and position

responsibilities required to deliver the redefined customer service model. Staffing will be in

place by July 1, 2019.

c. Maintenance & Operations: The night shift supervisor at LHS requested a raise for custodians,

due to their increased workload. Administration will review the custodial workload and the

unified salary schedule to determine if there are any required adjustments. Dr. Yennie clarified

that the EMS market analysis found M&O salaries to be below market. As of July 2019, they

will be at market.

4. Policy Revisions 2018-2019. The following personnel policies were adopted during the 2018-19 school

year:

a. Policy 5007, Background Checks (February 2019)

b. Policy 5011, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination of Employees (Sep 2018)

c. Policy 5019, Classified employee work day requirements (Dec 2018)

d. Policy 5032, Personnel Leave Family and Medical Leave/ FMLA (May 2019)

e. Editorial Revisions (Sep 2018)

f. Policy 5031, Personnel Leave, Sick Leave (projected to be adopted June 2019)

g. Policy 5041, Employee Grievances (projected to be adopted June 2019)

5. Other Items still being reviewed.

a. Policy 5031, Personnel Leave, Sick Leave (attached). This version is the result of the Second

Reading by the Board, including the addition of Lines 18-20. Line 7 wording, currently struck

out, will be replaced by: “other medical issues related to” and written in blue, for the Board

June meeting. Mariah Learned will email the Board and explain the background to the wording

in this particular line, which is not addressed in Maternity Leave.

b. Certified Salary Schedule Task Force will meet September 10, 2019 and every two weeks after.

6. Salary Items Discussions. Ed Goetz distributed the attached updated Potential Budget Items for FY

2019-2020, noting the update results from a change from the state about replacing school buses (item in

bold). After reviewing page 2, the Cost of a Step, the split on Health Insurance of District 88% and

employees 12%, the Retirement Increase and Extra Duty Schedule Changes, the Committee agreed that

Meet and Confer will need to make a decision/recommendation on insurance and/or retirement increase

splits in April of next year. (See item 8. Annual Process Review for more details).

The Athletic Trainer Contract on page 2 was in response to an RFP to which only Premier Bone & Joint

responded. The two stipends that currently fund athletic trainers in the District will go toward this

contract. Premier will be able to provide services to district athletes from a rotating schedule of a four

different trainers.

Ed explained that the items on page 2 are not in the budget yet, as he was waiting for a decision from

this committee. Those items will now be added for the Board’s consideration.

a. Building Level Administrative Assistants – No request. Mary Jo Yost explained the difficulty

in gathering this group for meetings, or getting feedback on issues from them via email. Other

groups echoed the same challenge. As group representatives, they may alert their groups to the

issues they want to bring to the table, and if they receive no feedback, they are free to present

those issues at Committee meetings.

Dr. Yennie noted that this was the first year of implementation of the Unified Salary Schedule,

and asked this employee group to monitor market analyses and job descriptions, as they can

come back to this committee with requests for changes in the future. Kendra Burns added they

will probably request a future hit-to-the-base to help prevent classified employees topping out.

Rebecca Stossel explained that there are approximately five classified employees, out of 400+,

that have topped out in their columns.

Mary Jo Yost shared that she heard only positive feedback about the new classified employee

evaluations this year, which now match job descriptions.

b. Paraprofessionals – The group is happy with the 88/12 insurance increase split and the step

increase. They asked for clarification about open enrollment dates for insurance. Ed Goetz

confirmed that May is the month to change/select deductible levels and November is the month

to add people to insurance plans. The Committee agreed that this insurance information is not

common knowledge, and Dr. Yennie noted that in the future it will be communicated more

widely.

c. Central Office Administrative Assistants – This group is also pleased with the 88/12 insurance

split and a step increase.

d. Principals/Administrators – Request for an increase to the base, since principals have not had a

salary increase for more than 10 years.

e. Certified Personnel – The group also is happy with the 88/12 insurance split, a step increase and

the District paying for the retirement increase.

f. Technology – The group requests a hit-to-the-base, and to save a step for a later time, due to the

new placement of employees on the Unified Salary Schedule, where they do not have many

steps remaining before they top out. They also requested clarification of misinformation, such

as cell phone stipends being rolled into their salaries, moving them further up the salary

schedule. Ed Goetz confirmed that this will not be the case. The group also requests a new

market analysis, stating that the EMS one did not give an accurate regional picture of similar

positions and salaries.

g. Maintenance and Operations – No request.

h. Transportation - No request.

7. Consensus Recommendation. Dr. Yennie asked for the Committee’s priorities for salary

recommendations to the Board after these discussions. He cautioned the group that there are still two

months remaining before the final budget for FY 2019-2020 is adopted, so there may still be changes.

However, Dr. Yennie will represent the Committee’s priorities to the Board during budget discussions

on May 15, and at the June and July Board meetings. Mariah Learned thanked the Board for delaying

their decision on the insurance increase until this committee met today, by agreeing to hold an

additional meeting on May 15th.

Priority #1: Step increase for all employees.

Priority #2: Insurance increase split of 88% District and 12% employee.

Priority #3: Retirement increase paid by District.

Priority #4: If things change, resulting in perhaps another $300,000 in revenue, a hit to the base instead

of the step increase listed in #1.

8. Annual Process Review (attached). Dr. Yennie emphasized the need for this committee to decide on

insurance increase proposals before the May meeting. Once that is clear, employees are then able to

make insurance deductible choices/changes during the May open period. Subsequently, the May Meet

and Confer meeting has to be prior to the May Board meeting, so that this committee’s

recommendations can be ready for the school board.

Discussion took place about employee group members and their involvement, or lack thereof, in the

Meet and Confer process. It was noted that there was greater participation when there was “money on

the table.” There were two suggestions: 1) to hold this committee’s meetings during work hours, as

incentive for participation, and 2) ask Administration to email employees at the start of the school year,

reminding them of their group’s representatives and where to find Meet and Confer information on the

District website.

Dr. Yennie plans to send all employees a survey about the Annual Process for Meet and Confer to

hopefully identify reasons for the lack of participation in their groups’ discussions and requests,

and discover ways to increase participation.

9. First meeting of 2019-2020: August 26, 2019. Two issues for next year: 1) Limiting years of

experience for classified personnel placement on Unified Salary Schedule, and 2) Meeting between

Technology staff and Administration.

The meeting adjourned at 4:53 PM.

ALBANY COUNTY

SCHOOL DISTRICT ONE

BOARD POLICY

Policy Title:

Personnel Leave Sick Leave

Policy Number:

5031

Adoption Date:

May 11, 2016

Section 5:

Personnel Rescinds:

Chap 7, Sec. 4

07/17/02

Review

Annually in

January

Albany County School District #1 Page 1

Sick Leave. 1

Sick leave shall be defined to include illness of the employee, or serious illness requiring bedside 2

or household attention by the employee or for a member of the employee’s family. for spouse, 3

child, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, parents (or foster parents), mother-in-law, father-in-law, 4

grandfather, grandmother, grandchild, and sibling, or any other member of an immediate 5

household. 6

Sick leave shall also include temporary disability due to pregnancy or childbirth, as verified 7

by a physician's statement. 8

Employees may use up to two days of sick leave for the birth or the adoption of a family 9

member their grandchildren without needing documentation from a physician that their 10

presence is needed. 11

General Requirements 12

Sick leave is a benefit for a “regular employee” which is defined as a full school year employee 13

with regular scheduled hours who is employed in a benefited position that is scheduled to work at 14

least 20 hours per week. (see also Policy 5030, “Employee Benefits.”1 Any part time employee 15

(less than 20 hours) who has accrued sick leave prior to July 1, 2019 will retain the current leave 16

balance, but starting July 1, 2019, part time employees will not accrue sick leave. 17

For regular Part-time employees will receive the sick-leave entitlement shall be directly 18

proportionate to the length of the workday and year. Full-time employees will receive sick leave 19

as follows: 20

Nine-month (180 – 190 days) employees will receive six days of sick leave per year; 21

10-month (200 days) employees will receive seven days of sick leave per year; 22

11-month (225 days) employees will receive eight days of sick leave per year; and 23

12-month (240 – 260) employees will receive nine days of sick leave per year. 24

An employee may be required to furnish satisfactory medical proof of illness or disability. 25

An employee may be required to furnish satisfactory medical proof that the employee is well and 26

capable of fulfilling his/her job responsibilities without modifications or limitations. 27

Donation of Sick Leave 28

An employee may give one or more of his/her accumulated sick-leave days to another employee 29

under the following conditions: if (a) T the employee who will receive a donated sick leave day 30

must have has four or less leave days remaining. used all of his/her own sick leave and personal 31

leave;. 32

ALBANY COUNTY

SCHOOL DISTRICT ONE

BOARD POLICY

Policy Title:


Policy Number:

5031

Adoption Date:

May 11, 2016

Section 5:

Personnel Rescinds:

Chap 7, Sec. 4

07/17/02

Review

Annually in

January


(2)(a) Full-time certified employees (i.e., those on 100% contracts), including administrators, may 33

give sick leave to other full-time certified employees on a one day equals one-day basis. 34

(b) Part-time certified employees may give sick-leave days to full-time certified employees 35

in increments of half or full days so that the percent of their contracts multiplied by the number of 36

days donated is rounded down to the nearest half-day (e.g., someone who is on a 72% contract 37

who gives a full-day to a full-time person will have a half-day credited to the full-time person’s 38

account; someone on a 40% contract who wishes for the full-time person’s account to receive a 39

full-day must donate three days—40% x 3 = 1.2 which is rounded down to one). 40

Sick Leave Donation forms may be filled out in advance of the receiving employee’s need. Days 41

will be transferred to receiving employees when the employee’s leave balance is four (4) or less 42

days. 43

44

Employee with 10 or more sick leave days may donate days, however, they may not donate a 45

number of days that will take them below the balance of days allotted to job category for the year 46

(i.e. 180-185 day employee = 6, 200 day employees = 7, 225 day employees = 8, 240-260 day 47

employees = 9). 48

49

(c d) Full-time employees who wish to donate days to part-time employees may give sick 50

leave days in increments of half- or full-days so that the percent of the contract of the recipient is 51

divided into the number of donated days, and the result is rounded down to the nearest half-day 52

(e.g., a full-time employee donating one day to a person on a 30% contract will result in the part-53

time employee’s sick leave account being increased by three days—1 divided by 30% equals 3.33 54

which is rounded down to three; a full-time employee donating a half-day to a person on a 40% 55

contract will result in the part-time employee’s sick leave account being increased by one day—56

0.5 divided by 40% equals 1.25, which is rounded down to one). 57

(d) Certified employees may give to classified employees either half- or full-days; these 58

days transfer half-day to half-day and full-day to full-day. 59

(3) Classified employees may give sick leave to other classified employees whose salary schedules 60

are on the same page in the salary schedule book as theirs and whose contract percentage is equal 61

to or less than theirs (see #2 for explanation); they may also give sick leave to other employees 62

whose salary schedules are equal to or less than theirs on a half-day to half-day and full-day to 63

full-day basis; and 64

(4) The transfer of sick leave days cannot be made after the thirtieth calendar day following the 65

employee's return to work. 66

(5) After An employee who has submitted his/her resignation or notified the district of the intent 67

to retire or after an employee has been notified that the Board will act on a recommendation to 68

ALBANY COUNTY

SCHOOL DISTRICT ONE

BOARD POLICY

Policy Title:


Policy Number:

5031

Adoption Date:

May 11, 2016

Section 5:

Personnel Rescinds:

Chap 7, Sec. 4

07/17/02

Review

Annually in

January


terminate his/her contract, the employee may not transfer accumulated sick-leave days prior to the 69

last school day of the district academic calendar. ; and 70

(6) Employees must have at least fifteen days of accumulated sick leave in order to be eligible to 71

transfer days to another employee. 72

(Note: Certified employees may not receive sick leave from classified employees.) 73

(Note: Certified employees may not receive sick leave from other classified employees.) 74

(See Personal Leave defined in Policy 5033.) 75

Extended Sick Leave 76

Extended Sick Leave is provided to employees who require sick leave, and the employee has 77

exhausted all sick and personal leave days. 78

Employees on extended sick leave have three options to account for leave or to receive full or 79

partial paid time off: 1) receive donated days, 2) use substitute dock days, or 3) use full dock. 80

a. Receive donated days: employees can receive a donation of sick days from other 81

employees as described in the previous section. 82

b. Use substitute dock days (sub dock) with the approval of the Director of Human 83

Resources: After sick-leave and personal leave accumulations are exhausted, the 84

employee will receive the current salary, less the amount of the cost of a substitute's 85

salary (current substitute rate) per school day for each day's absence until the employee 86

returns to regular duty (for a period of up to 45 days—see policy 5006), or until the end 87

of the contract year in which sick leave and personal leave are exhausted, whichever 88

comes first. If an employee does not need a substitute, the substitute rate for the general 89

job classification will be used. 90

c. Use full dock with the approval of the Director of Human Resources: the employee 91

may be on unpaid extended leave if the employee chooses not to receive donated days, 92

has not requested the use of sub dock days, or is out for a period longer than 45 days. 93

The following conditions are required for the use and approval of extended sick leave for more 94

than 10 consecutive days (long term extended sick leave): 95

The employee must file a request for extended sick leave with the Director of Human 96

Resources in order to activate and be approved for extended sick leave, and the employee 97

may be required to submit an application for FMLA (see Policy 5032, Personnel Leave, 98

Family and Medical Leave) 99

ALBANY COUNTY

SCHOOL DISTRICT ONE

BOARD POLICY

Policy Title:


Policy Number:

5031

Adoption Date:

May 11, 2016

Section 5:

Personnel Rescinds:

Chap 7, Sec. 4

07/17/02

Review

Annually in

January


When the sick and personal leave accumulation are exhausted, the employee shall be 100

required to furnish a physician's statement verifying illness or disability before s/he the 101

employee is eligible to enter this phase of sick leave. 102

When the employee on this phase of long term extended sick leave plans to return to work, 103

s/he the employee must submit a physician's statement certifying that the person is capable 104

of performing his/her duties as assigned in the District. If the physician will not certify 105

that the person is capable of performing his/her duties as assigned in the District, then this 106

will be grounds for dismissal of a continuing-contract teacher (or any other employee) 107

pursuant to Wyoming Statute Section 21-7-110. 108

Any employee on this phase of extended sick leave must provide the District with monthly 109

medical reports from a physician regarding the employee's capability of performing the 110

duties assigned to him/her by the District. At any time during the above process, the 111

District has the right to request examination of an employee by an independent physician. 112

Unused Sick Leave 113

When an employee leaves the District, s/he the employee shall be entitled to payment for each 114

unused day of accumulated sick leave at the effective date of his/her termination, if s/he has 115

accumulated 15 10 or more days of sick leave. The rate will be determined periodically by the 116

Board of Education. The employee will be reimbursed the lesser of either the rate established by 117

the Board of Education or the employee's normal daily rate-of-pay. The maximum number of days 118

for which s/he an employee can be paid is 180 or185 days for nine-month employees, 200 days for 119

10-month employees, 225 days for 11-month employees, and 240 days for 12-month employees. 120

When an employee who qualifies for sick-leave buy-back resigns or retires from the District, the 121

employee may elect to apply his/her buy-back money to medical/dental insurance premiums 122

commencing immediately after the last month for which the District pays the employee’s premium. 123

The amount, which will be applied to the insurance premium, shall not exceed the amount needed 124

to pay the premiums through December of the year the employee leaves the District. This amount 125

will be “flexed” under Section 125; the balance of the buy-back payment (if there is a balance), 126

will be paid to the employee upon termination of employment, and this amount is taxable. 127

Current employees who have accumulated the maximum number of sick leave days (as defined in 128

the previous paragraph) will be paid for the sick leave days generated for each new fiscal year in 129

their first paycheck of that fiscal year. The rate of pay for those days will be the same as the rate 130

paid for unused sick leave days when employees terminate their employment with the District. 131

In the case of absence from work of any certificated employee for any reason except approved 132

leaves, deductions shall be determined as outlined in Chapter VII. Section 1. 1. Basis for 133

Fractional Pay or Deduction. 134

For regular part-time employees, the sick-leave entitlement shall be directly proportionate to the 135

ALBANY COUNTY

SCHOOL DISTRICT ONE

BOARD POLICY

Policy Title:


Policy Number:

5031

Adoption Date:

May 11, 2016

Section 5:

Personnel Rescinds:

Chap 7, Sec. 4

07/17/02

Review

Annually in

January


length of the workday and year. 136

An employee may be required to furnish satisfactory medical proof of illness or disability. 137

An employee may be required to furnish satisfactory medical proof that the employee is well and 138

capable of fulfilling his/her job responsibilities. 139

Leave of Absence for Illness 140

Employees with three or more years of consecutive service may be granted, upon request, up to 141

one year's leave of absence without pay for reasons of illness. The request for such leave must be 142

accompanied by a written statement by an accredited licensed medical physician providing 143

evidence, satisfactory to the Board. When an employee returns to the District from this leave, s/he 144

will the employee may be placed back into the position s/he occupied immediately prior to taking 145

the leave. The employee's return to the District must coincide with the beginning of a semester. 146

S/He Certified employees will be placed on the salary schedule on the step the employee s/he had 147

attained at the time the leave was granted. If the employee worked more than half of his/her a 148

contract year at the time s/he leave was granted leave then the employee will be subject to any step 149

advancement on the salary schedule given to other employees. 150

Classified employees may apply for a year’s leave of absence for illness, but they may not be able 151

to be placed back on salary schedule in the position the employee left at the time of the approved 152

leave of absence; however, they will retain their years of experience. 153

Under this leave of absence, the employee is eligible to continue under the District's insurance 154

program provided s/he pays the full premium during the leave. 155

A written notice of accumulated sick leave shall be given to each employee at the beginning of the 156

school year. 157

Employees may use up to two days of sick leave for the birth of their grandchildren without 158

needing documentation from a physician that their presence is needed. 159

(See also Personal Leave defined in Policy 5033, Personnel Leave Other.) 160

1 ACSD1 School Board Policy, 5030, Employee Benefits

Annual Process for ACSD1 Interest Based Bargaining and Meet and Confer

August

1. All employee groups select their representatives and forward the names to the

Superintendent of Schools by the last Friday in August. Staggered terms may be used in an

effort to improve institutional memory. (See attached participant list.)

2. Previous year agreements are reviewed with all administrators prior to start of the school

year and plans for implementation of agreements are communicated

September– no meetings

October

1. Representatives and administration mutually agree upon a neutral facilitator or if one is

needed to guide the process throughout the year

2. Memorandum of Understanding is used as needed, to describe the mutually agreed upon

scope of work with the facilitator. (Approximate number and length of meetings etc.)

3. All employee groups meet with their representatives to discuss and agree upon non-salary

items if any, that they wish to discuss with administration. These items may be presented at

this meeting, although it is not mandatory

4. Establish policy committees as needed

5. Employee groups may be provided with a sample activity and forms that can be used to help

prioritize their non-salary items. This prioritization is not required to be presented to

administration unless by mutual agreement.

6. The first of three Interest Based Bargaining training activities are conducted at a mutually

agreed upon time. Training modules must include but are not limited to:

a. Brief overview of history of bargaining in ASCD1 for new members

b. Review of agreed upon documents describing the goals of bargaining, the process

and timeline, the role of the members, the role of the facilitator

c. Brief human development activities that build rapport in a non-threatening way

d. Review of membership and staggered terms

e. Review of known statewide issues that might impact talks

f. Defining non-salary and salary items for clarification

g. Training should be a joint effort of employees, administration and the facilitator

November

1. First scheduled meetings for non-salary items (further meetings as needed)

2. Summary of meeting and detailed minutes are kept and made readily available to

employees

3. Employee representatives hold communication meetings with respective groups to update

everyone on the discussions. Efforts are made to hold the meetings at a time and place

where most employees can attend

December – no meetings

January

1. Second meeting for non-salary items if needed


employees




February – no meetings

March

1. Third meeting for non-salary items if needed

2. Begin discussion of salary items


employees




5. Bargaining group finalizes non-salary agreements

6. Evaluation of the non-salary discussion process is conducted and proposed adjustments are

considered

7. Second of three Interest Based Bargaining trainings is held with a special emphasis on new

school board members or new members to the team. Training is open to all. Training

modules include but are not limited to:

a. Basic principles in the Wyoming School Funding Formula

b. Estimated cash flow position of the district

c. Review of the use of General Fund money versus Capitol Funds etc.

d. Potential revenue implications

e. Health insurance adjustments

April

1. Third of three training modules is conducted. Topics include:

a. Revenue projections for the year

b. Mutual agreement is arrived on the overall financial picture of the district

2. Bargaining group reaches tentative final agreements on non-salary and salary items




4. Final documentation of all agreements is created and vetted by subcommittee of the

bargaining group

5. Agreement is supported by representative groups

6. Documentation is sent to all members of the group for approval

7. Clarification changes are made if needed and resubmitted to the bargaining group for

approval

8. Final documentation is made available to all

9. Evaluation of the salary and benefits discussion process is conducted and proposed

adjustments are considered.

10. End-of-the-year evaluation of the facilitator (if applicable) is discussed and adjustments

considered.

May Optional meeting, as determined by group

June

1. Budget is modified based on agreements and shared with school board

July

1. School Board approves the final budget

2. Administration builds a plan for implementing all aspects of the agreements for the

following year and plans are communicated to all administrators and staff in August

Revised August 2018

Documents

Interest Based Bargaining and Meet and Confer Committee ... · Interest Based Bargaining and Meet and Confer Committee Monday, May 13, 2019, 3:45-5:00PM Special Services Training