COLAs, Steps, and Rallying the Troops
- Alex's Pen
- Feb 10, 2024
- 3 min read
This article summarizes the events of the February 8, 2024 School Board Meeting and Budget Work Session. In the archives the meetings are split into two different videos. The video for the School Board Meeting (1) is here. The video for the Budget Work Session (2) is here.
The EAA made waves at the February 8th School Board by packing the meeting room in a sea of red.
In a show of force, which included sign waving and numerous speakers, the union voiced their displeasure with the status of the current collective bargaining resolution draft. One such speaker, Monica Pendergast, passionately critiqued the limitation on negotiation topics, citing instances where she had to go above-and-beyond her contractual duties to help students through the traumatic Cora Kelly lockdown or when she needed to be the first responder for a child having an aneurism.
Fellow educator, Jovita Gil, cited clauses which enabled management to prohibit certain topics from collective bargaining due to them being related to School Board "policy", saying that these clauses "undermine" the collective bargaining process. Later on in the public comments Nicholas Hildebidle alluded to this clause while also calling attention to the 30% voter participation threshold in the current working resolution draft, calling it "undemocratic."
Jefferson-Houston second grade teacher, James Rutigliano also cited the participation threshold as undemocratic, saying he and other teachers will simply "have to leave" ACPS due to unfair working conditions. He further explained that a strong collective bargaining resolution and eventual agreement is essential because talented educators who feel their work will be exploited will not be attracted to work for ACPS.
Still other educators like Kristy Shoaff told of a relationship she had formed with a student from El Salvador who asked Ms. Shoaff to be his "madrina" because she was like a second mother to him as why ACPS educators deserved to have collective bargaining rights. This heartfelt testimony was immediately followed by EAA President Dawn Lucas who recited Maya Angelou's famous quote about (paraphrasing) how people won't remember what you say to them but they will remember how you made them feel.
One of the more memorable moments of the evening was from speaker David Paladin-Fernandez, who talked about the lack of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and step restoration in the proposed budget, which was being discussed at the work session after the school board meeting. The memorable moment came when Mr. Paladin-Fernandez unveiled he had brought literal colas to the school board meeting to celebrate his "15th meeting anniversary", saying that if ACPS educators had collective bargaining they could ask for a cola themselves.
But without collective bargaining the ACPS educators had to wait and see what the School Board would do during their "add/delete work session" later that evening.
ACPS educators would not be disappointed.
After a lengthy discussion and a few sips from the colas left for them by Mr. Paladin-Fernandez, the ACPS School Board voted to give staff a 2% market rate adjustment (MRA)/COLA and a restorative step to staff members who have 5+ years of experience in ACPS.
ACPS CFO Dominic Turner stated that the average step in ACPS is ~3%. As such some staff could potentially see their salaries increase by ~8% if the budget is passed by the School Board and, eventually, City Council. There were other hard-fought gains for ACPS employees including the addition of a new athletic trainer and college/career center position at Alexandria City High School, two middle school deans (one each for George Washington and Hammond), two elementary advanced academic teachers, and a Dari/Pashto Family Liaison.
Numerous educators expressed their joy at seeing the news online, with many personally thanking School Board members for their bold action and stating that they, after a long time, are starting to feel like their work is being recognized again.
With that said, as mentioned to earlier, the fight is not over. ACPS will need to pass their budget, and once they do, it will go to City Council for their approval. Therefore, it is imperative that we keep our pressure up as I believe the recent upswell in public activity prompted the School Board to take this action.
However, let's take this moment to celebrate. The School Board did everything they could to show its employees that they value us. It is time for City Council to put their money where their mouth is (3).
REFERENCES
4.) Collective Bargaining Resolution Draft:
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