Districts work with teacher groups

Under increasing pressure to spark better student performance, constant demands on their time and an amendment on the Nov. 4 general election ballot that could strip them of tenure, teachers have a voice of sorts through their teacher organizations.

However, in Missouri, they can't strike. They have to work in cooperation with their school superintendents and school boards on matters such as calendars, health insurance and salaries.

Teacher organization officials say they are pleased with the open communication they have with their superintendents and school boards. Missouri State Teachers Association and Missouri National Education Association are the main groups in most of the state. But the American Federation of Teachers is in larger cities such as St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield.

In Cape Girardeau and Jackson, most teachers belong to MSTA, which Community Teacher Associations are affiliated with.

"CTA has been a way of being able to make a difference outside of the classroom in our district. We are able to meet with the board office with concerns, give scholarships to teachers and students and many other things that help celebrate teaching and our district," said Jackson High School teacher Halley Russell, president of the CTA.

"Any time we have had a concern that we feel needs to be brought to the attention of the board office, we have always been heard, received an answer and felt valued," Russell wrote in an email. "We are given the opportunity to meet every year with issues concerning insurance, salary and welfare and calendars. Our board office does a great job [of] including teachers in decisions."

Elizabeth Fleer, who teaches at Central High School, is one of the few Missouri NEA members in Cape Girardeau. She joined MNEA because her mother, a teacher in the St. Louis area, has been a member her entire career. Fleer said she feels it provides more advocacy for teachers than the Missouri State Teachers Association.

"I got to see firsthand a lot of things MNEA does for teachers," Fleer said.

CTA members and representatives meet regularly with superintendents and there are prescribed channels teachers have to go through if they have issues with a building principal or a grievance with the district.

Cape Girardeau superintendent Jim Welker said the Community Teacher Association, made up of CTA representatives from each campus, meets with him monthly.

A salary and calendar committee are offshoots of CTA. Welker said he meets with the salary committee three or four times a year, or as needed. As budget time gets closer in the spring, they meet more often, he said.

Jackson superintendent Ron Anderson said officials join the Community Teacher Association's meetings quarterly.

"If something comes up, they'll contact us and we'll meet with them," Anderson said.

The calendar committee, which helps determine when the school year starts and ends, and when and how long holiday breaks are, usually meets in the December-January time frame, Welker said. But the calendar is always a year ahead.

"It's kind of a consensus thing that we take to the board and the board approves it," Welker said.

Welker said he usually meets with the CTA president before the monthly school board meetings and there is a standing item on the agendas for a representative to speak to the board.

As far as he knows, Welker said, there have never been any walkouts or protests by teachers in the Cape Girardeau School District.

"We try to keep good lines of communication between [ourselves] and CTA. ... They don't hesitate to contact me if they have an issue," he said.

Teacher contracts are fairly basic and include compensation, number of days someone works, sick days and benefits. On salaries, administrators meet with the CTA salary committee to come up with a proposal to take to the school board.

Teachers are paid according to their district's salary schedule. Each district has starting salaries for new teachers with a bachelor's degree and no experience. The scale moves up according to experience and education.

"So really there's no provision for individual teachers asking for raises. Everybody's paid off that schedule," Welker said. The district tries to offer raises according to its budget.

Anderson said the district will meet with CTA and talk specifically about the salary schedule in the spring.

"It's a meet-and-confer process. We sit down and talk specifically about the salary schedule ... and work out something that's workable. ... We present it to the board, usually in June," he said.

If a teacher has a concern about an administrator, Welker said his first response is to encourage them to go to an administrator and talk to them. If the person is uncomfortable with that, there is a grievance policy. The teacher would go to the building principal first, but if the issue is with the building principal, he or she would go to the superintendent.

At each point, Welker said, the teacher would get a response. If they weren't satisfied, the teacher could go to the school board.

If it's something that falls under harassment or discrimination, the teacher would file a complaint with the compliance officer, in this case assistant superintendent of administrative services Neil Glass. He would do an investigation, file a report and necessary action would be taken.

The next step, if the employee was dissatisfied, would be to appeal to the superintendent, who would do an investigation and take whatever action was necessary; the last step would be to appeal to the school board, which would conduct an investigation, have a hearing and make a determination, Welker said.

"Beyond that, they would get into due process as far as legal options, if they wanted to pursue that, but the decision of the board would be final from the school district's standpoint," Welker said.

Welker said he always encourages teachers to contact him personally with any concerns, by email, or set up a meeting. He also tries to visit campuses as much as possible.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

614 E. Adams St., Jackson, Mo.