Manchester teachers to rally before Monday school board meeting

MANCHESTER, NH — Manchester teachers and their supporters will meet today at 5:30 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park for a walk to City Hall and a rally prior to Monday’ night’s meeting of the city Board of School Committee (BOSC).

The event is organized by the teachers union, Manchester Education Association (MEA), which declared an “impasse” last week in its negotiations with the Special Committee on Negotiations for the BOSC.

Related: School Board negotiator Rich Girard responds to teacher rally

The city’s current agreement with the more than 1,100 members of the (MEA) expires June 30. Talks between the two sides began earlier this spring.

“While the teams were able to explore a number of issues, ultimately the lack of progress in finding common ground and the challenge of adequate funding for education under the tax cap led to the determination by the MEA negotiations team,” MEA President Sue Hannan said.

Hannan said, “We hope during the summer to start talks with the school board before we have to do anything further.”

Union chief explains issues

Hannan stated that, “’ Compared to other districts in the state, our first year teacher pay is 66^th in the state and it doesn’t get better for experienced teachers. Manchester used to be at the top. Quite a few teachers resigned effective June 30. If the board freezes the contracts again, we can expect to see more resignations. We asked for money to be appropriated for teachers’ next steps. A delay in getting a new contract will result in current teachers experiencing ‘frozen steps’.”

The MEA chief also expressed frustration with the lack of progress on non-monetary suggestions including:

• Retaining the current calendar based on teaching hours, rather than days. The BOSC switched to an “hours” calendar hours three years ago, which matches the state Board of Education requirements. It provides flexibility for snow days, and allows teachers and parents to anticipate the last day of school. The BOSC has proposed returning to a calendar based on days.
• Change the term “teacher” to “educator” to include staff such as guidance counselors and therapists, to make the contract better understood and enforced on all sides.
• Forming joint committees to look at issues facing district such as equity and special education, etc.

Board members respond

Mayor Joyce Craig, chairman of the BOSC said, “It’s unfortunate the MEA and Board of School negotiating teams were not able to reach a consensus. We have exceptional educators in Manchester public schools and I am hopeful both sides will find common ground and reach an agreement soon.”

Manchester Ink Link was unsuccessful in School Committee vice chair Art  Beaudry, despite several attempts.

Board member Rich Girard, the lead negotiator, released this statement for the committee:

“We were surprised and disappointed by the MEA’s decision to declare impasse.  We believe we were making significant headway in identifying and addressing issues of concern to both sides.  To facilitate our discussions, we offered the attached Statement of Purpose, to which the association did not object.  We also offered to bring in an outside facilitator to help reach agreement on the issues both sides felt were important.  Unfortunately, that offer was rejected.  We did this despite receiving salary proposals from the association that would have cost nearly $20 million over three years and more than $28 million over five years.  It is our hope that the MEA will reconsider this declaration and continue these important and constructive discussions that were designed to improve outcomes for our students and working conditions for our teachers.”

Board publishes Statement of Purpose, Principles and Objectives

The Board of School Committee and its representatives on the Special Committee on Negotiations recognize that there are circumstances which underlie current contract conditions and wish to acknowledge these circumstances as an integral part of our negotiations.  These circumstances are undoubtedly many and varied, but we want in particular to recognize that the shifting demographics in Manchester over the last several decades have created new and unique challenges for our school environments and have substantially expanded the role and expectations for all employees who work with our students.  Over the same time period, the Board has experienced increasing challenges in managing the district’s budget as a result of the combined impact of the tax cap, the dramatic increases in the cost of health and retirement benefits, reductions in state aid, and the loss of tuition students and revenue.

While these financial realities may make it seem nearly impossible to meet the needs of our employees and students simultaneously, we sincerely believe that reaching agreement on contracts is possible if all parties can agree upon the fundamental principles which anchor all of our work.  It is in that spirit that we offer the following statement of principles and objectives, which we offer to suggest a bargaining process focused on identifying interests and working collaboratively to secure them, rather than proposing and defining positions and bargaining back and forth to accept, alter or reject them.

It is the purpose of the Manchester Board of School Committee to work with its employees to identify and correct situations that:

• Improve the district’s ability to meet the needs of every child and educator.
• Improve the district’s operational effectiveness and efficiency.
• Improve the district’s involvement of educators and parents in its decision making processes.
• Improve the district’s ability to provide adequate staff and resources in our schools.

It is the objective of the Manchester Board of School Committee to work with its employees to identify and correct situations to:

• Provide district and building administrators with greater flexibility to meet the needs of our students.
• Provide all staff with direct and consistent input on how to address the challenges faced by our students, families and educators at both the district and building levels.
• Provide reasonable class sizes, necessary educational supports and sufficient material resources to improve working conditions and educational outcomes.

Understanding that competition has come to the educational marketplace and will only intensify as parents are provided with more options, the governing principles of the Manchester Board of School Committee are, and must be, to work with its employees to make the district’s schools more competitive and desirable by identifying and offering:

• Educational opportunities that are responsive to the needs, wants and desires of our students, families, staff and community.
• Educators consistent opportunities to be involved in the decision making processes that affect what happens in their schools and classrooms.
• District and building administrators the ability to address challenges, adapt to circumstances and efficiently, effectively and fairly manage the affairs entrusted to them.