District, teachers reach agreement on two-year contract
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Following 18 bargaining sessions, the Monroe County School District and United Teachers of Monroe union have reached an agreement on a two-year employment contract.
The two sides announced the deal, which covers retroactively from the beginning of the 2014 school year through the end of the 2016 school year, on Nov. 3.
The deal includes raises for all union teachers and school-related personnel like bus drivers, food service workers and the like. Non-union employees including aides and office/clerical staff previously got raises ranging between 2 percent and 5 percent of total salary.
The five-member Monroe County School Board was to take up the teacher contract at their Nov. 18 meeting at district headquarters on Trumbo Point in Key West.
UTM’s membership also had to ratify the agreement; there are more than 600 unionized employees.
The new agreement follows years of poor relations between district officials and UTM leadership, which resulted in numerous lengthy and contentious meetings, many marked by the aggressive bargaining style of hired labor attorney Bob Norton.
The 2013-14 contract cycle lasted more than 25 bargaining sessions spread over a year.
“On behalf of our members, I am excited to see us reach a negotiated agreement in a more timely and effective manner,” UTM President Holly Hummell-Gorman said.
“This agreement provides for much deserved compensation increases for all of our members,” she said.
Another major component of the new deal is a switch from a step-based salary schedule to a performance-based schedule. That switch is a mandate from the Florida Legislature.
Instead of receiving raises incrementally based on time elapsed and professional certification, teacher salary will, to some extent, be based on student standardized test score and evaluations.
“This was a much improved process to the credit of both sides and represents a significant step forward in terms of our labor relations and implementation of an innovative performance-based salary schedule,” Superintendent Mark Porter said.
Porter led the negotiations representing the School District interests.
In the last negotiation cycle, Porter attempted to use a $1.4 million teacher raise pool to essentially buy back a seven-day employee furlough program that saved the district about $1.7 million each year.
Gov. Rick Scott made the teacher raises the centerpiece of his education budget but because the Keys are considered property rich, 90 percent of the raise money came from local taxpayers.
Porter received guidance from Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart that his plan was not in line with the gubernatorial design.
Despite those past struggles, all sides agree that the relationship between labor and management is mending.
“I am most excited by the manner in which this agreement was reached,” School Board Chairman Ron Martin said, adding that the sides had put “aside so much of the animosity of the past.”
“I am again glad that our teachers and [school-related personnel] are receiving the compensation increases they truly deserve.”
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