9-3-18

The Wapato School District and Wapato Education Association have reached a signed tentative contract agreement, including a new salary schedule, for its teachers and other certificated staff.  The agreement was reached during a scheduled mediation session on Monday, September 3, 2018.  As a result of the agreement the 2018-2019 school year will start on schedule tomorrow, Tuesday, September 4, 2018.

 The District credits the agreement to the focused work and professionalism of both bargaining teams.  It wants to thank the members of both teams for completing the complex job of navigating new State school funding law and developing the fair, equitable and sustainable agreement the District has been confident would be reached through the negotiations process.

 The District is looking forward to welcoming students and families tomorrow morning for the start of the new school year.  It also wants to thank our families, staff and community for its patience, support and understanding during the complex bargaining process.

The District will not be sharing specifics of the agreement until ratified by the Wapato Education Association membership and adopted by the Wapato School Board of Directors.

8-31-18

The Wapato School District and Wapato Education Association met this afternoon for the first of two scheduled mediation sessions to continue the good faith bargaining process.  The teams convened in the early afternoon and worked late into the night.  The session did not result in an agreement but progress was made as the two teams worked towards a fair, equitable and sustainable agreement.  The District and the Wapato Education Association bargaining teams will reconvene on Monday morning, September 3rd, to continue mediating.

8-31-18

By a majority vote today, August 31, 2018, the Wapato School Board of Directors passed a resolution authorizing the District to take action, if it deems necessary, to preserve and protect the District, its students and staff in the event of a work stoppage/strike by the Wapato Education Association.

Today’s action by the School Board is a procedural step by the District following the Wapato Education Association’s vote earlier this week in favor of a work stoppage/strike in the event ongoing negotiations do not result in an agreement prior to the scheduled first day of school, which is Tuesday, September 4th.  The resolution does nothing more than provide the District the authority to take the steps included in the resolution. The District will only consider using the steps if there is a Wapato Education Association work stoppage/strike.

The District remains committed to reaching a fair, equitable and sustainable agreement with the Wapato Education Association. The District has faith in the ongoing negotiations process.  The Wapato School District and Wapato Education Association bargaining teams are meeting in mediation this afternoon as part of the ongoing good faith negotiations.  Another mediation session is scheduled for Monday, September 3rd if needed.

The District understands there may be anxiety on the part of our families, students and community when they hear terms like “teacher strike” this close to the start of school.   We want to reassure you that the District is working diligently to reach an agreement, but new state law (commonly referred to as the McCleary case) has complicated the process of negotiating teacher contracts.  Our district, like other districts around the state are having to piece together a difficult puzzle and the puzzles are different from school district to school district. However, our families can be assured that we are confident an agreement will be reached and there will be a school year full of quality instruction for our students.  We are looking forward to school starting September 4th.

We encourage our families and the community to monitor the District's website and Twitter account throughout the weekend for updates about the ongoing negotiations and the possible need to cancel school if there is a work stoppage/strike on the part of the Wapato Education Association on Tuesday, September 4th.

8-30-18 

On Wednesday afternoon, August 29, 2018, the Wapato Education Association (WEA) leadership informed Wapato School District (WSD) leadership that the WEA membership took a vote authorizing a work stoppage/strike starting the scheduled first day of school (Tuesday, September 4th) if a contract agreement is not reached prior to then.  

The WSD wants our students in school for the scheduled first day of school and remains committed to reaching an agreement with it teachers’ union that is fair, equitable and sustainable.  The WSD and WEA are scheduled to begin jointly requested mediation on Friday, August 31st as the next step in the process of reaching an agreement.  As of now there are two mediation sessions scheduled.  They are Friday, August 31st and if needed, Monday, September 3rd.  

However, if an agreement is not reached and the teachers’ union starts a work stoppage/strike September 4th the District will be forced cancel school for as long as the work stoppage/strike continues.   We encourage our families to begin planning now for that possibility.

If a work stoppage/strike appears imminent WSD will inform families as soon as possible using the same information systems it uses to inform families if the District were to be experiencing a snow-day.  A robo-call will go out to all families. The local media will be alerted.  The information will be posted to the WSD website at www.wapatosd.org and it will be posted to the District’s Twitter account @WapatoSD.

We appreciate the ongoing understanding and support of our families/community as the difficult work of reaching and agreement with our valued teachers continues.

Please continue to monitor our website for regular bargaining updates. 

8-28-18

Today the Wapato Education Association (WEA) and Wapato School District (WSD) received word from the Washington State Public Employees Relations Commission regarding the joint mediation request the two parties submitted following their August 20th bargaining session.

   The WEA and WSD are scheduled to engage in the mediation process at the end of this week.  As of now two mediation sessions have been scheduled. 

Friday, August 31, 2018 starting at 2:00 p.m.

Monday, September 3, 2018 starting at 8:30 a.m.  

The District looks forward to continuing the work towards reaching a fair, equitable and sustainable agreement with the WEA. 

8-24-18

What both the Wapato Education Association (WEA) and the Wapato School District (WSD) bargaining teams thought was a tentative agreement regarding a salary schedule (seen below) on the afternoon of August 23rd, turned out not to be the case this morning.  The day started with WEA representatives informing WSD representatives about a concern they had regarding part of the salary schedule that the WEA had agreed to the afternoon of August 23rd.  The WEA’s concern had to do with the lack of increases in salary in the BA+90 column of the agreed  to schedule.  The WEA also brought to the WSD’s attention that WEA representatives found a miscalculation in their own model that was used to build the agreed to salary schedule.  The WSD team worked diligently throughout the day and developed solutions.  WSD representatives presented those solutions to the WEA representatives.  The WEA representatives declined the solutions and then followed up by asking for more money overall than what was in the salary schedule the WEA tentatively agreed to the afternoon of August 23rd.  The day ended appearing as though the negotiation process is once again headed to mediation to resolve the differences.

Base Salary Schedule Tentatively Agreed to by WEA & WSD August 23, 2018

Option A Additional Salary Compensation Schedule Tentatively Agreed to by WEA & WSD on August 23, 2018

Option B Additional Salary Compensation Schedule Tentatively Agreed to by WEA & WSD August 23, 2018

8-23-18

The Wapato Education Association (WEA) and Wapato School District (WSD) bargaining teams resumed negotiations today.  The teams are focusing their efforts on developing a salary schedule which is fair, equitable and sustainable for both the WEA and the WSD.  The WEA led off today’s session with presenting a salary schedule proposal.  The District followed up with a counter salary schedule proposal around midday.  The WEA came back later in the afternoon with a counter of its own to which the District then countered.  The proposals submitted by both parties during the day’s session reflected compromise by both parties. The WEA team indicated it would accept the WSD’s final proposal and present to its membership for ratification.  The District would like to thank the WEA team for the work and progress made during today’s session.  

8-21-18

A Wapato Education Association (WEA) representative contacted the Wapato School District (WSD) today asking the District to continue bargaining only the salary schedule component of the collective bargaining agreement.  The WEA request comes a day after the WEA bargaining team ended scheduled contract negotiations and invited the Wapato School District team to move to the process of mediation in an attempt to resolve their differences. As noted above the WEA request is to continue the bargaining process to address just the salary schedule. The District agreed and is delighted for the opportunity to resume good faith bargaining with the WEA in an effort to reach a fair, equitable and sustainable agreement for its teachers and the District.  If the WEA and the WSD are able to reach an agreement it will most likely avoid the need for mediation.  The two bargaining teams have agreed to meet Thursday morning, August 23rd, to continue the bargaining process.

8-20-18

The good faith bargaining between the Wapato School District (WSD) and the Wapato Education Association (WEA) took place on August 20, 2018 for the fourth and final scheduled bargaining session since mid-June.  The session started with the WEA presenting a counter proposal to the District’s latest proposal which it presented in its August 17, 2018 session.  The WEA’s proposal is what is considered a package proposal which included a revised salary schedule from the schedule offer it presented at the August 17 bargaining session. The WEA salary proposal presented today reflected a reduction of approximately .001% in overall compensation costs from the proposal it presented on August 17. It also included a salary schedule proposal that reflects a 16 step schedule, which is a change from its August 17 salary schedule proposal that was a 14 step schedule.  The package also included revised contract language speaking to student discipline and employee workload.  The Wapato School District Team then countered with a package proposal of its own which reflected an increase in average overall salary compensation of 2.9% over its August 17 proposal.  When the 2.9% is added to the base salary proposal already offered by the District a beginning teacher would receive an approximate increase of 8.1% over the current salary schedule and teachers at the high end of the salary schedule would receive an approximate increase of 20%.  The District package proposal also included revised contract language speaking to student discipline, employee workload and additional 2-days compensation for school psychologists, occupational therapists, and speech language pathologists.  The District’s latest salary proposal reflects a 17% increase for a beginning teacher over the current salary schedule and a 28% increase over the current salary schedule for teachers at the high end of the salary schedule. Please note that 8.9% of the 17% and 28% seen below came from moving part of the TRI money teachers currently receive into the proposed 2018-2019 salary schedule.  (see graphs below)

  BA+ 0

     2017-2018      2018-2019 

   MA 90/Phd

     2017-2018      2018-2019 

To review the District’s latest, proposed, complete base salary schedule and additional salary compensation options, of which teachers must choose one, presented during the August 20 bargaining session see the graphs below.

WSD Proposed Base Salary Schedule

WSD Option A (Additional Salary Compensation)

 WSD Option B (Additional Salary Compensation)

To review the latest WEA proposed salary schedule that the WEA team, presented during the August 20 session, see graph below.  The WEA schedule includes additional salary compensation in the schedule.

Wapato Education Association Proposed Base Salary Schedule (includes compensation for 103.5 Additional Hours)

The proposed WEA salary schedule seen above does not include an additional 46.5 hours of salary compensation for teachers with 0 to 9 years experience, nor the 53.5 additional hours of salary compensation for teachers from 10 to 15 years experience nor the 60.5 additional hours of salary compensation for teachers that have 16 years experience or more.  The compensation for those additional hours is $1627.00 for the less experienced teachers and as much as $4765.00 for the most experienced teachers.

The WEA team declined the District’s latest proposal and provided no counter proposal.   The day’s bargaining session ended earlier than expected when the WEA team asked the WSD team to join it in moving into a mediation process to resolve the differences that remain regarding the latest round of negotiations.  Both teams agreed to go ahead with mediation and at that point the WEA withdrew its latest proposal.  The District is looking forward to expedient and fair resolution for all during this next step in the process.

8-17-18

The bargaining teams for the Wapato School District (WSD) and the Wapato Education Association met on August 17, 2018 for the third of four scheduled bargaining sessions since mid-June.  The negotiations focused mainly on salary schedules.   The WEA team led off by presenting a salary schedule proposal which was a counter proposal to the offer the District team presented during the July 11, 2018 bargaining session.  This was the first time the WEA team offered a revised salary schedule proposal since submitting its initial proposal in June.  The WEA proposal presented today reflected a reduction of approximately 1.2% in overall compensation costs from its initial proposal it presented during the first bargaining session in June.  It also included a 14 step salary schedule which is a change from the 10 step schedule that was reflected in their initial proposal made in June.  All of the District's proposals reflect a 16 step schedule which is the same number of steps in the existing schedule.  The District then countered with a proposal that more than doubled the increase that the District had offered the WEA as they ended the bargaining session on July 11.  The WEA declined that offer and then countered with a proposal that included a salary schedule that was no different than the one it had submitted earlier in the day.  The session ended with the District team submitting a proposal which included the same salary schedule as it had proposed earlier in the day.  The District’s latest salary schedule proposal has a starting base salary of $44,740 which includes $1,592 in supplemental pay and a top wage of $85,265 which includes $3,035 in supplemental pay.  The WEA’s latest proposal has a starting base salary of $45,672 which includes $608 in supplemental pay and a top wage of $103,931 which includes $2,496 in supplemental pay.   

 7-11-18:

The bargaining teams for the Wapato School District (WSD) and Wapato Education Association (WEA) met on July 11, 2018 and made progress regarding some sections of the collective bargaining agreement being negotiated.  The teams reached tentative agreements (TA) in Article II, Section 9B that speaks to Assignment, Vacancies, Promotion & Transfer of WEA employees; Article VIII, Sections 6 & 7 which deals with Credits/Clock Hours; and Article III, Section 6 which deals with Letters of Direction. The bargaining session also included the District team providing the WEA team with a revised salary schedule proposal which reflected an increase from the WSD’s initial proposal.  The WSD also gave the WEA team a presentation regarding general revenue/expenditure budget information for the WSD.  The WEA did not submit a revised salary schedule proposal during this session.  The WSD and WEA will resume negotiations in August.

6-19-18: 

6-15-18: