The Kent School District and the teachers union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract.
The Kent Education Association announced the agreement Wednesday night at the Kent School Board meeting. Teachers will vote on the new contract at a general membership meeting Tuesday, Aug. 30 at Kentwood High School in Covington. The current two-year contract expires Aug. 31. School starts Sept. 1.
“I’m happy and positive,” said Connie Compton, president of the Kent Education Association that represents more than 1,700 members, in a Thursday interview. “It’s a good step forward in our relationship between the association and the district.”
District officials were pleased as well.
“Everybody’s greatly relieved, especially given the nature of negotiations two years ago were so contentious,” said Chris Loftis, spokesman for the Kent School District, in a Thursday interview. “It was very workmanlike this year. Talks were much more cordial than last time given it led to a strike.”
A teacher strike after talks broke down in 2009 delayed the start of school by about three weeks before a settlement was reached on the current two-year contract.
“There were a lot of nuts and bolts to work through with the budget cuts by the state and feds,” Loftis said of this year’s negotiations. “We’re glad to get it done.”
If teachers vote to approve the contract, the school board will vote Sept. 14 to adopt the contract.
Neither side wanted to release specifics of the agreement until after the membership vote on the contract.
Compton posted on a KEA blog the reasons behind keeping details quiet until the membership meeting.
“It is best practice in bargaining a contract to present the details to membership in a general meeting that allows all members the opportunity to hear the same information at the same time,” Compton wrote. “This allows for members to participate in a question and answer period as well as debate any issues. Then, in a democratic process, the contract can be put to a vote.”
Compton said in an interview last week she was confident an agreement would be reached by the Wednesday school board meeting. She said negotiations wrapped up late Tuesday night after a marathon session.
“I’m glad for everyone in the community that we reached an agreement,” Compton said.
The Legislature slashed $5 billion from the state budget, including a 1.9 percent cut for teacher pay. Since teachers negotiate contracts with individual districts, the Kent district and union worked out an agreement on how to handle the cut.
Loftis said talks were much smoother this year without a threat of a strike and because of a struggling economy.
“When you go through a strike the emotion of that is something no one wanted to repeat,” Loftis said. “And economic times have changed. We have diminishing resources. Both sides sat down and figured out what they are going to do.”
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