A months-long impasse between the Brevard Federation of Teachers and Brevard Schools ended last week when the school board offered an additional $200 bonus.
“We’re still not real thrilled with the money, but we really pushed it as far as we could this year,” BFT president Dan Bennett said.
Teachers will vote on the salary plan from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9, with polling sites at each school. Bennett said he expects they will accept it. If they don’t, though, the School Board can still approve the contract. Mediation with the union is not binding and the School Board can put a contract into effect at any time, with or without union approval.
Meanwhile, the union is encouraging its members to continue to “work to the contract,” despite the tentative agreement.
Bennett said the teacher’s union will still use social media to keep up the campaign started in the wake of the salary negotiations, urging teachers to perform only the work they are paid for – nothing extra like tutoring or after-school meetings.
“Once we start it, it’s really something that should never end,” he said of challenging teachers to work to the contract.
“Teachers are famous for ‘We go home and we grade papers all into the night, we write out our lesson plans.’ A lot of the teachers, now that we started working to the contract, they’re realizing ‘Wow, we can get it done, and it’s not hurting the children.’
“We’re not going to ever call that off.”
The union and the School Board had been at odds since October over the teachers’ 2017-2018 contract. They met last week to discuss some procedural issues, and Bennett said he was surprised when School Board representatives brought up the salary issue. The two sides had been scheduled to go before a special magistrate on Jan. 23 to try and come to an agreement. That meeting has now been cancelled.
The School Board’s original salary offer to teachers was a 1.5 percent raise, which equates to $875 a year for teachers rated “highly effective” and $600 a year to teachers rated “effective.” BFT countered that offer with a request for $200 more per year for all teachers.
In the end, the two sides tentatively agreed on the 1.5 percent salary increase, and a one-time $200 bonus. The bonus would extend to every member of the union, including those not in classroom settings such as counselors and media specialists.
“We worked to financially recognize the efforts of our phenomenal employees in a way that was also fiscally responsible,” Superintendent Desmond Blackburn said. “This is an opportunity for us to get back to enjoying the collaborative relationship that has contributed to the culture and success of Brevard Public Schools.”
Bennett said the union wants to get past the divisiveness caused by the impasse.
“We’re looking forward to mending fences and moving on and working together,” he said.
In December – as the strain between BFT and the School Board was reaching a pinnacle – the board gave Blackburn a raise of about $3,300. Blackburn later said he would donate the raise, his second in a year, to the Supply Zone, which provides free school supplies to teachers.
In turn, BFT is also donating to the Supply Zone the approximately $3,000 it would have spent on the magistrate hearing.
Article by: Jan Wesner Childs
