ASHLAND – Ashland City Schools board of education and Ashland City Teachers Association each issued statements Wednesday regarding the status of contract negotiations, which have reached an impasse.
Board president James Wolfe and district superintendent Doug Marrah issued their release Wednesday afternoon, prompting teachers to issue a response Wednesday evening. The full text of each statement is below.
Board statement
Joint Statement from Board President, Dr. James Wolfe and Superintendent, Dr. Douglas Marrah on behalf of the Ashland City Schools Board of Education regarding contract negotiations with ACTA
We are disappointed to announce that, after many months of negotiations with the Ashland City Teachers Association, the parties have reached impasse, and will proceed to mediation.
Since June 12, 2019, the parties have met on numerous occasions in an attempt to negotiate a successor collective bargaining agreement. The Administration, represented by Superintendent Doug Marrah Ed.D., proposed very few issues during negotiations, identifying only the most impactful issues for consideration. The Board negotiation team consistently engaged in good-faith negotiations and worked very hard to reach a tentative agreement, even withdrawing several key proposals that it felt would result in a better educational environment for students.
The Board team fully discussed and carefully considered each and every proposal presented by ACTA. Substantial effort was undertaken to understand the basis for each proposal and to address the underlying concerns. After productive discussion, several items were agreed to tentatively. However, there were proposals that the Board team felt strongly that the Board of Education and community would not support.
The existing collective bargaining agreement between the Board and ACTA expired on June 30, 2019. While the Board has directed that the Administration shall operate under the terms of that Agreement, some provisions of the Agreement contained express language that specific provisions expired on June 30, 2019, unless a successor agreement was approved by that time. The Board has no choice but to honor the expiration of those provisions. The most important of these provisions extended the contractual school-day for teachers, which allowed for important meeting time and collaboration for teachers. A related provision afforded substantial compensation for working the extended school-day. These two provisions also automatically and expressly expired on June 30, 2019. Since the parties were unable to reach a new agreement before the new school year, the Board is forced to reduce the contractual work day for teachers. Further, the Board is without authority to continue to pay the associated compensation that related to the extended school day. While this will have minimal impact on the student instructional day, it eliminates the ability for staff to engage in meaningful collaboration that improves the education of students. The Board is also very sensitive to the fact that the expiration of these provisions also impacts teachers financially. Further, the BOE has directed the Administration undertake any and all measures to ensure the smooth and safe transition back to the shorter contractual day, with special attention to parental and student concerns.
The Board was expressly prepared to continue the longer contractual day and the associated compensation in the firm belief that the longer day had a positive impact on students and the educational process. The Board also offered substantial, additional compensation in the form of incentives, stipends and modest raises on the base salary, all fully consistent with the BOE’s explicit directive to maintain the long term financial stability of the district. However, the Board’s compensation package, as constituted, was not acceptable to the ACTA negotiating team, nor was the compensation package presented by ACTA acceptable to the Board.
The Board of Education remains committed to the process of securing a new collective bargaining agreement acceptable to all parties. We appreciate the hard work already performed by the Administration and ACTA and make note that there was good discussion and much progress has already been made.
With the parties being at impasse, the parties will proceed to mediation with a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services.
Our district remains committed to serving our children, our greatest commodity. We are Ashland Arrows!
ACTA statement
The Ashland City Teachers Association was surprised to receive a copy of a press release from a third party that the Ashland City School Board and the Superintendent of Schools unilaterally issued in regards to our current contract negotiations. While it is true that the Board declared impasse after only seven meetings in two months, typically, during the negotiations process, all press releases are issued jointly. While the ACTA does not believe in negotiating through the media, we would like to address some of the topics brought up in the Board’s press release.
First and foremost, the burdensome decrease in the school day and teacher pay is an unnecessary choice made by the School Board. The ACTA negotiation team has been and continues to be open to an agreement with the Board; wherein last year’s school day and associated stipends would remain intact while the remaining details are worked out in our contract negotiations, benefiting students, families, and staff.
Furthermore, after a decade of having no base salary increase and making extreme concessions in health care coverage, our teachers have seen their wages and benefits fall far below the market average of similar districts. We are concerned that due to these compounding concessions, the Ashland City Schools, once a magnet for attracting and keeping the finest educators, is starting to see an increase in teacher turnover, which we believe impacts student learning and success. While we understand the financial constraints our School Board has placed upon itself, we still believe a contract agreement can be reached through mediation which can begin to address these issues and place our district on a solid footing moving forward in a fiscally sound manner.
In conclusion, we would like the taxpayers and families of the Ashland City School District to know that we are extremely proud of our staff and the work they do. At the heart of each of our members is a desire to educate and nurture the students entrusted to our care. There is no stipend that will change that and each of our members will continue to pour their efforts into their classrooms next Monday as your students begin school. As an Association, we will likewise continue to advocate for a strong public education system, rooted in the belief that a professional and fairly treated teacher workforce is essential to the growth of our community’s children.
The Ashland City Teachers Association
