Contract talks to begin in October
BY Jean Jacques Bohl
The Blaine County School District Board of Trustees will start contract negotiations with district administrators next month. The school board adopted this motion during the regular April 19 meeting by a vote of three to one. Trustee Shawn Bennion cast the dissenting vote.
Trustees Elizabeth Corker and Cami Bustos, as well as the Blaine County Education Association, raised the issue of administrators’ compensation and benefits compared to those of the rest of the district’s employees. The district currently employs 22 administrators, eight of whom are employees without contracts. In the current 2016-2017 district budget, certified administrative salaries amount to $1,719,577.
Idaho state law regulates annual teacher contract negotiations but not school administrators’ negotiations. Blaine County School District Assistant Superintendent John Blackman and Wood River High School Principal John Pearce met with The Weekly Sun to discuss the administrators’ expectations for the upcoming negotiations.
“We view this as an opportunity to develop a new relationship with the school board,” said Pearce.
Following the April meeting, school district administrators decided to form an interest group known as the Blaine County Administrative Group. Eventually, it chose the General Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers Union to negotiate on their behalf.
“Administrative salary schedules and benefit packages have been negotiated by the Teamsters in other states,” including in the Butte, Mont., school district, Blackman said.
Currently, the Boise and West Ada school districts have administrative and teacher salary schedules, but the Blaine County School District only has it for teachers. A salary schedule is a guideline based on seniority, education and, in the case of administrators, experience and responsibility.
In a letter dated Aug. 2, the Union informed the school board that “the Blaine County School Administrative Group has requested that we represent them as collective bargaining unit.”
Though some administrators have salary contracts, they don’t have a master agreement like the teachers.
“The Administrative Group represents all the supervisors responsible for the operation of the district,” said Blackman.
Four Teamster representatives came to a school board executive session Aug. 13 and informed the board of the group’s desire to negotiate. There was some confusion about why the four Teamsters were there, since an executive session is not open to public comment unless requested by the board.
In April, the board invited the administrators to the negotiating table in October, Pearce said. “The process makes a lot of sense to create a level of trust between us and the board.”
Blaine County School District Superintendent GwenCarol Holmes is not a member of the Blaine County Administrative Group. She negotiates her compensation and benefit package with the school board directly. She currently has a three-year contract. The administrators’ negotiations will be open to the public, like the teachers’ negotiations, at a venue and date to be named later.
“We are in uncharted territory,” Pearce said. “Idaho law makes no provision for administrators’ negotiations. We are anxious to get started. The administrative group is waiting to hear back from the board of trustees. The ball is now in their court.”