The difficult work of bargaining . . .

Well, we reached a point last evening with PSE where we have agreement in concept and now need to draft contract language for approval. Though there is always the potential for things to fall apart at this stage I do not think this will be the case. Earlier in the day I and most others did not believe we would reach this point. It became possible only when it became clear that we were asking for significant changes to existing contract language and practice.

What should be a celebration, however, is instead bitter sweet. Because of the financial situation we face we were forced to ask for these concessions from people we respect and care about. I take no pride in this situation and I thank the leadership of this organization for their understanding and willingness to look at the bigger picture. In many respects I believe they have the ability to focus at the system level better than many others I work with on a regular basis.

I am not proud of what we accomplished over three difficult days of debate and skillful discussion though I am thankful that we have a three year agreement and can move forward on finding some way to balance a difficult budget. Something is wrong when the state can give a 4.4% raise to classified staff that forces us to find the revenue to ensure that all staff receive the raise. For us, that means approximately $250,000 because the formulas that drive the revenues are from the late '70's when we didn't have technology staff, security staff, ELL programs, the diversity of special needs we now see, and the list goes on. The state raise in essence, places a significant burden on the local district if we want to treat all staff equitably. Something must change if we are to maintain current program or have any ability to find adaptive solutions to the issues we face.

I find myself growing impatient with the words we hear about how important our work with students is and how our society sees this as important work. Facing people at the bargaining table and asking for concessions because of circumstances over which we have no control pierced me like a knife yesterday. I have over the years had many conversations with legislators, the place where change must start. I think it may be time for me to take a more active role in this work and join others in a different conversation with our elected representatives.

Those of you that know me know that this has never been an area of focus for me and to make this shift will be very difficult. But, it is time that my behavior begin to better align with my words.