Several key clauses of the Hope District Teacher’s Association contract were agreed to this week, after months of negotiations, said Superintendent Les Imel. “The health and welfare benefits part has been completed,” he said. He added that because there is a retirement agreement that is still active for two more years, the district and the union have elected to not discuss that this year.
Because of the financial situation with the state, Imel explained that the contracts are likely to be renegotiated every year from now on. “To get out there too far and make more than a one-year agreement is risky, for the employer as well as the employees, because of volatility of it. A district would be not be prudent (to negotiate longer terms) because the state is so up and down.”
At Monday night’s closed session board meeting, the school board voted to accept a counterproposal from the HDTA that will allow teachers with class sizes of 28 or higher to have additional aide time and additional release time on a graduated scale.
Accommodations for larger class sizes are of particular concern to upper grade teachers, as class sizes are bulging, especially in the fifth grade. As of Aug. 17, Hope School had 64 fifth graders enrolled, with two teachers planned; Monte Vista had 67 fifth graders enrolled, with two teachers planned; and Vieja Valley had 77 fifth graders enrolled, with 2.5 teachers planned and a fourth/fifth combination classroom.
But these numbers are not final, stressed Imel. “Until that first day of school when you count the bodies … we really don’t know where we are.”
While the state provides incentives for having no more than 20 students per class in the lower grades, there are no such incentives for grades four and above. In addition to the financial consequences associated with hiring additional teachers, the Hope District schools also face some space issues — there simply aren’t enough rooms to add additional classrooms. This issue is likely to cause further challenges for the district in the future, as the nearby 170-unit St. Vincent’s housing project is expected to break ground in late September.