North Thurston reaches tentative contract agreement with teachers

A tentative contract agreement has been reached between North Thurston Public Schools and the North Thurston Education bargaining team, but a technical problem has delayed the membership’s vote on the contract.

The contract will be reposted for voting, and members will have at least a week to get answers to questions and to vote, said Conni Van Hoose, NTEA president. Before the computer glitch was discovered, the contract was posted for members before the Labor Day weekend.

The contract includes three additional compensation days and a 4.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment over the next two years, said Courtney Schrieve, district communications director.

However, Terry Shaw, a 15-year teacher at Timberline High School, says that he sat through a 2-1/2 hour meeting this week and remains unclear about the actual increase in pay, which some have calculated at just 0.5 percent.

The only thing the district can negotiate is the TRI pay, which includes compensation for “deemed done” responsibilities outside of teaching hours, Hoose said. TRI stands for Time Responsibilities and Incentives.

“There is other potential increase in TRI pay, more opportunities to earn pay for more work,” Shaw said. “What we want to accomplish is not to say ‘Hey, that’s not good enough.’ What we want is for people to know exactly what they’re voting for.”

“I represent the teachers, and I care about the teachers and believe everything they do they deserve to be paid for, and I know that they work well over those 22 deemed done days,” Hoose said. In addition to the deemed done days, there are TRI days for professional development and incentives.

Schrieve said that since the Seattle teacher’s strike started there have been reports of discontent with the offer among some teachers.

“It’s not really a fair comparison to hold our district up to Tacoma or Seattle or Everett in terms of salary,” she said. “In this community, our teachers are compensated very well and have a rich package of extra days, which are funded by the local levy, not state dollars.”

An estimated 30 percent of teachers in the district are funded through local levy dollars, along with the current 28-30 additional compensation days not included in the state-funded 180-day calendar, Schrieve said.

“We honor and value the work that our teachers do for our students every day,” Shrieve said.

In the meantime, teachers are working under last year’s contract, and the 3 percent pay increase from the state will be passed through, Hoose said.

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 3:44 PM with the headline "North Thurston reaches tentative contract agreement with teachers."