Wording sorted out in custodian contract

LR School Board now clear to vote

Representatives of the Little Rock School District and its employees union said early Friday that they have resolved language disputes in a proposed contract for custodians, clearing the way for a School Board vote next month on the tentative contract that stalled in the spring.

Cathy Koehler, president of the Little Rock Education Association, which is the contract bargaining agent for the district's teachers and support service employees, announced to the School Board that the association had agreed to changes to "sync" language in two sections of the proposed contract with state law.

Additionally, district and association leaders have agreed to a proposed "ratification clause" to be attached to the custodial contract that commits the district and association to standardizing the grievance procedures in the five contracts for different employee groups, including teachers, Robert Robinson, the district's director of human resources, told the School Board.

Those grievance procedure revisions are to be negotiated and presented to the association's board of directors and to the School Board for ratification no later than June 15, according to the clause.

The School Board received the report from the union and district representatives after midnight Thursday -- near the end of a seven-hour meeting during which some board members also sought to change the district's year-old policy and accompanying regulations for evaluating district programs. Superintendent Dexter Suggs told board members that they can change the policy, but he has the authority under his contract to develop regulations for enacting the policy and selecting any staff to do the work. The board decided by consensus to discuss possible changes in the program evaluation process at a Nov. 6 work session.

Regarding the custodian contract, the board voted 5-2 on June 28 to reject the proposed contract that had been tentatively approved by negotiators for the district and the association months before. The custodians voted to ratify the agreement in March.

Two board members who voted against the contract -- Jody Carreiro and Norma Johnson -- were replaced in September by newly elected board members Joy Springer and Jim Ross. Springer asked earlier this month to put the custodians' proposed contract on the agenda.

The board earlier in the year balked at approving the tentative contract because Suggs and his staff said typos needed to be corrected. Later, attorneys for the School Board identified what they said were substantial issues, including conflicts with state law. One of the conflicts dealt, for example, with the differences in the required timing for hearings for employees who are recommended for firing or suspension.

Despite the board's June vote against the proposed contract, custodians received the same 3 percent raise that all district employees received in the 2012-13 school year, plus a step increase for their additional year of work experience. The board also awarded two personal leave days to the custodians that the employees had expected to receive had the tentative contract been approved.

The board's June vote to reject the tentative contract was described by both sides in the negotiations as a way to send the negotiating teams back to the table to develop mutually agreeable revisions. But Robinson, the district's chief negotiator, told the board earlier this month that the anticipated negotiating sessions never occurred. Koehler said at that same time that the association was not going to change its position on the tentative contract terms.

But Koehler said early Friday that the different language contained in the different contracts created too much confusion and that establishing a standardized grievance procedure for all employees "will be a great relief" for everyone.

Most of the board members were delighted that the district and union leaders had appeared to end the stalemate on the tentative contract, even applauding a bit.

"Good ending," board member Dianne Curry said.

Board President Greg Adams congratulated the negotiating teams for their cooperation.

Board member Jim Ross, however, said he remained angry about the situation and was critical of the district for failing to involve its attorneys in the negotiating process early on or even now in the talks on standardizing language in the grievance procedure. He said the process has been a waste of people's time and "dehumanizing" to the custodians.

"This is real simple. Get the blasted lawyers in there," said Ross, who also asked Suggs for a written report on the district's use of private custodial services, including their costs and any future plans for fully replacing district-employed custodians with contract custodial workers.

Suggs told Ross that the district lawyers will be in on the ground floor to ensure that everything is in line for changes to the tentative contract.

As for privatizing the custodial services, Suggs said, "you don't replace people who have a stake in your community. We want people who have a stake in our community working in the schools."

The board is planning to act on the tentative contract for the custodians at a special meeting Nov. 13. The board vote, if affirmative, will finalize the multiyear agreement.

Koehler said Friday afternoon that the custodian members of the association will not vote a second time to ratify the agreement because she said the changes made to it are not substantive. One change deals with the timing for an employee to request a hearing. The other involves inserting a reference to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Metro on 10/25/2014

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