Meet & Confer Updates

Hello!
What a long year it has been with all of the virtual meetings we have all had. We want to bring an update to you all on what happened during Meet and Confer this year. For those of you who are unsure of what Meet and Confer is, let us fill you in. This is the process that takes place yearly. It allows the district and CEA to work together to negotiate changes in the handbook. So, on to the update….

Many items were discussed throughout this process that began in October 2020. All proposals were submitted electronically between the district team and CEA team until the final meeting on April 15, 2021. 

The following proposals were agreed upon by both the district and CEA teams. 

1. Auxiliary Name Change
   • Auxiliary staff will now be referred to as Related Service Providers and Psychologists. 
2. Change to School Counselor Evaluations
   • A comprehensive, fair and equitable evaluation process was developed for School Counselors. 
3. Change to ESP Evaluations
   • A comprehensive, fair and equitable evaluation process was developed for ESPs. 
4. Memo of understanding for SELS, SW, SC and RTI-B professionals
   • District and CEA will form a committee to develop a committee to meet from May 2021 to January 2022 in order to develop a step salary schedule for Social Emotional Learning Specialists, Social Workers, and School Counselors. The committee will not be working on a schedule for RTI-B.
5. One Time Retention Stipend for All Employees
   • Full-Time: $1,500 
   • Part-Time: $750 
6. ESI
   • Nothing about ESI has changed. We are just writing out the current practice to place into the handbook.
7. ESP Cross Training:
   • ESPs when needed and if possible will be given a 2 week training period when beginning a new position. 
8. ESP Step Schedule: 
   • An ESP Step Schedule has been established.
   • There was a 5% raise to each box on the schedule.
   • A committee will be formed for next school year to look at positions in collaboration with the district. This will be to make sure the descriptions of jobs and actual duties performed are accurate. 
9. ESP 9 to 10 month employees
   • All 9 month ESPs will be moved to 10 months
   • This will allow for pay over some of our holiday breaks. 
   • On occasion an ESP may be asked to work through Winter Break. Employees will be given notice and will not be reprimanded if they cannot comply with a request to come in. 
   • District will be responsible for tracking the hours.
   • Employees will get comp time to be used at their discretion and if the time is not used, ESPs will be paid at their hourly rate of compensation in the final pay of the year. 
10. Longevity
    • There will be 2 equal payments. The first payment will be in December of the employees 26th year. The payment will be 14.5%. 
    • The second payment will be as part of a severance package. The second payment of 14.5% will be paid after the employee leaves the district. 
    • If the employee chooses to leave the district after their 25th year, the individual will receive all 29%. 
    • If the employee continues working they will continue to receive raises until they leave the district. 
    • The second payment will not be considered compensation and will not be put towards ASRS.
11. Change to subbing for medical insurance
    • Days to substitute has increased. 
    • Admin will have to sub for 30 days 
    • Certified will have to sub for 35 days.
    • ESPs will have to sub for 40 days. 
    • Fridays will be a priority to fill along with testing coverage. 
    • This applies to employees hired before June 30, 2005.
12. Change to Prep Time
    • 3 Quarterly PLC Days
      • There will be 3 Quarterly PLC days. Teams and departments will follow the PLC driving questions. 
        • 60 minutes of Staff Professional Development as determined by the site
        • 60 Minutes for Lunch
        • 60 Minutes of Classroom Preparation Time
    • 4 Blended Teacher Work Days
      • There will be ten (4) blended teacher work days that will be designated for report card preparation, grading, lesson planning, parent communication, and other professional pursuits, as determined by the Teacher. These days will also have district professional development and site based time, as allocated below.
      • Time Allocation:
        • 220 Minutes for Teacher Preparation Time
        • 60 Minutes for Lunch
        • 90 Minutes for District Professional Development
        • 90 Minutes for Site Based Professional Development
    • 18 Blended Site Based Days (No Change from the current language)

• Professional Fridays Allocation of Time: a. Professional Preparation Time: i. Teachers will receive 150 minutes of uninterrupted professional preparation time. These 150 minutes will usually be at the beginning of professional Friday, except in situations that require the time to occur later in order to accommodate for professional development. It is suggested that this time is used for report card preparation, grading, lesson planning, parent communication, and other professional pursuits, as determined by the professional. 
• b. Site Based Collaboration Time on Friday: i. Sites will receive 250 minutes of site based collaboration. Site administrators will consult with their professional learning communities for the best use of this time. It is suggested that needs are assessed by surveying staff. This time can be used for grade level planning, team level planning, department planning, site based whole staff professional development, community building activities, and other needs as determined by the site administrator.

• 4 District Professional Development Days

• There will be four (4) District Professional Development Fridays. District Professional Development Fridays will occur once per quarter. District leadership will create professional development that supports the mission and vision of the district. The district will use district assessment data, and survey the staff on professional development needs.
• Time Allocation:
  • 120 Minutes allocated for Uninterrupted Preparation Time
  • 60 Minutes for Lunch
  • 280 Minutes allocated for District Professional Development

• 6 Teacher Days (full day work time 6 hours 40 minutes)

• There will be ten (6) classroom preparation Fridays that will be designated for report card preparation, grading, lesson planning, parent communication, and other professional pursuits, as determined by the Teacher.

The District Team did not accept the following proposals brought forward:

1. Certified Reduction In Force
2. ESP Reduction in Force
3. Change to Psychologists Salary 
   1. A committee however will be established to work on this step salary schedule and have it ready for the 2022-2023 school year. 
4. Change to SLPA Salary
   1. A committee however will be established to work on this step salary schedule and have it ready for the 2022-2023 school year. 
5. Change to RSP Salary
   1. A committee however will be established to work on this step salary schedule and have it ready for the 2022-2023 school year. 
6. Addition of Prop 208 language 
   1. CEA worked with AEA to develop a proposal that mirrored the language in the law as it is written. This was denied by the district to include in the handbook. 
   2. CEA would like to again thank all those that went out to collect signatures, sent text messages, made phone calls and spent time advocating for the passing of Prop 208 legislation. We were very disappointed with the decision to not put this language in the handbook. 
   3. If you would like to view the entire discussion on the Prop 208 Contingency Plan or hear the exact rationale and wording of the proposal follow this link.
7. Change to Lunch Time
   1. The proposal wanted to move lunch from 40 to 35 minutes. There were concerns brought up about ESPs having a different lunch schedule. We will work on creating something more fair and equitable for our ESPs.
8. Change to ESP Job Classification
   1. This will be looked at as we evaluate positions and determine if the job responsibilities and duties listed are accurate to what the job positions are actually doing. 

I know this had a ton of information in it and is lengthy, but we wanted to make sure you had all of the facts. 
Thank you for all the emails, questions, concerns and comments throughout this process. 
Special thanks to our Meet and Confer Table Team for your willingness to be the face of the Cartwright Education Association during a pandemic: 
Mitchella Stevens: CEA Chair
Alex Cazares: Table Member
Gia Giosa: Table Member
Betty Frantz: Table Member
Shelley Knipe: Table Member

Additional thanks to the Meet and Confer Committee that met almost every weekend from October on to discuss and plan for each meeting!
Valeria, Betsy, Chris, Amy Jo, Jesse, and Cesar.

Thank you Liz and Greg, two Organizational Consultants with the Arizona Education Association for the time, energy and effort you put in to help us find solutions to some of the tougher proposals we were met with. 




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