Education Notebook

ARTICLE: 80 one-year teaching contracts expire in Rochester schools

The contracts of 80 temporary teachers and long-term substitute teachers in Rochester public schools will expire at the end of year, which was announced by the school board Tuesday night. 

(The names of the teachers are listed here. I don't include them to add insult to injury, but interested parents might want to know what happened to a particular teacher that they liked, didn't like, wanted to request for their child, etc.)

The contracts were written for one year, and the release of these positions is an annual move.

The 80 teachers represent 59.7 full-time teaching positions, in a variety of subjects and age groups. Of those positions, 29.5 belonged to temporary teachers, who are employees signed to one-year deals.

Article: Talk of a referendum in Rochester's future

(Here's an article that will appear in tomorrow's paper, about upcoming school funding. This is the one I teased earlier on Twitter. Also, there's a link at the bottom listing all the cuts made since the 1992-93 fiscal year - E.)

With cutbacks that continue to put teachers on the unemployment line, the talk of a levy referendum to buoy the district's finances has floated to the top of Rochester public schools.

School board members and district officials last year abandoned the idea before anything truly formalized, reasoning that voters would soundly sink such a measure. But now, school officials believe the only other solution would be to drown in budget reductions.

Rochester public schools carve away $4.5 million

Here's an early update for the dedicated late-night crowd, enjoy. (If that's even possible for a story about budget cuts. Here is the list of cuts that help with breaking down the items talked about.) -Elliot

Rochester school board members voted to reclaim at least one high school teacher — at the expense of smaller budgets that included their own health, dental and medical benefits — in cutting exactly $4.5 million Tuesday night.

After changing a few of Superintendent Romain Dallemand's recommendations, board members unanimously accepted the budget cuts, 6-0. Board member Mechelle Severson was absent due to a family matter.

The changes included keeping general fund support for small-ticket items like the middle school play, jazz band and student council. But the reductions signal the latest in wide-sweeping cutbacks that are becoming common place across the state, as districts deal with increased expenses, in addition to flat or decreased state funding.

Rochester public school teachers to rock the (contract) vote today

Rochester's public school teachers will decide to wither uphold or scuttle a proposed contract that would allow for yearly "step" raises but freezes the salary schedule at it's current levels.

We expect to know how the vote went early tomorrow morning, when the Rochester Education Association tallies the numbers and forwards them to the Rochester school district. The Rochester school board is expected to ratify the deal during Tuesday's meeting.

The contract freezes the salary schedule, but it's not a true salary freeze. Teachers contracts give compensation based on years of service (steps) and collegiate credits earned (lanes). So although the contract salaries freeze, teachers can still move up to the next step. 

About 340 of the district's 1,200 teachers wouldn't receive a salary increase since they are at the top of the salary schedule, but would get a stipend equal to 1 percent of their current salary. About 60 more teachers would qualify for that stipend the following year.

Stay tuned.

Rochester schools: Proposed deal puts the freeze on salaries

Turbulent economic times will put a two-year freeze on Rochester teacher’s salaries, according to a preliminary agreement between the Rochester school district and the teachers union.

The preliminary agreement calls for zero percent increases to the Rochester Education Association salary schedule. Teachers can still receive raises though, through their yearly increases called “steps” and also by obtaining additional college credits called “lanes.” The contact involves the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.

Rochester schools are currently looking at slicing $4.5 million from the budget and Rochester Education Association President Kit Hawkins said increasing the base salaries would have augmented that amount, putting the union “between a rock and a hard place."

“Any change in our projections were simply going to cost more jobs,” Hawkins said.

A majority of the district’s 1,200 teachers will still need to ratify the contract. They will vote Jan. 4, but will Rochester’s educators support the deal?

Hawkins said she is unsure, but continued that she remained confident in the agreement. She said teachers are reasonable professionals who understand that everyone is feeling the impact of the slumping economy. Many educators have second jobs, she continued.

In Rochester public schools, an entry-level teacher with a bachelor’s degree earns $33,722. The following year they earn $34,548. Rochester’s teachers earned an average of $49,112 during the 2008-2009 school year, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

Who will be frozen out? Those going without raises are educators who have reached the top of the pay scale, or the end of the “steps,” by teaching for more than 24 years.

Those teachers will receive a one-time stipend of 1 percent of their salary. For example, a 25-year teaching veteran who holds a master’s degree earns $60,199 and would receive the stipend, instead of a raise. The regular “step” raises will account for a 2.9 percent increase in the district’s expenses this year, or about $1.8 million, and a 1.93 percent increase in expenses next year, or about $1.9 million.

But since the salary schedule doesn’t increase, the move still saves the district money compared to budget projections, said LaToiya Glass, Rochester schools director of human resources.

The zero-percent increases typify the budgetary hand-wringing at school districts across Minnesota.

Statewide, Education Minnesota reported 107 settlements by Thursday. Average terms include salary increases of 1.04 percent in the first year and 1.16 percent in the second year, which are half of the increases reported during the 2007 contract season.

LINK: Rochester Education Association salary schedule (.pdf)

(Looking at the salary schedule might make it easier to explain steps (years) and lanes (continuing education. It's titled 2008-2009, but under this agreement, it would remain the same. The 2009-2010 school year is part of the new deal.)

Rochester teachers find out new contract terms this morning, will they be frozen out?

Will Rochester's teachers be frozen out? No official word yet, but the district's educators are finding out the terms of their new contact this morning. (Probably in a hour or so if they haven't been briefed yet.)

Rumors have been flying so far: some people have claimed that teachers will still get steps and lanes but the salary schedule will freeze for the first year, and slightly increase the second year, others have said teachers will get minimal increases (near 1 percent range) both years and another tipster said both years will be frozen.

Since the district and teachers union have tried to stonewall us until this afternoon -- which we think is blatantly against the data practices act -- we don't have the official figures yet. The Teachers Union (Rochester Education Association) has long contended that the figures should not be public until they are ready to present them, after all staff members have been shown the numbers.

Obviously, we disagree and think the law is on our side. (Of course, officials can release the figures this afternoon and then "claim compliance.")

Anyway, we'll keep working on it and update with anything that comes out. Stay tuned.

LINK: Minnesota Data Practices Fact Sheet (.pdf)

Rochester teachers contract: Both sides doing best Go Go's impression (UPDATE)

In other words, their lips are sealed.

The Rochester teachers union and school district have agreed in principle on terms for a new contract, but both sides are refusing to release the terms until Friday's press conference.

In addition to talking with some sources around the district, we've also field a Data Practices Act request in trying to secure the information.

Some might say that is a futile effort, being that the press conference is Friday, but the principle is also at stake. Information that should be available to the public, deserves to be presented to the public. We aren't much for sitting on our hands and waiting.

Anyone who wants to e-mail in what they are hearing, join the group speculating here, or feel free to comment away, as always. Otherwise, stay tuned sports fans.

(Yes, the headline was an "Our Lips are Sealed" reference. Something for the kids of the 80s on a December afternoon.)

UPDATE:

Teachers will be informed about the contract sometime Friday morning. Some of the those that we have talked to still don't know what those terms are. It's still unclear when they would vote to ratify the contract, but one would think it would be after they are presented with the terms Friday morning.

Why not release the terms in a districtwide e-mail and then follow up Friday to talk with the teachers? Why leave them on ice for a few days as word-of-mouth rumors get spread from building to building? All good questions.

We are still awaiting word about receiving the terms from the district. 

Article: Cancer takes back seat for Century High teacher

Here's our story about Century High School teacher Sonia Ellsworth, who is currently battling breast cancer. While we have to break it into two stories for print, here's the original version for the Web. I've also included the links to the articles.

LINK: Teacher of the Month: Cancer takes back seat
LINK: Ellsworth decides to 'plow through the issues'

Teacher of the Month: Cancer takes back seat for Century High educator

12/16/2009 9:05:02 AM

When Sonia Ellsworth's morning alarm sounds, she stays in bed awake for another 15 minutes.

	Teacher of the month This month: Century High School teacher Sonia Ellsworth has been named Post-Bulletin Teacher of the Month for December. Ellsworth is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer, which she has been battling for almost four years. Nominating teachers: The Post-Bulletin and Newspaper In Education invite you to nominate a K-12 teacher who is making a difference. Selection criteria include personal initiative, going beyond the call of duty, innovative methods and encouraging students to achieve academic goals.

She doesn't think about the breast cancer that has recently metastasized through her body, reaching her liver and brain. She doesn't think about outliving her own expectations after being diagnosed three years ago.

Instead, she thinks about teaching science to ninth-graders.

Ellsworth, a science educator at Century High School, has been named the Post-Bulletin Teacher of the Month for December. She is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, and while she has endured at least two surgeries and several rounds of chemotherapy since her 2006 diagnosis, she remains in the classroom.

Every day.

"It takes my mind off of it," said Ellsworth, 41. "I was going stir crazy after about a week or so at home. It was good for me to get back here. ... When I'm (at school), I generally don't think about the cancer."

When she isn't pondering that day's science lab, Ellsworth wants to ensure that her own two children, 12-year-old Jonathan and 9-year-old Stephanie, are ready for school. She blocks her own struggles from her mind.

"I try not to think about (cancer) right away. It's really not a good way to start the day," Ellsworth said.

It's that positive attitude that teachers and students mention when asked to describe the more-than-19-year teaching veteran. The Post-Bulletin received 23 recommendation letters describing Ellsworth's courage and praising her teaching ability.

Eleventh-grader Allie Streiff called Ellsworth one of the most influential people she has ever met.

"She is someone that doesn't let any of her problems get in her way of teaching every day," Streiff wrote.

Forced from classroom

The first round of chemotherapy forced the Century High School teacher homebound in 2006, from mid-February until the end of spring break.

But she returned to school that year and finished the last few weeks. Since then, she has kept steady attendance.

The first days were dark, Ellsworth said. But soon after, she decided to "plow through the issues."

"You can go home, shut the door, close the blinds and sit and stew about it, but you feel worse. And you try those things for awhile, but it goes nowhere fast," Ellsworth said. "Worrying about it didn't fix anything, it didn't change anything. You can choose how you respond to it."

The past three years have been a self-described emotional roller-coaster for Ellsworth, her husband Duane and their two children.

Three surgeries. Several rounds of chemotherapy and more than a dozen different treatments in all. When a glimmer of hope arises, another test delivers a crushing setback: Infected lymph nodes or metastasized cells.

But as long as her Mayo Clinic doctors tell her another option exists, Ellsworth remains positive.

"Whenever something bad happens, as long as I know there are options, I'm OK," Ellsworth said. "I'm afraid that when we get to the point when we run out of options, I don't know what I'll do."

How long will those options remain? She isn't so sure.

After Christmas, when others are prepping New Year Eve plans, she will be eagerly waiting for medical tests. Doctors found in October that the cancer metastasized "all over the place," Ellsworth said.

"One of my doctors was looking at the scans, looked at me, looked back at the scans and said, 'It's almost impossible to believe that is the same person," Ellsworth said.

'Shoving a boulder'

Many parents and students heard "cancer" and didn't think they would see Ellsworth around much after the 2005-06 school year. Others see her in the classroom now and give a double take.

Century High School Principal Chuck Briscoe recalled thinking Ellsworth wouldn't be teaching much longer after a fundraiser in spring of 2008.

"I just hoped to heck that through some miracle she would be back in the fall and that was last year. Through setback after setback, it's an amazing thing that she's still here," said Briscoe, who called Ellsworth a source of inspiration. "The neatest thing about her is she has never complained and she certainly has every right in the world to do so. She has lot of chances where she could have complained or given up but she never has.

"Knowing some of the stuff she is going through, when you think of your own problems it feels kind of a pebble in a shoe and she's shoving a boulder around," Briscoe said.

Not only a job, a passion

Last week, Ellsworth helped her ninth-grade physical science students prepare for a test. Similar to any classroom, a group of inquiring minds formed at the teacher's desk, a line comparable to the corral at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

It's hard not to catch a double meaning in signs posted on the classroom's walls: Believe in yourself -- you can do it. Push aside the fear of failure. Prioritize: What is most important?

One by one, each question gets answered, each student gets helped. Above all, that's what gets Ellsworth through the day. Not her own personal fight, but the struggle to educate students of the Internet age.

It's all about helping a struggling student finally have that "aha" moment, Ellsworth said. She describes her work as not only a job, but also her hobby.

"If I get some ideas across to as many kids as I can, or even to that one kid who thinks they don't understand anything about science, that's what keeps me going," she said. "They may not remember exactly what they learned. They may not remember the exact lesson, but my hope is they take away some of those skills."

Most ninth-graders don't know too much about lymph nodes, tumors and metastasis.

"Here, I can focus on what I'm doing," Ellsworth said. "(Cancer) doesn't matter when I'm here."

BREAKING: Rochester school district, teachers union agree to new contract

The heavy lifting seems to be over, as Rochester’s administrators and teachers have agreed in principle to a new two-year contract. But before the deal is final, Rochester’s some 1,000 teachers will need to approve it.

Negotiators for Rochester public schools and the Rochester Education Association agreed tentatively to contract terms Monday. But both sides have refused to release terms until Friday, in order to first notify staff members. The contract will cover the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years.

We'll obviously continue working on getting the figures before Friday.

Rochester Education Association officials will present the figures to its executive board today and then to faculty representatives on Thursday. The contract still needs to be ratified by the district’s licensed teachers.
Rochester Education Association President Kit Hawkins declined additional questions about the terms and protocol until Friday.

“We aren’t done — we still have work to do,” Hawkins said of notifying staff members and confirming the deal.

The last Rochester Education Association teacher’s contract was approved in 2007 and included salary increases of 2.89 percent and 2.25 percent. However, the teachers union would be lucky to receive raises near those figures this time around.

A crippling budget shortfall at the state has left many school districts cutting back and budgeting more frugally. In December, preliminary figures from Education Minnesota showed that unions and districts were agreeing to much smaller increases, on average from about 1.08 percent for 2009-10 and 1.32 percent for 2010-11. Minnesota’s school districts and teachers unions have until Jan. 15, 2010 to reach a deal, otherwise the school district is penalized $25 per student. In Rochester, that would be roughly $409,625.

Article: Teachers unions, school districts negotiate in 'unprecedented' times

(Ed: Hey sports fans, I'm linking to today's articles about negotiations with teachers contracts, but I'm also posting the original article, which was broken into two for the print edition to work around our "no jumps" rule.)

Troubling economic times are leaving the future salaries of Minnesota’s teachers a bit lighter than during the past six years, according to negotiated contracts between school districts and teachers unions.

Minnesota’s public school districts and local teachers unions are currently negotiating two-year labor deals, which must be agreed to by Jan. 15. So far, 61 districts out of 341 have settled, leaving many, including the Rochester Education Association and Austin Education Association, still completing through their own contract talks.

While the number of districts still negotiating is higher than the last go-around in 2007 — at that time 81 districts had already settled — school districts and teachers unions have agreed to smaller raises than before.

The average settlement is coming out at about 1.1 percent for the first year, more than 50 percent less than the 2.41 percent than 2007-2008. Eight districts have agreed to two-year salary freezes, including southeastern Minnesota’s Zumbrota-Mazeppa.

Teachers there felt that increasing salaries would only lead to more job cuts, said high school teacher Kevin Nelson, who is also a member of Education Minnesota Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s negotiating team.
It wasn’t an easy decision.

“It boils down to there are ‘X’ amount of dollars to be spent. If you take a big raise, you’re going to be cutting teachers,” Nelson said. “For every dollar that we end up spending on salaries ... that means you’re going to be cutting some place.”

On Wednesday, the funding waters became murkier as state finance officials forecasted a $XX million/billion shortfall at the state level. Public school districts receive most of their funds from the state government.

The bleak funding picture has left an “unprecedented” degree of uncertainty entering the coming year, said Tom Dooher, president of Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union. Dooher, obviously concerned about  also said the state needs to correct what he called an inequitable funding system for school districts.

“I think we have to look at education as an investment,” Dooher said. “If we don’t make that investment, it’s going to be more difficult to retain and attract the best people.”

In Rochester, top-level administrators and Superintendent Romain Dallemand already waived salary increases for the current year. Other employee groups in Winona Area Public Schools agreed to freezes, too.

Officials from Rochester public schools and the Rochester Education Association wouldn’t release terms that have been floated so far. But in negotiations with other bargaining groups last year, it was believed that the school district first proposed terms that included a widespread wage freeze in the second year.

Whatever the terms this year, Rochester Education Association Kit Hawkins said the two sides are hopeful that a deal can be reached. She said they are willing to do “whatever it will take” to make sure the district isn’t penalized by the negotiations deadline, which would fine the school district $25 per student, or roughly $409,625.

Austin Superintendent of Schools David Krenz also was optimistic that a deal will be made between the district and Austin’s teachers. While funding problems have plagued school districts in the past, Krenz said people in all industries have been stretched thin economically.

“The tone (of negotiations) has been very much with that in mind,” Krenz said. “Our teachers understand that it’s not just schools (having trouble), but it’s the general public.”

Even still, Wednesday’s news won’t help matters.

Interviewed before Wednesday’s state budget estimate, Hawkins said the previous funding shortages in St. Paul haven’t helped matters. “When state leadership doesn't provide you with funding, it’s going to trickle down to the district,” Hawkins said.

LINK: Budget forecast leaves districts with 'unprecedented' uncertainty (article)
LINK: Negotiations could leave teachers feeling the freeze