This time around, parents will not be wondering in late August if school will start on time.
Both the Snoqualmie Valley School District and the Snoqualmie Valley Education Association (SVEA, teachers union) announced this week that after 80 hours of negotiation, bargaining teams had reached a tentative agreement on the financial compensation package for a new 3-year contract.
According to the district’s summer newsletter, the Collective Bargaining process began in February and in addition to the tentative financial compensation agreement, teams also approved 19 contract changes and additions that SVEA said will benefit both teachers and students.
The Bargaining Teams will meet again on August 8th to finalize some contract language details and then on August 23rd SVEA members will meet in the MSHS Auditorium to vote on the new contract – a contract which is being recommended by the Bargaining Team.
The new 3-year contract runs 2016-2019 and marks a departure from teams bargaining until the last minute. In August 2013, the contract was still being negotiated in late August, not presented and approved by teachers until the day before school was scheduled to start.
According to SVEA website, this early agreement was made possible by an “Interest Based Bargaining structure” that the union entered into with the district over a year ago.
SVEA Bargaining Team included Lynn Bradwell, Chris Jackson, Freedom Johnson, Tony Manjarrez, and Nate Ziemkowski. The SVSD Bargaining Team included Jeff Hogan, Warren Hopkins, Rhonda Schmidt, Ryan Stokes, Ray Wilson,and Amy Wright.
Once ratified by SVEA members, the new contract will be presented to the school board for their approval.
