Teachers, Citizens Plead for Collaboration on Employee Handbook

The end of collective bargaining sent the Shorewood School Board into uncharted territory Thursday, and the first public discussion about a new employee handbook received plenty of scrutiny from teachers and citizens.

The handbook will replace the teachers union contract, which expired June 30. It will define teacher compensation and district policies, which previously were part of a negotiation between the district and union. Under the recently enacted Act 10, negotiation is limited to wages.

About 25 teachers and citizens attended Thursday’s meeting and pleaded with the board to work with teachers on the handbook. Union leaders put out a call for action in a public letter previous to Thursday's meeting saying the district had no desire to collaborate with its teachers.

"We moved to Shorewood much in part because of the schools, and it is our expectation that the same quality continues," Shorewood resident Sam Froiland said at Thursday's meeting. "But it won't continue if you don't have a positive relationship with your staff."

School officials presented a working draft of the handbook on Thursday. The district worked off a template provided by Wisconsin's Cooperative Educational Service Agency (CESA), but some community members said there are too many gray areas, and the old contract should instead be the template.

"This document really needs a huge comb over," said Pablo Muirhead, a Shorewood resident.

Others at the meeting said the document leaves teachers vulnerable. Without a contract, teachers become at-will employees, meaning they can be terminated without cause.

Shorewood High School political science teacher John Jacobson cited innovations such as a systemic teaching approach in the math department and the birth of the high school's watershed wisdom course, a class where students write about their thoughts while experiencing the Milwaukee River. He said he has always felt empowered to experiment in the classroom.

"There is some stuff in here that may effect the way I teach, I can't promise it won't," Jacobson said. "What I felt welcomed to do with political theory was a result of academic freedom."

School Board member Michael Mishlove said if he were to compare the handbook to the previous contract, he'd only find minor changes and none that should alter how teachers approach lesson plans.

"If you ask me, it doesn't change how teachers approach teaching," Mishlove said.

The handbook does outline state-mandated contributions to pension plans (5.8 percent of salary, up from zero) and health care premiums (12.6 percent, up from 7 for a family plan and 4 for a single plan). In addition, teachers who opt out of the health care plan would receive $5,000 instead of $6,000.

District secretaries and custodial staff are still under contract, with deals expiring 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Some challenged changes to the district grievance policy, calling it unfair to district teachers. Teachers use the grievance process to dispute termination, discipline and safety.

For the most part, the procedure for filing a grievance will follow the same basic steps as it always has, School Board President Paul Zovic said at a previous meeting — that's until an appeal reaches the School Board. While educators used to be able to challenge a School Board decision with arbitration through the union, now the board gets the final say.

"The grievance procedure is a joke," Shorewood resident Mike Plaisted said. "Shorewood...should create a handbook that respects their employees and doesn't insult them like this does."

Superintendent Blane McCann took note of some issues that board members had with the document, and will address those. Then the district will meet with the labor union and hear its concerns on the working document, which McCann will then bring back to the board. Zovic said the district doesn't expect to have a finalized handbook by the beginning of the school year.

"It's going to be a document that works for the district," Zovic said. "It should be reflective of the values of the community. Something that is fair. It's our job as board members to make this right."