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Politics & Government

No Contract Agreements Reached at Monday's Whitnall School Board Meeting

Negotiations are set to continue July 18.

The Whitnall School Board’s special meeting Monday produced no contract agreements, and the board decided further negotiations will not resume until July 18, weeks after Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 legislation takes effect. 

The board met with three separate groups representing district teachers, custodians and paraprofessionals to discuss contracts for the 2011-12 school year, but failed to reach a consensus with any one.

Walker’s bill, which has proven unpopular with unions statewide, was a major sticking point in conversations.

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Under the law, which takes effect June 30, Whitnall’s teachers would pay higher insurance premiums and make greater contributions to the Wisconsin Retirement System.

Greg Weyenberg, an American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin representative, said the Whitnall Area Federation of Teachers had agreed to these conditions. He urged the board, however, to approve new contracts before June 30, so employees could maintain collective bargaining rights for the academic year.

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“We want to work with you,” he said. “We’re offering you all the concessions the governor is asking for.”

He said other school districts he has represented, including Menasha, Hortonville and Brillion, had signed new contracts and that Whitnall could do the same.

But the board said it would only guarantee employees’ total base wages would not decrease. All contract conditions other than wages and duration will be placed “into an employee handbook in the form and manner as determined by the Whitnall School Board,” according to meeting documents.

Employees in the audience expressed concern over granting the School Board such control.

“We’re not aware of what our employment status will be,” said Diane Demshar, a Whitnall Middle School special aide. “We’re feeling uncertainty over the hours,” she said of her fellow paraprofessionals — a group that includes secretaries, kitchen workers, aides and special education instructors.

“We’ve got bills to pay,” said Carol Ziehler, president of the Whitnall Association of Paraprofessionals. “We’re part-time people.”

Board president Bill Osterndorf promised to work cooperatively with teachers and other employees, but also said people’s expectations need to be adjusted to match the realities of the new law.

“It’s been an extremely difficult time,” he said. “We have arrived at the place that the state has said we’ve arrived at. We need to live with the act the way it’s proposed.”

He also noted that tax-paying residents elect the board, and that it must respond to the constituency’s concerns.

“You know how frustrated I am,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what I think. What matters is what’s in the law.”

TJ Anderson, School Board treasurer, said it would be irresponsible to rush any process involving the 2011-12 school budget. The School Board has yet to receive even a preliminary budget from the state and therefore does not know how much money can be allocated to salaries, he said.

The board cannot sign contracts only to come up short on funding later, he said.

Anderson was reelected in April and said the number one sentiment from his constituency was to not pass contracts under the current collective bargaining law.

“It’s not our intent to sacrifice quality for our kids,” he said. “This is the most financially prudent way.”

He added there are a number of teachers supportive of Walker’s bill.

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