State OKs New Work Rules At ​“Local Charter”

New Haven got the OK to launch another experiment in how a teachers union can work with the school district to try out new ways of running schools.

The state Board of Education has approved a ​“staffing flexibility agreement” outlining new work rules for potential teachers at Elm City Montessori School, a ​“local charter” school that’s set to open next fall.

Meanwhile, New Haven’s teachers union and the school board are working towards an Oct. 17 deadline to settle a new teachers contract for the 2014 – 15 school year or else head to arbitration. Negotiations will test the direction of a nationally watched labor-management collaboration that began four years ago, when teachers ratified a landmark labor contract that paved the way for a school reform effort.

The ​“staffing flexibility agreement” outlines expectations for potential teachers at Elm City Montessori, which is set to open next September with 69 students aged 3 to 5. The idea for the school came from three New Haven moms frustrated with a lack of quality pre‑K. The state school board gave the proposal the OK in July to become the state’s only locally controlled charter school. Then it approved the staffing agreement at a full board meeting last Wednesday.

The agreement reflects the latest effort by New Haven’s teachers union to allow for flexibility within its contract to make way for new experiments in how schools are run. Teachers have already agreed to new work rules — such as longer school days and student-teacher lunches—at select few ​“turnaround” schools. At those schools, teachers who want to stay have to reapply for their jobs — and, in some cases, agree to work for an outside management company.

Like at New Haven’s other ​“turnaround” schools, the teachers at Elm City Montessori will all be part of the New Haven teachers union.

The state school board unanimously approved an agreement between the New Haven Federation of Teachers and the New Haven school board outlining work rules teachers must agree to if they want to work there. The new rules include:

• A longer school day. Elm City Montessori teachers will have to work 7.5 hours per day instead of the usual 6.5 hours.
• Lunch. Teachers must eat lunch with their students and supervise recess. They’ll still get their own 30-minute lunch period, unencumbered by other duties.
• Summer. With a principal’s approval, teachers can choose to keep working over the summer for up to 30 days to work with students, take workshops, develop curriculum, and visit families in their homes
• Certification. Teachers must be certified in the Montessori method.
• Family outreach. Teachers must respond to phone calls and emails from parents within 24 hours. And they must conduct two visits to students’ homes, up to six parent evenings, and three ​“social gatherings” every year.
• Salary. Teachers will get a 10 percent pay hike in exchange for the extra hours and duties.

Click here to read the full ​“staffing flexibility agreement.”

The agreement ​“keeps teachers protected, and still allows flexibility to run a unique program,” said Dave Low, a vice-president in the New Haven teachers union who is also a founding member of the charter school.

The agreement is made possible by a clause in the current teachers union contract, which expires June 30, 2014. The clause allowed for special rules for teachers at ​“turnaround” schools, failing schools tapped for overhaul. In striking the new ​“staffing flexibility agreement,” the teachers union agreed that teachers at Elm City Montessori would fall under the same rules for ​“turnarounds” under the current contract. At schools that become ​“turnarounds,” teachers have to reapply for their jobs. Those who don’t like the new rules are guaranteed placement at another school. That way, everyone who stays at the school does so voluntarily.

“We think it’s a good way to let teachers make common cause and come together around a unified vision of a school,” said Superintendent Garth Harries.

“We want to treat our teachers as professionals,” he continued. ​“If teachers want to come together around a particular set of work rules,” they should be free to do so.

So far, New Haven has overhauled six schools using flexibility in the new union contract: Brennan/Rogers, Barnard, Domus Academy, Wexler/Grant, Clemente, and High School in the Community.

Elm City Montessori represents new territory for the city’s school change drive. As the state’s only ​“local charter,” the school will be authorized by and funded by the New Haven school district, yet will gain curricular freedom by operating under its own charter. The state will kick in an extra $3,000 per pupil, as well as an undetermined amount of start-up money, in return for extra scrutiny: The school’s existence will depend on the state renewing its charter every five years. The state had two ​“local charter” schools in Hartford, which have closed; Elm City Montessori will be the first in the state under new legislation—click here to read more.

Harries said the staffing agreement is one of many pieces that need to fall into place before Elm City Montessori opens next fall. One major hurdle is funding. The school district won an $11 million federal grant last week that includes money for a magnet Montessori school; staff are now working to figure out if they can merge that proposal with the local charter school.

Labor Negotiations

Meanwhile, labor and management are working on hammering out a new contract for the roughly 1,800 members of the teachers union.

The current teachers contract, which runs from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2014, introduced major changes that cleared the way for Mayor John DeStefano’s school change drive. In addition to allowing for different work rules at school turnarounds, the contract brought about a new way of grading teachers based on how their students performed. Teachers have since reelected Dave Cicarella (pictured), the union president responsible for that agreement.

The two sides are currently working with a mediator, Marty Webber, to come to a new agreement. If they don’t settle by Oct. 17, the case will automatically go to binding arbitration, where both sides would submit proposals before a panel of arbitrators, who would decided the final package. The Oct. 17 deadline is set by state statute, based on when the schools budget is due.

Harries said the fact that the deadline is nearing does not indicate disagreement.

“I don’t think anybody’s feeling like we can’t agree,” he said. ​“We’re having a bunch of productive conversations.”

“The state has a bunch of arbitrary dates” governing the negotiations, Harries said. ​“We’ve got to hustle here. We’ve had a lot going on.”

“I’m pretty hopeful” that the two sides will reach an agreement before the arbitration deadline, said teachers union President Dave Cicarella.

Schools Chief Operating Officer Will Clark, who is negotiating on behalf of the school board, noted that the landmark agreement of 2009 was reached on a similar timeline. The ratification took place on Oct. 13, just before the deadline.

Clark said issues on the table include new ways of compensating teachers for taking on different roles.

The school district last year won a $53 million grant from the federal government to improve the way it grades, rewards and develops educators. The grant application called for naming up to 180 teachers as ​“teacher leaders,” with a $5,000 bonus to boot. So far, barely any money has been spent, besides a $160,000 for a teacher-leader boot camp. None of the grant money can be disbursed without Cicarella’s signature.

Teacher salaries work on a ​“step and lane” system. Teachers move up steps, from one to 15, based on how many years they have worked; and they move through different ​“lanes” according to what degree of education they have. Teacher salaries cost about $120 million in the current budget. Another average 3 percent salary increase, as teachers received this year, would cost over $3 million.

“We are amenable to looking at” changing salary schedules, Cicarella said.

Cicarella said other issues on the table in negotiations include the length of the school day; the responsibilities of non-teaching union members such as guidance counselors, school psychologists, and social workers; and class size. The current contract caps classes at 26 students for kindergarten to 2nd grade and 27 students for 3rd grade and up.

COO Clark said he’s hopeful about the labor talks.

“Both sides have approached this with a great deal of good faith,” he said. ​“The impact on the students is not far from anyone’s mind.”