CPS Teacher Update: Version One Moves On

After months of collective bargaining debate, the Policy Committee for Columbia Public Schools announced it will take up a revised copy of Version One to the Board of Education. Version One states that teachers will choose one group to represent all teachers. It is know as the Exclusive Representation Model. Two groups that would likely petition to be on the ballot are the Columbia Missouri National Educator's Association (CMNEA) and the Columbia Missouri State Teacher's Association (CMSTA). Those are the two teacher groups that sit in on the "meet and confer" method CPS has right now.

Here's a story I did on the latest information with Version One.

Like I said though in the last blog, last spring the district got a letter from CMNEA President Susan McClintic. Then, she asked the district to start the collective bargaining process. They looked at it earlier on in the school year, and since then, Version One has been reviewed by the Board while Version Two has not. Version One is supported by the CMNEA. McClintic has been quick in the past to say that just because one group would represent the teachers in collective bargaining, it doesn't mean the other group wouldn't have a say.

 Version Two is known as the Multiple Representation Model. Version Two states that first teachers would choose whether they want an exclusive or multiple representation. If teachers were to vote for an exclusive model, then teachers would choose which group they'd want to represent them just like they do in Version One. If the teachers were to choose Multiple Representation, CPS could go back to the way it's doing things now, where both teacher groups are discussed in salaries, benefits, and even working conditions. Version Two is supported by the CMSTA and their president Kari Schuster.

This revised edition of Version One will be first read once again at the December board meeting. It has already been first read but two board meetings ago, school board member Jonathan Sessions sent Version One back down to committee. It will be interesting to see whether or not the Board will vote on this revised edition. They were set to vote on it in October before Sessions made his motion. The Board could vote on it during their second review of the model, and that could be as early as January. If the Board were to vote and approve it, you'd start to see both the CMSTA and the CMNEA petition to get their names on the ballot before too long. Each group would have to get at least 30 percent of the CPS teachers to sign on for their group in order to be on the ballot.

School Board Member Jonathan Sessions

Collective Bargaining Brought Back Up

Susan McClintic and Kari Schuster are heads of the Columbia Missouri National Educator's Association and the Columbia Missouri State Teacher's Association respectively. The two disagree with how teachers in the Columbia Public School District should be represented. This has been an ongoing process for the past three years that McClintic and the CMNEA have tried to get changed. Right now, CPS has a 'meet and confer' type representation policy, where members from both the CMNEA and the CMSTA share their feelings on salaries, benefits, and working conditions.

 Susan McClintic, CMNEA

Right now, the way CPS handles this is up in the air. Last spring, McClintic sent a letter to Superintendent Chris Belcher, asking him to start the process of a vote for collective bargaining. McClintic supports Version One, an exclusive representation model where one group is supposed to represent all teachers. Teachers in the district would vote for one teacher group they'd like to represent them, whether that be the CMNEA, the CMSTA, or any other group that makes it on the ballot. All the while, McClintic has been trying to tell people that just because only one group would represent teachers, the other side would be represented too. The other group, disagrees.

Kari Schuster, CMSTA

Kari Schuster of the CMSTA supports Version Two. She's worried the district would only get one group's opinion if the district went with Version One. Version Two first allows teachers to vote whether they want single representation, multiple representation, or no representation at all. If the teachers voted for single representation, then teachers could vote for which group represents them. If teachers voted for multiple representation though, the district could go back to its 'meet and confer' method if it wanted.

Right now, the board has not decided whether they like one version more than the other. The board had first looked over just Version One, and they still have not looked over Version Two as a group. However, Version One got knocked back down to the same level when school board member Jonathan Sessions asked that Version One not be reviewed now either. Now, the district can bring up Version Two, Version One, or a completely different version if it chooses. This is a story completely different from another big issue going on right now in CPS, the school's boundary scenarios with new Battle High. The stories seem to just keep coming out.

Here's a story I did after Sessions sent Version One back down.

Learning From My Mistakes

It's a subject I've been trying to cover for more than half a year now...the Columbia Public School District. Ever since I was told to pick a beat in my reporting class, I've tried to do education stories. After all, it is the thing I'm most interested in as a reporter. I'm not sure why I love education so much. Maybe it's because I just got out of high school, and I know the types of struggles teachers go through and the types of administrative decisions principals have to make. For whatever the reason, it's something I've tried to get fairly involved in.

The school boundary scenarios is probably the biggest school story I've ever covered. After all, this story affects more than just teachers. It affects most parents in the city of Columbia. When you've got an issue that affects people in that big of a way, you know it's going to be a big story. The redistricting of school boundaries is always going to be a controversial issue. It happened when I was a senior in the North Kansas City School District. It was something I tried to stay on top of because I also love geography. I guess that's another reason why doing a story on the school district boundaries was a perfect fit for me.

North Kansas City School District

It soon became a challenge though and one that wasn't easy to get through. I thought I had a really good story on the Thornbrook neighborhood worried about their kids not going to Rock Bridge. However, that was not in Columbia Public School's plans. Neither scenario A, B, or C had Thornbrook in the Hickman school district. It was all in the Rock Bridge. So when the day came that Columbia Public Schools announced its three scenarios, I wasn't really planned for what came to be. I started to think. I had shot an entire story based around the worries of one neighborhood. It turns out, they had nothing to worry about. However, I wasn't about to give up the story yet.

 Thornbrook neighborhood

That turned out to be a bad idea though. I pressed Don Ludwig, Committee Chair of the Redistricting Committee. He was not happy with me to say the least. I kept asking him questions about the Thornbrook neighborhood because that's what my story was going to be based around. After the interview though and taking a step back, I realized I can't do a story on rumors. Rumors cannot be proven. Therefore, you don't know what's true and what's false. Basically, if I wanted to do that story, it needed to be done before CPS released their boundary scenarios. I think it would have been a really good story, but it no longer can be done.

 Don Ludwig

To sum things up, there was no reason for me to press Ludwig on Thornbrook. I need to learn when to stop pushing people, and I have not done that yet. Basically, do not push people unless you have to. I could have burned some bridges in CPS that I really did not have to. Before I did the interview, I should have taken a step back and realized what I was doing. If I had done that, I might not have made the mistake I did.

What do you think? Am I on the right track by taking a step back? Leave me a comment.

Hickman Parents Raise Their Concerns

Monday, November 1st was the first night of Columbia Public School's planned public forums to receive input on the school's redistricting options. As many Columbians know, Battle High School will open in 2013 to grades 9-11. It will have been the first high school built since Rock Bridge in the 1970's for CPS. As this happens, many people are venting out their frustrations but also trying to figure out where their son or daughter will be going to go to school. Monday's open house was at Hickman High School, a school on the north side of town, one that many feel has been overshadowed since Rock Bridge came along.

The biggest concern I got from parents at tonight's meeting was that kids at Battle will not be given the same opportunities that kids from Rock Bridge get. That's the because in plan A, nearly half of Battle's kids would qualify for free and reduced lunch in 2013 (if there was a senior class going there.) Approach B is basically the same. Approach C has 45% of Battle kids qualifying for free and reduced lunch in the same scenario. Those stats alone triggered an onslaught of questions from the crowd.

                                                      Battle High School under construction

The committee, led by Don Ludwig,  was peppered with questions about whether or not that was fair. Most of the gallery didn't think so. You compare that to Rock Bridge High School, who would have just 21% of its students qualify for free and reduced lunch in plan A, and you have nearly a 30% difference. The difference is big, but Thursday will be a very interesting night as well. Thursday, parents will be able to voice their opinions again on this matter. This time...at Rock Bridge. Everyone will be waiting to hear if free and reduced lunch is the big topic on everyone's mind there, or if it will be a transportation issue of moving kids all around town.

Folks, this is one of the hottest topics in Columbia right now, and it will continue to be until February when the board is supposed to approve one of the plans. By the way, to see where you live in Columbia and what school your child is supposed to go to under the three scenarios...click here.