It's Friday morning September 22, 2023. We just got off the phone with the Evergreen School District HR; Evergreen Teachers Association Union office; Camas School District HR and Battle Ground HR. We contacted Evergreen and Camas to get copies of the newly approved teachers contracts. Neither contract is published and there is no target date for publication. Both districts said that once the teachers have approved the contract the district must then go through a review process to correct any wording and formatting. The proposed final document then goes back to the Union with any revisions and then back to the district, rinse and repeat until it's approved by both parties. In the case of … [Read more...]
Battle Ground School District – compensation history 2016-2022
As the Battle Ground Teachers decide whether to strike or not it's appropriate to look at the changes to their compensation since McCleary. Please note the salary + benefits as well as the compensation growth vs inflation. Are your earnings growing faster than inflation? Do you earn more than the median in Clark County? Where will the school board get the nearly 17% increase? … [Read more...]
Battle Ground School District – November 2021 Levy: Fact Check
Well it seems that the social media services have been forcing a "fact check" on topics they deem worthy of attention. So, we thought we would take the same approach to the Battle Ground Levy. We'll link to the levy brochure the district created. Then we'll work our way through their claims and share our "fact checker" results. Most things are not black and white so we'll also explore the shades of gray. Here's a link to the brochure: https://www.battlegroundps.org/levy/ Before we get into the details please remember one thing. The last levy used a completely different system vs. the current levy. The old rate in the last levy was around $3.66/$1000. When the state raised property … [Read more...]
Southwest Washington School Board Races – November 2021
On November 2nd you will elect school board members across Southwest Washington State. These are four (4) year positions so the choices you make will have impact for years. There are a number of issues up for consideration during this election cycle. Where do the candidates stand on CRT? Common Core? CSE? Masks? Vaccination of children? Funding? These races are all non-partisan so political parties are not intended to be part of the discussion. However, there are some philosophical differences. Namely, are the candidates positions more liberal or conservative? Do they believe in the Feds/State telling parents what to do and how to do it or are they for local control and parental … [Read more...]
ESSER Fund (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund) Southwest Washington
Ok...this has been a long time coming and has been a challenge to assemble. We hope it's helpful. What is the ESSER money? It's a "slush" fund for districts to use. They received all the regular state and levy money PLUS this extra. Yes there are guidelines but it's a BIG 1 time bucket of money that will be used. Read the documentation for your school district then contact your Superintendent and School Board Directors and ask questions. Get details and see what you think. Congress set aside approximately $13.2 billion of the $30.75 billion allotted to the Education Stabilization Fund through the Coronavirus Aid Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for the Elementary and Secondary … [Read more...]
Battle Ground SD Covid Impact Update
It may be hard to get information from your school district as the school year starts regarding the impact of Covid. If you reach out to your district and can get information please share it with us so we can publish. In the case of Battle Ground we were provided some information that was sent out to employees of the district AND we took a look at the agenda for the Sept 13th school board meeting. So what do we know as the 2nd week of September at the BGSD? The following email was sent out to employees. No idea if parents received the same or not. It appears (see below) that there is link on the website showing cases since September 1st. Dear staff, We have been notified that … [Read more...]
Battle Ground School District Board of Director Candidates 2021
In November 2021 there are three (3) school board director positions open in the Battle Ground School District. Positions 1, 3 and 5. Today we bring you information on the candidates for those races that may be helpful as you decide who to vote for. In the case of Position 1 there are four (4) candidates who will participate in the August “Primary”. In Position 3 there are three (3) candidates listed and in Position 5 there are two (2) The two top vote getters in Positions 1 and 3 will move to the November election. District 5 has only 2 so they both move automatically to November. Please take the time to look into the candidates. We sent a list of ten (10) questions to each candidate … [Read more...]
Battle Ground SD: Grade 5-8 Sex Ed Committee – Investigative Report
On February 23, 2021, the BGSD sent an email to parents notifying them that there was an opportunity to serve on the “Sexual Health Community Advisory Group. An article ran in The Reflector on February 24th. Volunteers needed to sexual health advisory group | News | thereflector.com Applications closed on March 3rd. This group is tasked to review and make recommendations on the Sex Ed curriculum to be used for 5th through 8th graders. In this article we’ll share the public record requests we filed and provide the districts responses so you can review and come to your own conclusions. This is an investigative report designed to shine light on the process used to choose members of the working … [Read more...]
Battle Ground School District Levy is a “shell game” Vote No
Before you read this article or even look at the Battle Ground levy page please take the time to read the Clark County Elections page that offers the pros and cons as submitted: https://voter.votewa.gov/GenericVoterGuide.aspx?e=868&c=06#/measure/4922 Before we begin let's make sure we understand the levy rates and timings. In the brochure that was mailed out, as well as on the district website, it says the 2020 levy rate is $2.50. That's true. In August 2019 the School Board increased the levy from $1.50 to $2.50. However, that increase didn't show up until the Feb 2020 tax bills went out. In August 2020 budget the School Board fund request caused the levy rate to decline … [Read more...]
Battle Ground Teachers Union – New Contract – Update Jan 25th
Update January 25th 2021 - Received the teachers contract from the BGSD after filing a Public Record Request. The file is 63mb in size so be ready for a BIG download. Here it is: 2020-23 BGEA Contract Update Jan 20th - If you go digging on the Battle Ground Board Docs portion of the website you can find a copy of what the Board of Directors signed off on. Apparently it's till a the "printer" being cleaned up and finalized. If you want to sift through the contact here it is for your reading pleasure: 2020-23 BGEA Contract Clean up The Battle Ground Teachers contract ran out the end of August 2020. The bargaining process started earlier in the year and then seemed to stall. The … [Read more...]