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...]
Should local teachers union contract negotiations with school boards be held in public?
Should negotiations between local teachers unions and school boards be made public or continue to be hidden in the back room? Recently we contacted the Battle Ground School Board and asked for copies of the negotiation proposals in the current contract discussions with the Battle Ground Teachers Union. After 10 days we got a simple letter that said: "Per your public records request dated June 9, 2017, requesting information regarding BGEA negotiations with the school board on their contract, we are providing you with the following response: The records you requested are protected through RCW 4256.280 "Preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, and intra-agency memorandums in which … [Read more...]