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SUBFINDER
Professional Agreement Between
The Lincoln Public Schools and The Lincoln Education Association
2006 - 2008
| Table
of Contents | Article
I - Recognition | Article
II - Association Rights and Privileges | Article
III - Negotiations Procedures |
| Article IV - Grievance Procedure | Article
V - Conditions of Employment | Article
VI - Changes in Placement |
|
Article VII - Professional Appraisal | Article
VIII - Leaves from Duty | Article
IX - Compensation | Article
X - Incentive Pay |
| Article XI - Mileage Reimbursement | Article
XII - Fringe Benefits | Article
XIII - Part-Time Employees | Article XIV - Professional Committee |
| Appendix A - 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Salary Schedules |
Appendix B - Grievance Form | Appendix C - Pay Dates for 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 |
ARTICLE III
NEGOTIATIONS PROCEDURES
3-1 Negotiations shall be conducted as follows:
a. No later than January 1, 2008, the Board agrees to enter into negotiation procedures set forth here in a good faith effort to reach an agreement concerning certificated employees’ salaries, terms and conditions of employment and other items which have economic impact on certificated employees. The Board and Association shall meet to provide the Association the opportunity to explain its proposals.
b. The Board and the Association mutually agree that their representatives will hold all necessary authority to make and consider proposals and concessions in the course of negotiating, subject to ratification by the Board and Association.
c. LEA staff and the LPS Supervisor of Employee Relations shall jointly develop data including, but not limited to, current staff schedule placement, cost projection model, comparability study and other such data as shall be deemed useful in the negotiations process. This data shall be shared by LPS and LEA. No data jointly developed shall be released to the press except by joint agreement.
d. During negotiations, the two teams will generally use an interest based bargaining model to explore interests and develop options to meet those interests.
e. Either party may utilize the services of outside consultants and may call upon professional or laypersons to assist negotiations.
f. Negotiations will be conducted in closed sessions except the press will be allowed to be present at the initial negotiation presentations by both negotiations teams, unless otherwise agreed.
g. Prior to the declaration of an impasse, the parties shall consider other alternatives to resolve the issues (e.g., a federal mediator). Should an impasse be declared, the parties shall resolve the impasse as provided in the statutes.
a. The agreement shall be reduced to writing, submitted to the Board and Association for ratification, and following ratification, shall be signed by the parties
b. This agreement shall constitute the full and complete commitments between both parties and may be altered, changed, added to, deleted from, or modified only through the mutual consent of the parties in written and signed amendments to this agreement.
c. The Board of Education shall take no action nor allow the establishment of any administrative practices that are inconsistent with the provisions of this agreement.
d. If any provision of this Agreement or any application of the Agreement to any employee or group of employees shall be found contrary to law, then such provisions or application shall not be deemed valid and subsisting except to the extent permitted by law, but all other provisions or applications shall continue in full force and effect.
e. Copies of this agreement entitled “Professional Agreement Between the Lincoln Public Schools and the Lincoln Education Association” shall be printed at Board expense upon signatures by both parties and shall be made available to all certificated employees.
f. This agreement shall become effective for certificated staff on the first day of their contract for the 2006-2007 school year and continue through the 2007-2008 school year and shall remain in full force and effective until amended.
In the event that either judicial action, legislative action, a levy election, or the petition process results in changes in the Constitution or current statutes changing the funding available to Lincoln Public Schools, either party may reopen this contract for the purposes of modifying the salary and fringe benefits during the term of this contract.
ARTICLE
IV
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
a. A grievance is defined as an alleged violation or misapplication of any specific provision of this agreement. All such allegations shall be grievable through all steps of the grievance process as set out in this agreement.
b. Claims of a violation of Board policy, State Statute, administrative directives or regulations which affect employees’ work, shall be grievable through Step 3 of the process described herein. Any such grievances which remain unresolved after Step 3 may be appealed to the Board of Education, which shall act in a timely fashion to arrange a hearing before the Board. Such claims are not arbitrable.
c. Employee shall mean a member of the bargaining unit.
d. Days shall mean working days exclusive of Saturday, Sunday, or official holidays during the contract year for certificated employees.
a. Compliance - Employees of the school district will follow all verbal and written directives from supervisors. Compliance with such directives will not in any way prejudice their right to file a grievance within the time limits contained herein, nor shall it affect the ultimate resolution of the grievance.
b. No Reprisals - The Board shall use every means at its disposal to assure every employee the unobstructed use of this grievance procedure without fear of reprisal or prejudice to his/her employment status.
c. Time Limits - Since it is important that a grievance be processed as rapidly as possible, the number of days indicated at each level shall be considered as a maximum, and every effort should be made to expedite the process. The time limit specified may, however, be extended by mutual written agreement of the grievant and the employer.
If a grievance is filed which might not be finally resolved under the time limits set forth herein prior to the end of the school year, and which, if left unresolved until the beginning of the following school year could result in irreparable harm to a grievant, the time limit set forth herein will be reduced to the extent possible so that the grievance procedure may be concluded prior to the end of the school year, or as soon thereafter as is practicable.
d. Failure to Meet Time Limits - The failure of the aggrieved party to proceed to the first or any subsequent step of this grievance procedure within the time limits set forth shall be deemed to mean the party elected not to file a grievance or has accepted the response previously rendered, and shall constitute a waiver on any future appeal concerning the particular grievance. The failure of any administrator at any step to communicate his/her decision to the aggrieved party within the specified time limit shall permit the aggrieved party to proceed to the next step.
e. Communication - All communications concerning the grievance, after the grievance is formally submitted, shall be in writing.
f. Adjustments - No adjustment shall be made in any grievance which is in conflict with, or contrary to, the provisions on any policies, applicable laws, or administrative regulations.
g. Forms - Forms for filing grievances shall be attached to this agreement as Appendix B.
h. Meetings - All meetings and hearings under this procedure shall be conducted in private and shall include only such parties in interest and their designated or selected representatives heretofore referred to in this article.
i. No Interference - Grievances should be processed in a manner which does not interfere with the employee’s work and the normal operation of the schools.
j. Representation Assistance - The employee may have a representative of the Association present at all levels of the grievance procedure.
k. Withdrawal of a Grievance - The grievant may withdraw the grievance at any step of the procedure.
Step 1
If unsuccessful in an informal attempt with the immediate supervisor to resolve the dispute, the aggrieved party shall present the grievance in writing to the immediate supervisor within twenty (20) days of the occurrence. The grievance shall be written on the standard grievance form. The immediate supervisor, the aggrieved party, and the Association Representative shall meet in an attempt to settle the dispute within five (5) days. The immediate supervisor shall provide the aggrieved party with a written answer to the grievance within five (5) days after such meeting.Step 2
If satisfactory settlement is not reached in Step 1, the aggrieved party must, within five (5) days of the receipt of the Step 1 response, appeal the grievance to the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources. The Associate Superintendent for Human Resources, the Supervisor of Employee Relations, the aggrieved party, the aggrieved party’s immediate supervisor, and the Association representative shall meet within five (5) days in an attempt to resolve the dispute. A written response must be given by the Assistant Superintendent within five (5) days after such a meeting.Step 3
If a satisfactory settlement is not reached in Step 2, the aggrieved party must appeal the grievance to the Superintendent of Schools within five (5) days of receipt of the Step 2 response. The Superintendent shall conduct a hearing with the aggrieved party and the Association Representative within five (5) days of the receipt of the grievance. A written response will be given by the Superintendent within five (5) days following the hearing.Step 4
If a satisfactory settlement is not reached in Step 3, the Association may, within ten (10) days after the response at Step 3, submit the grievance to arbitration by submitting to the Superintendent a joint request form for a list of seven (7) arbitrators to be supplied by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), American Arbitration Association (AAA), or other mutually acceptable parties. Within ten (10) working days of receipt of said form, the Superintendent shall direct the request as a joint request to the FMCS unless another such service has been agreed to by the parties. Within ten (10) working days of receipt of the list of arbitrators, the Executive Director of the Association and the Superintendent or their Designated Representatives shall select an arbitrator by alternately crossing out names until only one (1) remains. Either party may elect to reject the first panel.
The arbitrator shall be limited in making the determination as follows:
a. The arbitrator shall have no power or authority to add to, subtract from, change, modify, or alter in any way the provisions of this Agreement, or impose on any party hereto a limitation or obligation not explicitly provided for in this Agreement.
b. The arbitrator shall have no power to change any practice, policy, or rule of the Board, nor to substitute the arbitrator’s judgment for that of the Board as to the reasonableness of any such practice, policy, or rule.
c. Thirty (30) calendar days after the receipt by the Superintendent and the Executive Director of the arbitrator’s award, the decision of the arbitrator shall become final unless it has been specifically overturned by the Board of Education at an official meeting of the Board.
d. All fees and expenses of the arbitrator and other hearing expenses, including stenographer fees, printed transcripts, and published briefs and decision, shall be borne equally by the parties. The grievant shall suffer no loss of pay or benefits which may be due for attendance at hearings conducted during normal school hours. Substitute costs for up to two witnesses who are called by the LEA to testify at arbitration hearings conducted during normal school hours shall be shared equally by the LEA and the Board if the witness is a member of the bargaining unit. All other expenses including salaries of any other witnesses called before the arbitrator shall be borne by the party calling such witnesses or incurring such expenses.
4-5 Group Grievance Procedures
If, in the judgment of the Association, a grievance affects a group, or class of employees, or rights of the Association as set forth in this Agreement, the Association may submit such grievance initially at Step 2.
If in the judgment of the employee, or the Association in the case of an Association or group grievance, the alleged grievance cannot be resolved at the building level due to the administrator not having the authority to resolve the grievance, the certificated employee may submit such grievance to the Supervisor of Employee Relations with a copy to the building principal. Within two (2) days of receipt of the grievance, the Supervisor of Employee Relations shall review whether the building administrator has the authority to resolve the alleged grievance and, will either remand the grievance to the building for a Step 1 hearing or shall forward the grievance to the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources for processing at the Step 2 level.
