Columbia Tribune
By CATHERINE MARTIN
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
After months of discussion and disagreement from teacher groups over the direction of a collective bargaining policy, the Columbia Board of Education decided last night to hold off on a decision and instead create a more customized policy.
No district policy is in place for collective bargaining. But in 2007, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that public employees, including teachers and educational support staff, have a constitutional right to collective bargaining, a negotiation process used to reach agreements on work conditions, benefits and other issues.
The school district’s policy committee began seriously discussing a policy in the spring with a plan to vote on it in the fall. Superintendent Chris Belcher recommended a policy from the Missouri School Boards’ Association that called for exclusive representation, deeming it the safest route legally. When the policy came up for discussion at last night’s meeting, board member Jonathan Sessions made a motion to send the proposal back to the policy committee for discussion.
“The reason I’m making this motion is purely because I think we have a lot of confusion. … The board received an email just today from someone who truly didn’t understand what’s going on. That’s just one concern,” Sessions said. “The other concern is that we can do better than this. We can have a custom policy that is for Columbia rather than just taking one of two options off the shelf.”
Board member Michelle Pruitt quickly seconded Sessions’ motion.
“I think it’s just an example of the fact that … this is a process,” Pruitt said. “I think it’s very good to look carefully at the process. It’s something that’s being done externally to the district that we have to react to, but we need to make sure our process is the best one for our district.”
The board voted 6-1 to table the motion, with board President Tom Rose opposing. Before the vote, Belcher asked permission to employ outside legal counsel to help the district craft its own policy.
The presidents of Columbia’s two teacher organizations said the decision wasn’t a surprise. Columbia Missouri State Teachers Association President Kari Schuster, whose organization opposed the exclusive-representation policy Belcher recommended, said she and CMSTA were pleased with the decision to discuss the issue more.
“I hope they will take input from both teacher organizations and will get an outside legal source to look to for advice,” Schuster said. “I think there’s been a lot of confusion … and this gives them time to go back and educate the masses.”
CMSTA still opposes a policy involving a binding contract with one agency, which would be “harmful to the district in many ways,” Schuster said, but hopes the policy committee will find a compromise.
The Columbia Missouri National Education Association also is willing to compromise, President Susan McClintic said, but would have preferred the board approve Belcher’s recommended policy. CMNEA has been asking the district to adopt an exclusive-representation policy for years, McClintic said.
“It’s not choosing any group, it’s not choosing a right, it’s not choosing anything except to create a process,” she said.
CMNEA wouldn’t support any policy that allows bargaining with multiple representatives, McClintic said, because it is “unconstitutional.”
The district’s policy committee will meet at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 31 at the board office, 1818 W. Worley St.
The board also approved a new technology plan, art and music curriculum and a modified bullying policy.
Reach Catherine Martin at 573-815-1711 or e-mail cmartin@columbiatribune.com.
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