Good News!

As you may recall, in our negotiations with the administration last year and during the summer, we sought to enable NESPA members to elect a representative to their schools' Leadership Teams. At the time, the administration would not agree to this addition to our Collective Bargaining Agreement. They argued that the Leadership Teams are a creation of the NSEA-District Collective Bargaining Agreement, and they agreed to meet with NESPA, NSEA, and NEOPA together to discuss what to do.

As a result of these discussions, NSEA, NESPA, and NEOPA and the District administration have agreed to a process by which the certificated staff (NSEA members) at each school can choose to vote to modify their contract to permit the NESPA and NEOPA members to elect one joint representative to the school's Leadership Team.

Essentially, certificated staff (NSEA members) would need to vote by a 90% margin (or 80% if accommodations are made to those who don't agree) to waive Article 17.4 of their contract. Article 17.4 defines who is on each Leadership Team. Currently, classified staff are not included on the Leadership Team unless the certificated staff have submitted a waiver. (Woodinville High School and Woodmoor Elementary are schools that have long had a representative of the NESPA staff on their Leadership Teams.)

If NSEA members wish to vote on this waiver, a vote is conducted by the NSEA Building Reps and the Principal. (There is no requirement that this be considered and voted on, however, NSEA members would need to initiate this. Generally, waiver requests are initiated by the NSEA Building Reps or the school's Leadership Team, though any NSEA member can initiate a waiver.) Only NSEA members vote on the issue of waiving a portion of the NSEA contract. The NSEA staff is also free to modify this waiver request, that is, to customize it. However, if it is changed, it would need approval by NSEA and the administration.

If the NSEA staff vote for this waiver by the margins specified above, "...the NESPA Building Communicator and the NEOPA Building Representative shall jointly conduct a fair election process, including open nominations and secret balloting by NESPA and NEOPA bargaining unit members." Those are the only conditions. Together with the NEOPA Building Rep., you'd decide how to conduct this fair election for the school's Leadership Team, to begin next year. (You are free to consult with us on ideas for how to do this, if you wish. There is not "one right way". By "open nominations", we mean any process that enables any NESPA or NEOPA member to be nominated or self-appointed---not a process of self-selection or appointment by the Principal to the Leadership Team.)

The role of the Leadership Team (technically called the Site Decision Making Leadership Team) is important. They make many important decisions for the school. They are a decision-making team, not an input or advisory team. If your certificated staff agree to this waiver of Article 17.4 of their contract, and you are going to conduct an election for a NESPA/NEOPA representative, be sure that the NESPA members get a copy of the full Article 17, so they understand what the Leadership Team does.

If you think it's a good idea for NESPA and NEOPA members to have representation on your school's Leadership Team, talk with the NSEA Building Reps at your school, or your school's Leadership Team---or other NSEA members---to encourage them to proceed with this. (If you don't know who the NSEA Building Reps are, just ask a teacher.)

Keep in mind that there is nothing you have to do unless the NSEA staff vote for this waiver. However, you are free to communicate your wishes to others, and to encourage your colleagues who are NSEA members to proceed with this.

At this time, we are unsure if there is a June 8 deadline for all of this. We should be able to clarify this later this week, and Kraig will email us.