Last Wednesday, I held a meeting members of Unit A - Teachers to provide an update on negotiations. The contract expired on August 31st. I reviewed the timeline of negotiations, some things that have gotten away, mainly COVID, and how things had progressed thus far. It is no surprise that the two big ticket items are salary/steps and health insurance.

During the meeting, the membership present approved the following motion:

All members covered under the current teachers' contract drop all district and schoolwide committees on October 1st and authorize the Board of Directors of the NTU to call for additional actions by the NTU members if a successor agreement is not reach with the Board of Education at the September 30th negotiations session.

There have already been some questions about what this means. This applies to any district or school committee that meets outside of your contractual day. If it is held during your school day, you can be required to attend by your principal. The motion does not apply to your 15 faculty meetings that are a contractual obligation. It also does not apply to new teacher cohorts as those are also contractual obligations. The meetings referenced in the motion include things such as steering committees, Professional Development Master Plan Committee, Teacher Development and Evaluation Committee, and other such committees that you volunteer for that fall outside of your contractual day. If you have any questions on this, please speak to one of your building representatives.

As things progress, I will provide updates through the Monday Morning Message, or if urgent, through the Board of Directors via email.