Kent School District teachers checked into the Sept. 10 board meeting to voice their concerns about union negotiations over teacher evaluations that will be set up in light of the state’s evaluation guidelines following the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
“We were making our point that these things are very important to us,” said Kent Education Association President Cindy Prescott. “So far the bargaining team had not made movements that these things need to go into the final proposal.”
The evaluation criteria was an item left open in negotiations from the KEA’s 2013 contract, and the teachers wanted the board and district to know how important it was that three issues be addressed in the contract.
Item one, Prescott said, was proof and information that principals were qualified and trained for the process, and that way teachers could better understand what principals were looking for.
“We want some assurance that our principals are trained and can evaluate teachers,” Prescott said.
She also noted that teachers want additional compensation for the evaluation process, which is time consuming and requires a large amount of metrics and data collection, including proving that students have made progress in the class over the year.
Finally, the union wants to have more time set aside for professional development so that teachers can learn not only how to improve student success, but also complete evaluations on student progress.
The new state system under the NCLB states that teachers can choose how to examine student growth, Prescott said, but the former system lacked a student growth component entirely. Addressing this and other issues with the new evaluations are key issues for the KEA, and Kent teachers want to make sure that they are covered in their union contract, and that they have the funding to make it happen.
“The state comes in and says you will do this, and so much of this is an unfunded mandate. If we want to do it and do it well, it needs to be funded,” Prescott said.
“This is another soup of potatoes and gravy on our plate, and none of the peas being removed.”
The KEA has created a tentative agreement and sent it to its membership for a vote, after which it will be presented to the KSD for further negotiation.
The district hasn’t commented on the negotiation process itself. An email from district spokesman Chris Loftis said that “commenting on specific components of the discussion would be a disservice to all parties involved.”
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