Winni School District under the gun

Needs new teacher contract by Aug. 22

The Winnisquam Regional School District says that if voters are not allowed to vote on the monetary portion of a new two-year teachers contract before the end of the summer there will be “certain harm” to students in the district’s schools.

Attorney John F. Teague, who represents the district, has prepared a petition that will ask the Belknap County Superior Court for permission to hold the "emergency" special district meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 22 so voters can consider funding the new collective bargaining agreement before next March. But he admits that there’s no guarantee that the court will grant the request.

By law, the district must convince the court than a true "emergency" exists that cannot wait until the next annual meeting.

“Some years ago the legislature decided to put pressure on public employers and employees so there wouldn’t be these last minute agreements before school district and town meetings so they set budget preparations dates,” Teague explained. “The idea was to have your collective bargaining agreement in place before the rest of your budget preparations. So the date was for February 1 and, in this case, negotiations were at an impasse at that time. The parties (the Winnisquam Regional School Board and the Winnisquam Regional Teachers Association, the teachers union) finally reached agreement in June, way after February 1.

“Some judges have been fairly rigid about applying that date, saying basically ‘you’re too late, too bad,’” the lawyer said. “That’s why in doing my petition I argued for the special circumstances in this case. Some are related to (the federal) No Child Left Behind law and there are various other reasons.”

But if the court turns down the petition, the district would have no choice but to appeal to the NH Supreme Court. And if the district loses there, there would be no option but to “wait until next year" to approve and fund the agreement.

The results of that could be disastrous for the students, according to Teague’s petition. The district “lacks the tax base of other districts in the area and has difficulty, even with a contract, attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel,” it reads. “The district has one of the lowest teacher pay scales in the area, which has one of the lowest pay scales in the state, which has one of the lowest pay scales in the country... The lack of a contract for 2007-2008 exacerbates this situation and will inevitably mean the loss of more experienced teachers and great difficulty in attracting new replacements.”

The district also has one of the highest dropout rates in the state, Teague wrote, ranking 12th from the highest in 2004-2005.

In addition, Winnisquam Regional Middle School has failed to make “adequate yearly progress” under the No Child Left Behind law three years in a row. “On August 28, the district will learn whether the middle school has missed this mark for the fourth year. Should that happen, the law requires that a corrective action sanction be applied to the school such as instituting a new curriculum requiring even more staff involvement and cooperation. The lack of a Collective Bargaining Agreement will make it more likely that the action plan will fail.”

“In the fall of 2007 the Winnisquam Regional High School will be assessed as to whether it meets the criteria for accreditation,” the petition notes. “This effort requires extensive participation by leadership teams composed of teachers and administrators. Without a contract, this necessary task may become extremely difficult, if not impossible, to perform.”

The court request also notes that the NH Department of Education adopted new standards for reading and mathematics in 2005 and new standards for science and social studies last year. “This district has defined gaps in the district’s curriculum materials which are necessary to fill in order to meet the new standards. The work includes teachers who volunteer time beyond their contracted workday to adjust lessons for each individual student. This work can consume at least three or four hours per week per teacher a, most of it done at home or on weekends. Again the lace of a contract could result in the failure to meet these new curriculum standards.”

Teague concludes by arguing that while the contract settlement deadlines set by the legislature are a good idea, if they “frustrate the ability of the district to provide an adequate education then… it is unconstitutional.”

Last year the union and the district agreed on a three-year contract covering all employment conditions — except for pay. They finally agreed on a three-percent raise for the 2006-07 school year but were unable to come to terms on a figure for the next two years. The current contract expired June 30.

The two groups met nine separate times between Nov. 2006 and Feb. 2007, and at that time the union declared that the negotiations were at an impasse. In May, the parties agreed to mediation and by the end of the month they agreed on a tentative deal. It calls for a total $377,584 increase for this coming school year and $325,416 for the 2008-09 year; the deal also includes another $377,584 for regular pay and estimated benefit cost increases.

District officials estimate that the total tax impact of this year’s portion of the deal will be .25 per $1,000 of property value in Sanbornton, .50 in Northfield and .07 in Tilton.

But the district has some hurdles to get over before it gets there, Teague pointed out. First, the deal has to be approved by the state Department of Revenue Administration because it’s related to taxes. If the state agency has no major problems with the idea, Teague will submit the district’s request for a special meeting to the Superior Court later this month. If the court grants the petition, a hearing will be held before the new Winnisquam Regional School District Budget Committee voters approved in March.

The committee could vote to recommend or not recommend the contract and voters would then have their say at the special district meeting, tentatively set for Aug. 22.