The Herricks Teachers Association has withdrawn a grievance it filed with the school district over elimination of parent conference days following Hurricane Sandy and the nor’easter last fall.
The district had required elementary school teachers to conduct the conferences during free time on school days before or after the daily class schedules with no additional compensation
According to a memorandum of agreement dated March 12 and released at last Thursday night’s Herricks school board meeting, the teachers association accepted a plan to arrange coverage for parent conferences as the need arises. Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth read the memorandum of agreement as stipulated in the agreement, but he, teachers association president Jane Morales and school board President Chirstine Turner all declined to comment on the withdrawn grievance.
“The district was left with a situation in which it was impossible to meet all of the provisions of the bargaining agreement,” Bierwirth wrote in denying the teachers’ grievance after a Dec. 12, 2012 hearing on their complaint.
The teachers association sought compensation at an hourly rate of $74.16 for teachers required to use lunch time, time before or after regular school hours, or time at home in conducting parent conferences in person or by phone.
The teachers appealed Bierwirth’s ruling to an arbitrator.
School officials said the conference days were eliminated to help offset the six classroom instruction days the district lost due to Hurricane Sandy and the snowstorm that followed it.
A copy of Birwirth’s denial of the grievance accompanied copies of the grievance withdrawal,
In Bierwirth’s decision, he wrote that the teachers association did not “acknowledge” a “package deal” that it had been offered when the conference days were eliminated. He said the district offered the teachers association leadership to pay teachers for 183 days, but only require them to work 182 days.
He said that the district’s offer also stated if one or two snow days occurred, teachers would not be required to make those days up.
“Accordingly, the quid pro quo for parent conferences was pay for at least one and up to three days,” Bierwirth wrote in his decision.
Bierwirth also wrote in his ruling that a suggestion from the teachers to shorten one of the elementary school instruction days was problematic because state education department regulations require a minimum of five hours for daily instructional or supervised study activities for grade school students.
Bierwirth said the district’s proposal was made after consulting with several people, including the teachers association leadership. The district, he said, chose what it considered the “most reasonable” solution.
“The grievance accepts the parts of the package it likes and rejects the part of the package it does not like ignoring the fact that doing so renders the whole package untenable,” Bierwirth wrote.
In response to a question at Thursday night’s meeting, Bierwirth said dealing with the teachers grievance cost the district approximately $7,000 in legal fees. He said the district and the teachers association split the $3,000 it cost for an arbitrator to hear the case.
