Student representative Nancy Diaz Sanchez takes the oath of office at the Aug. 22 meeting to officially begin duties as a Student Representative to the school board.
Student representative Kylee Rose takes the oath of office at the Aug. 22 meeting to officially begin duties as a Student Representative to the school board.
Student representative Nancy Diaz Sanchez takes the oath of office at the Aug. 22 meeting to officially begin duties as a Student Representative to the school board.
THE DALLES — At last Thursday’s North Wasco County School District (NWCSD) School Board meeting, the NWCSD school board voted to ratify the 2022-2025 collective bargaining agreements between the district and employee unions.
“We’ve received notice that both associations have ratified the changes to the contract. I’ve incorporated those changes into the final document that can be published tomorrow [Aug. 23],” District Chief Financial Officer Randy Anderson said.
Starting back in May, the district has met with representatives from both the District 21 Education Association (D21 Ed Association) representing the licensed staff within the district, and the North Wasco Education Support Professionals (NW ESPs), representing district classified staff, in collective bargaining sessions to negotiate contract changes. It wasn’t until bargaining session five — held on June 12 — that a tentative agreement was reached between the unions and the district. That agreement was called into question following the discovery that the district had mistakenly overcharged some employees for their health insurance over the previous school year. Once the mistake was discovered, the district immediately notified union representatives, and following a grievance process made by the unions, made plans to reimburse affected employees.
Contract changes agreed upon, according to the board action item documents, include a 2% increase in the 2023-24 salary schedule, “with the provision that only 1% of the increase will be paid during the 2024-25 school year.”
The agreement also stipulated the removal of three district workdays from the district calendar. During the meeting, the board voted to readopt the 2024-2025 school year calendar, with Nov. 1, Jan. 6 and June 12 work days removed, or "blacked out." On those days, all schools and district offices will be closed.
Union representatives did not appear at the Aug. 22 meeting. Columbia Gorge News reached out for comment, but did not hear back by press deadline. Following the union’s apparent agreement to ratify, the final step of the process was for the board to take action to ratify the changes, which was broken up into three resolutions: ratify the collective bargaining agreement between the district and the D21 Ed Association, ratify the collective bargaining agreement between the district and the NW ESPs, and the resolution to approve the same salary adjustments for non-represented employees.
All three agreements were passed. Only Joel Vaught abstained from voting on the ratification of the agreement made between the district and the D21 Ed. Association.
Student representative Kylee Rose takes the oath of office at the Aug. 22 meeting to officially begin duties as a Student Representative to the school board.
Kelsie Cowart photos
In other business, the board welcomed the two new student representatives to the board, Kylee Rose and Nancy Diaz Sanchez. As student representatives, Rose and Diaz Sanchez will represent and advocate for the interests of the NWCSD student body. At Thursday’s meeting, the new student reps took their oath of office to officially begin their duties with the school board.
The full Aug. 22 meeting can be viewed on the District 21 Media channel on YouTube.
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.