All but one of Ogden’s 697 teachers had returned their signed contracts Wednesday, meeting the deadline they were given to keep their jobs for the upcoming school year.
“That makes me very happy,” said Brenda Ruffier, director of human resources for Ogden School District. “We really do not want to lose any of our people.”
Doug Stephens, president of the Ogden Education Association, said teachers had little choice. Even though the school board refused to negotiate with OEA to craft the 2011-12 contract, the union advised its approximately 500 members to sign.
“It’s exactly what I expected. These teachers love the kids, and they need their jobs,” said Stephens, a history teacher at Ben Lomond High. “What kind of protest could we mount when they would fire us? Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. That’s what I teach my students.”
The 2010-11 school year ended without a negotiated contract in place between the OEA and Ogden district after a yearlong bargaining effort collapsed.
On June 30, the Board of Education sent a letter to teachers saying it would not negotiate the 2011-12 contract and teachers must sign and return the board’s “common contract” before 4 p.m. on July 20 — or their jobs would be advertised as open for hire. The board also has announced that, over the next six years, it plans to phase out raises based on experience, known as “steps,” and replace them with raises based on performance.
About 800 people, including teachers from Ogden and around the state, gathered at a rally last week to protest the board’s actions. Two thousand signed a petition calling on the board to restore collective bargaining.
But the board has held steadfast to its decision.
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Published Feb 22, 2012 06:05:41PM
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Although the Ogden board has said it plans to resume bargaining next year, many educators worry that what happened there could set a precedent for other districts to follow. And this week, legislative leaders announced they will study whether Utah should eliminate collective bargaining rights for all public employees. Sen. Howard Stephenson, a Draper Republican and chairman of the Education Interim Committee, has applauded the Ogden board’s stand and sees performance-based pay and limits to collective bargaining as potential tools to improve education.
In Ogden, district leaders may need to repair relationships with teachers who are hurting from the board’s ultimatum.
Mark Johnson, an English teacher at Ogden High, signed his contract but said he felt “disrespected” by the board’s decision not to negotiate and worries trust has been damaged between teachers and their employer.
“It’s like playing without any cheerleaders or anybody to cheer you on,” Johnson said. “I want to focus on teaching. … You’re still playing the game, but there’s nobody there to cheer for you or help you.”
Ogden district responded this week to a list of nearly 100 questions OEA teachers submitted. One of the questions asked how the school board would address “very low” morale among teachers.
The emailed response was: “The board is aware that some teachers believe that morale is low. However, it appears that morale is an individual choice being that board members have heard that statement every year regardless of how negotiations have gone, whether steps were given or not, and when a cost-of-living increase (COLA) was given or not. The board has implemented many changes which have improved education for students and circumstances for employees.”
