Board Minutes - 2024.01.10 ITA Openings

Independence Community School Board

Public Meeting

January 10, 2024

                                                                                   

Public meetings were held at the Administration Office,1207 1^st St West, Independence, IA, starting at 4:00 pm on January 10, 2024.  Attending: Sue Henry, ITA Chief Negotiator; Paul Upmeyer, Superintendent Phillips, HR Director Schaul, Director of Finance Morine, Board President Hansen and Vice President Gina Trimble.  Hannah Burns joined via Zoom. 

FIRST MEETING:

Sue Henry from the Independence Teacher’s Association (ITA) presented an opening statement and initial proposal.

The ITA’s initial proposal stated:

• An interest in maintaining a compensation system that attracts and retains quality employees and recognizes the ever-changing school environment while staying within district budgetary constraints.
• An interest in developing a compensation system which advances the salaries of the sponsors and coaches for extra and co-curricular activities in order to attract and retain employees.
• An interest in evaluating and adding contract language:
  
  • Interested in protecting and preserving teaching and planning time within the school day to serve students better.
  • Interested in compensating teachers for extra duties during and outside of contract hours.
  • Interested in benefits that attract and retain employees (sick time, retirement, 403B, paid maternity, flexible days, etc.)
  • Interested in returning previously removed contract language to the Master Contract.

 

SECOND MEETING: (held immediately following the first)

Superintendent Phillips welcomed the ITA negotiating team and presented the district’s opening statement and initial proposal.

Board initial proposal to the Independence Teacher’s Association (ITA):

• An interest to continue in the “Interest Based Problem Solving” (IBPS) process to address mutual concerns among both parties. We have a tremendous responsibility to educate all of our students and to support our staff to ensure they are successful. It takes everyone’s investment to create and capture #mustangmoments as we continue our journey as #mustangsonamission.
• Having an opportunity to discuss important issues and understand we have similar goals, allows us to work together with a shared vision:
  
  • Retention and recruitment of high quality teachers
  • High quality educational experiences for every student.
  • Positive, collaborative culture among staff, students, families and community.

 

The committee set the following meeting dates:

January 23, 2024 at 4:00 pm

February 1, 2024 at 4:00 pm

February 7, 2024 at 4:00 pm

February 28, 2024 at 4:00 pm.

 

Meeting ended at 4:15 pm. Full disclosure of all the initial proposal documents may be reviewed at the Administration Office.

 

_____________________________                    ___________________________________

Kim Hansen                                                     Laura Morine

Board Chair                                                     Director of Finance/Board Secretary