Independence Community School Board
Public Meeting
January 10, 2024
Public meetings were held at the Administration Office,1207 1st 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
