Without a Bargaining Agreement, School Board Approves Employee Handbooks

Now that Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill is in effect, the relationship between the Whitefish Bay School District and its union employees has changed.

, the salary, benefits and terms of employment are now spelled out by district administrators in an employee handbook, which was unanimously approved by the School Board Wednesday night.

The handbook is only in effect for this school year, and the board will be asked to approve a new handbook next year. The board approved separate handbooks for professional teaching staff, secretaries and paraprofessionals.

The handbooks are separate from the individual contracts that employees will enter into with the district. While district policies are referenced in the handbooks, district policies are still explained in other documents, and any changes to those policies will have to be approved by the board.

While the budget repair bill gives the district greater authority to dictate benefits and terms of employment, Superintendent Mary Gavigan said the district took a conservative approach instead of making big changes in the first year of the law.

“This is a time for Wisconsin school districts to think big, and quite frankly, step small – to make sure we remain on very solid ground,” Gavigan said. “This is a time to make sure that Wisconsin school districts, as they take the next steps, are living what they are saying in terms of sustaining our ability to recruit and retain, to be fiscally responsible and protecting quality programs and services.”

Mark Kapocius, the district’s human resources director, said the salary, benefits and regulations covered by the expired collective bargaining agreement are now spelled out in employee handbooks. New teachers with a bachelor’s degree will earn $35,219.

“Really, the purpose of the handbook is to outline the benefits associated with each employee classification, as well as identifying any key workplace rules and regulations,” Kapocius said.

The district has historically drafted handbooks for non-union employees, such as administrators, support staff and confidential employees. Handbooks for those employees were in June, at which time the board also approved a salary freeze for those employees.

Walker's budget repair bill called for employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their salary toward their pensions, sharing 50 percent of the annual contribution with the district. It also limited the union's collective bargaining powers to negotiating salary within the consumer price index.

Kapocius told the board that many of the other employee benefits will remain the same.

“With the development of the proposed handbook before you this evening, you’ll notice a consistency in the benefits that have previously been offered to teachers under the collective bargaining agreement," he said.

District administrators met with the teachers union in a "good faith" bargaining session prior to Wednesday's meeting, and they agreed to clear up confusion about the classification of personal days, Kapocius said.

"We've had a bit of an issue with that in the years that I've been here," Kapocius said. "We believe we've come up with a model that works both in management's best interest and will also be more comparable to other area school districts."

In the future, Kapocius advised the School Board to review the sustainability of benefits associated with retirement. The board has to one retiring employee since the district’s collective bargaining agreement expired at the end of June, but the board has not adopted a formal policy to handle retirement benefits since the agreement expired.

Mark Yanisch, the president of the teacher's union, thanked the board for implementing the handbooks before the school year started. He also said he is encouraged by the administration's openness to hearing teachers' input on policy matters.

"We are very thankful for having a board that is open to that," he said.