Washington County Education Association Beth Kiser President Daniel Boone High School 1440 Suncrest Drive Gray, TN 37615 Each year the negotiations team spends multiple hours preparing for the negotiation process. Every third year the team is charged with opening the entire contract. This year is the scheduled year for the entire contract. Negotiations is a difficult process at best. Team members work from August to January analyzing the present contract, analyzing the tax structure and the school board budget. They even analyze the contracts from similarly sized, and surrounding counties in an attempt to insure that you, the best and brightest in the state and the most dedicated, are genuinely appreciated monetarily for the best that you continue to give the children. of Washington County! This is not hype, this is fact! With the poorest tax structure support in all of upper East Tennessee, with less per-pupil expenditure than any of the similar- sized counties and less than all of the city systems, of course -remember cities have TWO tax bases. YOU, thc teachers of Washington County have consistently educated students who score above the state average score on the ACT College Entrance exam, and who score at the very threshold of the National average on College ACT scores.. Because.of this you should be proud to be sure that Washington Coimty citizens are informed of the facts. No more should the media ignore that the team of educators in Washington County are doing an outstanding job under sometimes less than ideal working conditions (Improvements are welcome, but are sometimes noisy) Our school facilities, thanks to a forward looking school board are being consistently upgraded as efficiently as the tax structure will allow. Our materials needs, even though $100 per teacher doesn't go far these days, continues to be augmented by the staff of the teacher center at Midway. Students and teachers continue to work in a comfortable climate; whenever problems occur in that clirnate, workers are dispatched to see to it. Teachers do not have to "keep a register" anymore because that paperwork has been lifted and rightly placed on a computer In short, we have a great deal for which to be tbankful. If; however-- there are needs that are not being met--Needs, not pie in the sky dreams--The negotiations team nccds to know those first.Then, we want to know what your dreams are, what would you like to see the school board do for the students of Washington County and for the teachers who prepare them, not only for college, but for life? Our salary schedule with two exceptional areas, principal supplements and teacher salaries at maximum experience was above the state average last year. Beginning salaries are now competitive with other county Systems. Coaches have had raises consistently over the last few years. Principals have not. Principals are required by Southern Association to be paid more than the highest paid teacher in their building. I was appalled this week to learn that many of our principals' salaries do not even exceed the salaries of the lowest paid coach in their building. I submit to you that this is unacceptable. Principals have the most difficult job in the building. It is they who make sure that you have paper to duplicate teaching materials; it is they who see to it that the building is comfortable--I have watched some principals over the years sweep water when buildings would leak during a rain--I saw one principal scrubbing floors in the summertime because he believed that the building he had been assigned to was not clean enough to inspire the spirit of pnde in his students. It is principals who are the first line of defense to keep teachers and students safe from the ravages of an ever-increasing world of violence. I assure you that many of the criticisms that they hear of teachers never reach your ears because your principal has exercised the good judgment to ignore rage, to support teachers, to protect students and teachcrs alike from some parents who would, if they could, come into your classroom and tell you how to run things--believe me there are many whose narrow view of life and its myriad problems is so simplistic as to be answered by letting his or her child do just as he pleases---You and I know well that community and teamwork are not built upon ego-serving students whose only concern is their own needs and their own behaviors. The self-centered of the world have produced the Lee Harvey Oswalds, the Adolph Hitlers, and the casually violent. In short, we as educators need desperately to pull together and see to it that not only teachers, but principals get a decent wage. Folks, they handle more problems in an hour than most of us have to handle in a week) simply because they keep it off our back--regardless of where the storm originated. I challenge you -- give us your input for negotiations and to remember as you do that how principals have not had a supplement increase within the years of my memory since negotiations began in the 1980's--not because it has not been requested, but because it has always been refused by the board. The time is ripe unto harvest. Our principals have been more than patient. It is too easy for the school board to say “No!” when they know that it only affects less than 1% of the faculty. We as teachers need to rally in their behalf as well as our own. You have had substantial raises over the years of negotiations. This organization has brought your salary to a competitive status. The principle of attracting the "brightest and best" with a decent salary applies to principals just as it applies to tcachers. Principals cannot do it for themselves. IT IS OUR JOB TO DO IT FOR THEM!! They are not happy with their salary levels, and I don't blame them. A bonus is not enough'. Those of us on Career Ladder know all too well that bonuses can be taken away as fast as they are given. Our principals need a raise, not a bonus--and I challenge each of us to rally together to see that they get one! Sincerely, Betty D Kiser, President cc: All principals to be posted or distributed to all teachers.