We ARE what's best for kids

After reviewing a detailed Summary Digest of the tentative settlement, an oral report from our Bargaining Team and a brief Q&A period, REA members voted overwhelmingly to approve the TA on Aug. 24.

 After the vote, REA President Perry Garrison asked everyone to stand if they had participated in one or more bargaining support actions to help bring about this settlement.

 Members who made phone calls or who attended REA or School Board meetings stood. Members who made signs or who assessed bargaining proposals and advised our bargaining team stood. Members who wrote Bargaining Alerts or who did research for the team stood. Members who made food or delivered flowers, posters, signs and cards of support over the summer for our team stood. Members of our Bargaining Support Team stood.  The room was a sea of proud professional educators standing together. Yesterday evening, the Board also voted to ratify our new contract. It takes effect September 1. 

 Together, REA members made this happen. Together, REA members will work to assure that Riverview’s priorities remain focused on the basics of quality education. We are pleased the REA and the district came together to reach a settlement we can be proud of.

 Details to be shared at

REA General Membership Meeting

  WHEN:             Tuesday, August 24

• Doors open at 4:30 p.m.
• Meeting begins at 5:00p.m.

WHERE:           Tolt Middle School

• Multipurpose Room

 WHO:               All REA members are urged to attend

 PURPOSE:       Your REA Bargaining Team and Executive Board will review the TA package with you prior to a ratification vote by our REA membership. 

Our General Membership Meeting is less than a week away. Our contract expires in 13 days. The District team continues to push proposals that:

• cut classroom support for our students – who will be in larger classes
• mandate meetings that steal the time you need to adapt curriculum and new programs to your classrooms and for your students

• keep your compensation and benefits far from competitive

But that’s not it. District administrators have resisted complying with IRS regulation and stonewalled against asking you to sign Individual Teacher Contracts that comply with federal law. They don’t even want a clear date when our new contract takes effect! Just last week, they presented a new, highly complex proposal to change our negotiated guarantees of support for special education students. We believe their proposed changes reduce support levels. [Read more →]

Bargaining Update

Message sent: We are united. We want a fair deal for teachers and what’s best for students.

At least 60 REA members – colorfully festooned with our schools’ colors and logos and buttons reading

“Kids + Teachers = Priority,” “We Are What’s Best for Kids,” and “Are Riverview Teachers a Priority? Show Me!” – provided a clear visual reminder of what our contract negotiations are all about by attending the Tuesday, Aug. 10, school board meeting. It’s about us and our students, as eloquently pointed out by two REA members who addressed the board.

[Read more →]

 The parties returned to the table on August 3. This was another full day of bargaining.

We signed four “tentative agreements” (TAs) on August 3 – the first we have signed since we began meeting with the district’s team on March 22.

 In bargaining, the parties reach “tentative agreements” issue by issue. Once a final, comprehensive TA is reached, it must be ratified by a vote of the REA membership and a vote by the School Board. 

 REA has shared all of our preferred solutions that have financial implications with the district’s team. Most were provided in late June. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for details on the district’s proposal, or preferred solution, to concerns the administration has raised over existing contract language covering “special education caseload”.  [Read more →]

Your REA team met with the district’s bargaining team this Thursday and Friday. With the extremely slow pace of negotiations and only one tentative agreement reached so far, the parties agreed to adopt a bargaining process intended to pick up the pace.

With the new process, we have a clearer vision of what the district is seeking for our new contract. We are facing the prospect of losing ground – [Read more →]

After different 2010-11 calendars were emailed to staff in June, our REA team told the district’s team that August work dates needed to be decided by the June 25 bargaining session so REA members could plan their summers.

After hours of talking about REA members’ special education concerns, calendar issues, how much more neighboring districts pay their teaching staff, and the impact of the third day of pay zeroed out by the state, the parties seemed to have found a jointly crafted solution to designate Aug. 27 as a paid day of professional development on special education issues – knowledge that REA members could implement immediately this fall.

Then, in a surprise reversal from support that had been building over hours of conversation, the district’s team announced they could not commit to making August 27 a paid workday. The district made this announcement late in the day on Friday, June 25, with no bargaining sessions scheduled for another month. [Read more →]

What’s going on with the August 2010 staff calendar in Riverview?

Our contract expires August 31, 2010. The first day of instruction for next year is set by the district. That day is August 31, 2010. [Read more →]

A big thank you goes out to everyone who attended our June 2 General Meeting at Stillwater Elementary. Attendance was good, with every school represented. If you weren’t there, you missed out on some tasty homemade snacks, a unanimous vote of support for our Riverview Education Association Bargaining Team, and plenty of information. Here are some highlights: [Read more →]

Many of you have contacted me with questions about the release by the district of a 2010-11 calendar via email. I was not notified the district would be sending this document out, for reasons related to bargaining and explained more below. I and the REA bargaining team were taken by surprise by the district’s actions. [Read more →]