Union leaders and at least two Kewanee School Board members agree that a new contract between the school district and its teachers should lead to significant improvements for students and the community.
The board voted unanimously Monday to approve the new three-year pact with the Kewanee Education Association (KEA). Pay increases in the contract will be retroactive to mid-August, when the union’s previous contract with the district expired.
The new contract contains provisions besides the pay increases. In a statement released late Monday, KEA President Ruth Kapacinskas said the contract:
— Creates a joint committee with school board members and KEA representatives which the union believes is “an opportunity for collaboration and growth. It provides a new avenue for KEA to advocate for our students.”
— Provides funds for education support staff interested in earning their teacher certification, “which will help Kewanee keep dedicated educators in our district.”
“This will also improve our educators’ working conditions and our students’ learning conditions by bringing more teachers into the profession and addressing the teaching shortage,” according to the statement.
— Provides “historic wage increases” for teachers and staff. In the first year of the contract, all licensed employees will receive pay raises of 5 percent or more, and hourly staff will receive increases of $1.50 per hour. And some members whose salaries had been frozen since 2017 will earn 9 percent more than the prior school year.
At the close of Monday’s meeting, two school board members —Amy Dev and Lori Christianson — expressed relief that the lengthy contract negotiations have concluded, and the hope that a new atmosphere of cooperation between the administration and the teachers is on the horizon.
Dev said the board and the union must “change the culture moving forward,” and that “listening and communication” are key to successful negotiations.
“The school culture needs changing,” Dev said, and she added that administrators and educators “have to have tough conversations.”
Mrs. Christianson, a member of the board’s negotiating team on the new teacher contract, said, “I’m grateful that we learned from each other,” and added, “A lot of hard work lies ahead of us.
Everyone is working “for the same purpose,” she said, and she called for the two sides to “mend fences” in the wake of the contract negotiations.
In her statement, Kapacinskas said, “We plan to continue to push for better in future contract negotiations. We need to remember a salary schedule that provides wage increases based on an individual’s experience, loyalty and educational advancement results in a more transparent wage structure. When a wage structure is transparent, the community sees its investment in the best public schools and future costs are more predictable.”
The statement also said, “The wins we got will truly mean a better education, better schools and a better community for all our students. We are incredibly grateful to everyone in the community, including all the parents and students, who supported us in so many ways.”
KEA represents more than 200 teachers, counselors, bus drives, classroom aides, secretaries, cafeteria workers and nurses serving the district’s nearly 2,000 students.
