On Friday, February 29, 2008 the Gladstone Board of Education failed to adopt a proposed contract agreement which was the result of months of negotiating with a State mediator between the School Board and teacher‘s union. This proposed contract was written and agreed upon by Jay Kulbertis, Gladstone School Superintendent, Sandy Walker, MEA uniserv director, and Ed Eppert, State mediator from MERC in an attempt to provide a solution to the on-going negotiation difficulties.

On February 22, the Gladstone teacher’s Union (GEA) voted for this proposed contract in hopes of moving the district forward. 

One full week after the teachers approved the proposal, the Gladstone Board of Education reported insufficient information to vote and suggested that the State Mediator should have been there to answer their questions. Ed Eppert, the State Mediator, was scheduled for another mediation session between the School Board and the teachers’ union on February 28, but cancelled because the School Board had failed to act upon the mediated proposal prior to the February 28 date. The next day, on February 29, when the Board met, co-author of the proposal, Jay Kulbertis, was in attendance to answer any of the Board’s questions.  As superintendent and co-author, it was his job to explain this proposal to the Board, not the job of a mediator.

The GEA is disappointed that the Gladstone School Board is so ignorant of the bargaining process that everyone is being hurt in the process.

One of those questions about which the Board did not feel they had the needed information was the fundamental issue of the school calendar. Since Superintendent Kulbertis was not at the bargaining table until recently, he was unaware that a calendar had been brought to the table and that the Board had agreed that the teachers were in a better position to make the calendar. In addition, the Board would have had an entire week after they accepted the proposed contract to review the calendar again if they chose.

Another question the School Board felt they needed addressed was, according to Jay Kulbertis, “the spiraling costs of health care.” In the past year, insurance has increased less than 2 ¼%. The Gladstone Teacher’s Union (GEA) was the first in the UP to accept a PPO. This agreement, reached in a previous contract, will have saved the school district $419,000 by the end of this school year. Along with this savings, this mediated contract was projected to have saved the district almost an additional 8% ($110,000) just in this next school year through a change to a generic-only prescription plan that would have cost the teachers more out-of-pocket money per prescription. Together, these savings amount to over ½ million dollars. Those cost savings to the District continue to accrue year after year.

The question of early retirement incentive is a management decision based on if such a proposal will save the District money. Early retirement incentives can be offered at any time the Board sees fit.  It is irrelevant to the issue of contract negotiations.