By Michael Howell
Teachers in the Corvallis School District have been picketing outside the school buildings every morning for the past week before entering the building at class time. According to teachers’ union representative Christina Berger, the picketing is meant to let the community know that the teachers are working without a contract.
“We are working without a contract,” said Berger. “We are still doing our jobs.” But, she said, the teachers are feeling frustrated over the lack of movement in the contract negotiations. She said the teachers had changed their negotiation team in the hopes that any old baggage or hurt feelings could be left behind but it did not seem to have any effect. A survey was taken among the teachers and it showed that they were feeling “unsupported” by the administration.
“The board had three years to begin working out a new contract,” said Berger. She said that the teachers had made cuts in their own class expenses in every conceivable way. At the same time insurance costs, not covered by salary, have gone up dramatically. She said that teachers were required to take continuing education courses, but any raises in their pay related to the increased qualifications did not cover the cost to the teachers.
Scott Warren, who has taught at the school for 17 years, said, “It’s not uncommon to hear that Corvallis is one of the best schools in the valley. The problem here is that we are at the top in terms of accomplishments, but we are at the bottom in terms of pay. All we are asking for is pay commensurate with other Class A schools.”
According to Warren, the 1% raises given over the last six years did not cover the increased cost of living. “During the recession, when times were tough, we buckled down. But now, coming out of the recession, we haven’t kept up.”
Corvallis School District Superintendent Tim Johnson said that contract negotiations with the teachers’ union were not at a standstill. He said that the District has made a tentative offer concerning discretionary leave and it was in the hands of the union waiting for a reply.
Johnson said that the biggest issue in the negotiations remains the budget and finances. He said that the district has been funding activities for a number of years now by deferring maintenance costs. According to Johnson, in 2008 the state issued a report stating that the schools across the state had a total of $360,000 million in deferred maintenance projects.
“That was eight years ago,” said Johnson. “We’ve done nothing about it. But it is not going away and we can’t just keep kicking that can down the road.” He noted that the district’s primary school was full but it was using old modular buildings that were designed to be temporary. He said roofing with an estimated lifetime of 15 to 20 years was now 40 years old. He said that the district could not continue to fund its budget by deferring maintenance.