Harford County Public Schools sent the following message to teachers on Thursday, May 24:
LAST DAY FOR TEACHERS ANNOUNCED – THURSDAY, JUNE 14
Negotiators for the Board of Education have twice met with representatives of the Harford County Education Association (HCEA) in the past week as part of court-ordered re-negotiations over the terms of its current (2011-2012) contract. As the original agreement, which would have included COLA and step increases for teachers, was not funded by the Harford County fiscal authorities, the Board was unable to agree to the HCEA’s singular demand of a retroactive COLA of two percent and a one-step increase.
The Board reiterated its previously made offer of a paid bonus day on the last day of school for teachers (June 14th), but the HCEA bargaining team rejected that offer, which means that we cannot provide the bonus day for teachers at this time. The HCEA bargaining team made no other proposals besides the two percent COLA increase and one step, retroactive to July 1, 2011. The Board’s negotiating team responded by indicating that there was no County funding available to pay for these demands, at which point the Union chose not to bargain any further, having made no other proposals.
At this time the matter remains unresolved and as such, the last workday for teachers is Thursday, June 14th. The last day for other 10-month employees, i.e. support employees in the HCESC bargaining unit, remains Wednesday, June 13th. All 12-month employees already received the bonus day which took place on December 27, 2011. If you have specific questions regarding your end-of-year schedule, please contact your immediate supervisor.
The following message was sent on May 24th by President Randy Cerveny to members of the Harford County Education Association, the union representing approximately 3,200 teachers in Harford County Public Schools.
Forced by court order, the Board of Education returned to the bargaining table with HCEA this week. The Board’s team came to the table without the authority to discuss any compensation issues. They told the HCEA team that they were not prepared to bargain over any financial issues whatsoever.
This means that, in the view of the Association, the Board of Education has not complied with the order of the Circuit Court to return to the table and bargain in good faith.
In response to the Board’s position, HCEA will immediately file a petition with the Public School Labor Relations Board, asking the Labor Board for a declaration of impasse.
If the Labor Board declares impasse, HCEA will proceed to mediation in an attempt to resolve financial issues with the assistance of a neutral mediator.
If HCEA is unsuccessful in reaching an agreement through mediation, HCEA will appeal to the Labor Board to issue a decision that will be binding on both parties, HCEA and the Board of Education.
County Exec Goes Back on Bonus
The County Executive has withdrawn his bill to provide $5.5 million for employee bonuses. He has done this under the pretense that recently passed state legislation requiring partial local funding of education employee pensions makes it impossible to meet his commitment to pay the promised bonus.
In actuality, the pension cost to the county for the next year is only $1.68 million – a far cry from the $5.5 million which employees were counting on to help make ends meet.
In addition to this $3.8 million dollar discrepancy in the county’s favor, the county will see more than an $11 million increase in revenue from income taxes next year, plus a $2.5 million increase in property tax. The county will also carry over $15.5 million in underestimated revenue from this current year into next year. This total of almost $33 million will cover the $1.68 million in pension costs plus the promised bonus with money left over.
To add insult to injury, the county currently has $96.8 million in its reserve fund.
Come to the County Council Hearing, Tuesday, May 29th, 7:30 PM
Council Chambers, 212 South Bond Street, Bel Air
Stand Up for Our Schools, Stand Up for our Students, Stand Up for Education
Wow the county is really sticking it to us and getting away with it!!!!Like i mentioned in another story…look at the word
“BON-US”
So No raise,No step NO cola,NO bonus,and to add insult to injury due to the “LEAP YEAR” the 3rd pay for June will not happen so that means that after the june 15th pay HCPS employess will see NO MONEY until the first week in July….PEOPLE PAY ATTENTION!!!!!
Oh I am sorry please let me mention how kind HCPS is by NOT taking the medical ins pmt from our checks for the next two pays because there was not as much usage of said benefits or something like that…My info may be a little incorrect as to this but who cares…Noone elses words matter
Because teachers are the only people in the world paid on the 1st and 15th…
I propose that all HCPS teachers call out sick on Thursday, June 14th. No one really cares about teachers in this county and we wouldn’t be missed at all.
Walking out on the 14th will have no affect. The students aren’t there. If you are going to do it to have an effect, it must be a day when the kids are in school. That will open some eyes.
@spouse of a teacher
Yes have your spouse and compadres do it and let’s see what happens to these ingrate teachers. I dare them!
Wow Patrick… you sure do talk tough. Such talk from the commanding officer of the 25th Keyboard Brigade suggests to me that you are probably about 13 years-old. Do your parents know you’re on the computer when you should be in school? You are a troll.
@AnotherHCPSTeacher
You and your peers can walk off the job anytime you like, go for it.
Patrick – you are an A$$. Ingrate?, which means ungrateful. Just what do they have to be grateful for? The Board walks all over them. The HCEA President does barely anything for them. For the most part they are treated terrible by parents. The parents expect the teachers to teach, be a counselor, a parent, a psychologist, a mediator, all on not great pay. Many teachers work their tails off for these kids and they are not appreciated. Many put in long hours to ensure their students are taken care of, but get nothing in return. Before you go around calling people names, get your stuff straight. Think about all they do, then comment.
And if the teachers did walk out while students were in school, each and every one of them should get their asses fired!!
No one in the county has received raises in the past four years. How can the teacher’s union expect to gete raises when no one else has? The teachers union is only worried about theirselves and screw the rest of the county, library, sheriff’s office, etc….
Yes, because I’m sure that’s EXACTLY what the teachers would do. They would walk out while the kids were still in classes. Thankfully, we have people like you who know exactly what should be done when that happens. God BLESS you for having that insight!
As a member of the HCEA Board of Directors, I can assure you, we want all the county employees to get their salary steps! We believe people should take priority over Mr. Craig’s pet projects.
Do you know sir, how much ParaEd’s make? IH’s? Library Assist? Custodians? Please do me a favor-find out if you do not. Also, a couple of years ago-some BOE members and Council members worked a day in a teachers life…how about you all try that out with a ParaED or an IH position? I invite you to try it and then you all can figure out how to get all of us,not just teachers-our most-deserved raise and step. What is that old saying about a road and good intentions? It isn’t helping us pay for gas to even get the car on the road.HELP US-talk is cheap. We are all sick of the constant chatter-and very little result. I work 2 jobs sir.My weekend consists of me working 30 hours over the next 3 days.I am a full time HCPS employee. I was promised a step increase every year when I was hired. What are the Administrators doing this weekend,David Craig, the Superintendant-my guess is having a “cold one” or stuck in beach traffic. To be honest-it will never change. We are stuck with making crap money and loving kids all the same. Thats why we do our job. However, it would be nice during your next meeting-if you could just bring up our salary scale-and see how you all would fair making our money and paying your bills. Thank you.
@Burbey
You are pathetic.
We can’t fire union protected incompetents, change outdated/outmoded work rules and the entitlement HCEA attitude, but we`will break you.
The HCEA reign of terror is over.
Burbey,
As a member of the Board of Directors, you would be knowledgeable about:
1. The number of HCEA members
2. The number that have resigned their membership between December 2011 and today
3. The number that have notified HCEA they will not be renewing their membership for next school year
Want to share with the class?
Dear Joppatown Resident and County Employee,
I feel for you and all county employees who have not received a raise or a COLA increase (my husband included). We are all in the “same boat” as far as that is concerned. Between the two wage earners in my household, we have four jobs and two teenage children. However, the tremendous difference between yourself and other county employees and teachers is you all don’t give up your weekends and week nights to do the work you can’t get done while at your job. I can be pretty sure that you don’t miss your own children’s baseball games, track meets, football games because you HAVE TO get work done during your “off” time. This Memorial Day weekend has me grading over 500 classwork and homework assignemnts that I did not have time to grade this past week. In addition to that, I look forward to also grading projects this weekend. This is not for a lack of time management on my part. I did not get into teaching for the hours or money. However, it would be nice to be compensated for spending more time with most of my students than their parents do and have more time for my own children.
I would beg to differ. Some county employees are on call 24/7. I know employees that bring work home because without adequate staffing this work can not be completed during “normal work hours”.
I don’t deserve a raise. I merit a raise.
Keep in mind this loss of income impacts your future pension and Social Security benefits.
The bonus was a red herring from the beginning.
@ BA Teacher,
I am, in fact, one of those county employees who is considered “on-call” at all times. I do not get a county provided phone, I have to provide my own. I do not get compensated when I get called on the phone, unless I actually have to go into the office. I also, in fact, have brought work home on many occasions simply because there is not enough time in the day to get it done. Do I get compensated for that? No, I don’t. So I do understand your frustrations.
Someone else made the comment, “the squeeky wheel gets the greese”. It’s been my experience that the squeeky wheel gets fired so that’s why many people don’t speak up.
Could I use more money? Yes. As you know, groceries, gas, etc., is all going up, but our pay isn’t. My family, like all others, is scrimping and scraping to get by. However, I try to think of the high unemployment rate and I am thankful that I am not out there looking for another job. So what do I do? I keep my mouth closed and do the best I can to get my work done each day and hope beyond hope that we get a raise next fiscal year.
We can’t do that.
The reality is, the way our government is set up, the Board of Education should not be at the negotiating table at all since they don’t have any power. The negotiations need to be between the Union and the County Council. The County Council is allowed to cut funding from another part of the county budget and put it in Education for teacher raises. They also have to answer for the tax rates, which the Board of Education doesn’t. And mediation should be off the table as well because the County Council doesn’t answer to the union, they answer to the voters (I didn’t say taxpayers because not all voters pay taxes). In a Deomcracy, it isn’t some labor board that answers to the people and so they shouldn’t be able to obligate the citizenry to anything.
I hear teachers saying they are going to resign from the HCEA because they now have to work June 14. Come on folks, can’t you see the bigger issue. If you think the the school board is going to look out for you, you are mistaken. The HCEA is trying to get you a raise that will add to your pay for years. If the board will not even come to the table prepared to discuss salaries what makes you think they wil be benevolent employers and just give you raises if the HCEA is defunct. Let’s go back to 20 minute lunches, forget duty free lunches for teachers, planning time at the whim of the administrator, cutting substitutes and letting teachers fill in when colleagues are absent, step increases will be gone, sick leave and personal business days only on the approval of the principal, increase in teaching time and decreases in planning time, as many after school coverages as the principal sees fit, coaching salaries cut maybe altogether, no tenure, no legal representation, not to mention being able to be fired without a hearing and so much more. So much to think about and so much to lose. I worked with a union and without one. I will take a union any day. Really think about what you are gaining by leaving the union and think about what you will lose if the union folds.
I was going to quit the Union, but now I am not. Randy Cerveny should have told all of them to Kiss His A$$ and All of the teacher in the county ASS too. I hope this wakes some people up and we all show up at Ring Factory. Work to Rule teachers. Stop putting the needs of the kids before the needs of your families and finances. I don’t care if it kills you, WORK TO RULE!!! Let them put us All on PLANS and see if they can implement them.
Harford County Teachers…do not be fools! Your Union is trying it’s best to get you your steps and colas. The Board of Ed is pulling a classisc Union Busting tactic! Stick with HCEA…they are the only voice you have!!
Realist you are correct. The only way to shead some light on the work that teachers do and the extra time they put in is work to rule. If the school board and others in the community do not believe teachers have value, then the teachers need to step up and show all what it would be like if they only worked the time they are contracted for.
Work to rule would be great if . . . it was August and at back to school night teachers could post for parents the hours they are paid to help students after school–20 minutes or just long enough to miss the bus home.
Teachers need to show up next Tuesday at the council meeting!!
Anyone with kids needs to come this is not just a teachers’ issue. We are fighting to improve the quality of our schools!
How does higher pay for current employees increase the quality? Are you intentionally working below your best efforts because of missed steps or cost of living adjustments?
You’re right, higher pay doesn’t guarantee higher quality. But lower pay does increase the likelihood of lower quality. The good teachers, those who can leave, will leave. Those who are left, who can’t leave for various reasons, will have one more reason to do less. You get what you pay for.
Sadly, I know of one teacher who is going to be teaching in Balimore City next year. This is an EXCELLENT teacher. The new position pays $17,000 more than Harford County I don’t blame her.
How many teachers showed up to Craig’s budget hearing? A handful
How many teachers showed up to the two County Council budget hearings? Less than a handful
Craig and the CC have no political reason to do anything for teachers.
I think HCEA did the right thing. I don’t mind working a day we were scheduled to work. I’d rather get my step increase that will be worth much more to me over the course of my career.
And when you don’t get a step, what will you wish you’d been doing instead on 14 June?
I think that when this mess reaches the BINDING arbitration stage, the taxpayers like me will WISH that the board gave them a freaking step. I think the HCEA did the right thing here…but I swear, I hope the board makes an agreement before this gets to the Labor Board, who already has a negative opinion of HCPS.
True,
As a taxpayer I want it to go to binding arbitration. I am pretty sure that what many teachers think binding arbitration will accomplish indeed will NOT accomplish. The HCEA is using binding arbitration as a way to temporarily keep their members from defecting en masse. What few they have left. The only hope for the HCEA is to get some agreement before they get to binding arbitration. Even a very poor one. Because binding arbitration cannot make someone who is NOT a signatory to the agreement do anything they don’t want to do. And the county exec and county council did not sign the agreement.
Alex, You are clearly uninformed and ignorant of what has transpired. We don’t need the county council or county exec. to do anything in relation to our case which is in litigation. If it goes to binding arbitration, the BoE and HCEA will be held to the decision.
Ryan Alex is is ismply missing the fact that once money is appropriated to HCPS they can do as they see fit. If the arbitration results in them telling HCPS to give every teacher two steps then they must do so. Even if that means cutting other budget items like buses etc. This will of course make some county council folk unhappy who will then be forced to appropriate more money to HCPS to cover the short fall or deal with the unhappy taxpayers!
CDEV,
That is incorrect – the board cannot move money between categories without county approval. The Board regularly goes back to the Council for budget transfer approval.
Ryan,
You may want to go back and read the law. Any binding arbitration is subject to the funding relationship between the Board and the Council
(14) Any negotiated provision or decision of the Board is subject to the other provisions of this article concerning the fiscal relationship between the public school employer and the county commissioners, county council, and Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City.
In all this “teacher” talk…try not to forget about IA’s,IH’s,ParaEd’s,Custodians and Library Asst.-who make far under what teachers make-and have not had a step either!Everyone keeps saying “teachers”-and for those of us not labeled a “teacher”-we get paid the amount that qualifies our own kids for free breakfast and lunch.It is ridiculous the amount of work a ParaEd does-an Inclusion Helper-etc.Spend a day in the shoes of a ParaEd and find out how physically exhausting these men and women work! I dare you!We have Inclusion Helpers working with special needs students that need roller skates on to keep up with the children they take care of…who get very little in compensation each day. So when all of you are talking about how greatful teachers should be doing their job, and how everyone is in the same boat with raises and such;do not forget about US! Most of us are currently sitting at their second job, of 35 hours, a week. Teachers work hard and deserve the step-the COLA increase-this is true!!! However, think about all the other employees that get paid much much less than the teachers& admin. etc. I know-ask the ADMINISTRATORS to take a paycut..see how well that works for you. What’s sad is because we have no “degree” and do all the actual physical labor or assist teachers-it is ok that most of us make way under $21,000??????????? So please have a heart<3
along with those you mentioned above….dont forget the other county employees like sheriffs office deputies and DPW workers…residents understand the situation with the teachers. especially with the amount of press they get about the raises and bonuses. but sheriffs office has also gone 5-6 yrs without raises/steps. along with that, losing 3% of their pay over the past 2 years due to increase in pension contibution (thank you Gov. Omalley)! and most of that will not actually go into retirement fund! on top of that its illegal for law enforcement to have a work stoppage or “strike”!! its ashame the different county unions couldnt get together and put up a strong fight…if it wasnt for each union having what seems to be different political interests??
I agree we all should band together!
What happened at Ring Factory ES today? I heard there was some kind of teacher demonstration.
About 100 teachers (HCEA and non-HCEA, like me) showed up because Tomback was present for a visit to Ring Factory. Needless to say, Tomback refused to leave while we were there. But it was an opportunity for teachers from Bel Air MS and HS, plus Harford Tech, Edgewood, Havre de Grace and so on to show solidarity. Some Ring Factory teachers joined us at the end of their contractual day; those that didn’t mostly left on-schedule. The plan is to picket the Board of Ed afterschool June 12…
We need you to join HCEA.
let’s look at the large picture, and for the record, I am not a teacher and have been a taxpaying county resident for all of my life. The only reason that Craig and the council have for throwing all the blame on the state government is it the political thing for them to do. If they decided to charge all their developer friends the same full price and taxes as the rest of us pay, stop adding more roads to maintain and more water/sewer to maintain. their would be funds to at least get the county workers ( county/sheriff/public school) back to where they would be with steps they are owed. The current pension system for teachers is an issue, all the counties set the pay, but leave it to the state to foot the pension bill based on salaries that the state does not control. As for the school board not working with the school staff, they should remove all language and additional duties from the work contracts. No more extra duties unless the teachers sign up for it and they are payed a set $ for it. And if the school board wants to save some $$, start selling naming rights to the athletic fields.
Could someone please tell me another job, besides teaching, in which employees are expected to work BEYOND their contractual work day (grading, lesson planning, helping students,running unpaid clubs) while making LESS than what their contract states?
It’s rather humorous that “work to rule” is a teacher’s only leverage. “I know! Let’s work only the hours we’re supposed to!”
People expect EXTRA services for LESS than what the teachers were promised in their contract. Who are the real “ingrates” in THAT situation?
In any other job, private or public, employees 1) always “work to rule” or 2) get paid overtime for extra hours.
If you worked extra hours at YOUR job (even if by choice) to be the best employee you could be, wouldn’t you want to, at the very least, get paid what your contract stated?
What a sad state of affairs it is in Harford County right now.
Contradiction,
You asked “Could someone please tell me another job, besides teaching, in which employees are expected to work BEYOND their contractual work day…?” What planet are you from? I have been in the private sector for lots of years. I have never seen a salaried professional or management job where employees didn’t work extra hours for no additional pay. And hardly any have a ‘contractual’ work day. You are hilarious. But at the same time grossly mis-informed. You have been feeding at the public trough for so long you think that is normal. Teachers want to be respected as salaried professionals but want to be treated like hourly non-professionals.
The BOE entered in to a contract with you guys that was ill advised because they don’t control the funding therefore can’t be held responsible for fulfilling their obligations. Shame on them. The teachers likewise entered in to a contract with someone the knew, or should have known, did not have the sole capacity to meet obligations (BOE). Your representatives at the bargaining table didn’t do very well by their membership. Likewise the BOE, whoever they represent, did some dumb stuff. I suppose the BOE represents whoever appointed them. And that was NOT the County Exec or the County Council.
You want binding arbitration? You got it. But please start thinking about your next step after that because you aren’t going to like the results.
Alex R,
You failed to respond to a complete sentence from my post which changes the meaning entirely. If you would have read the rest of it and considered the entire message, you would see that my point was NOT to suggest that teachers are the only employees who work beyond their contractual work day. But, instead, it was an inquiry into which other profession maintains an expectation that employees do so for LESS money than their contract outlines. This is currently the case in Harford County Public schools. Believe me, I’m aware that many employees in other professions work long hours, but are they compensated? Are they AT THE VERY LEAST given the salary that their contract states? Teachers are absolutely expected to work extra hours and (in Harford County) make less than their contracted salary. That was the point of my post.
Any truth to all HCPS teachers calling in sick on May 31st?
It’ll never happen…the butt kissers in each school would never go along with it.
I think people are more afraid than they are butt-kissers. That is the atmosphere in HCPS these days…one of fear all around. What a great work atmosphere.
And there are reasons to be afraid.
A teacher I know had a disagreement with his area supervisor. The supervisor wanted the teacher to bring his students to an extra-curricular event that was held on a Saturday afternoon back in the fall. The teacher refused; the next week the supervisor came in to observe the teacher, and put him on a plan of assistance claiming “your objectives were not written properly”. Keep in mind that the teacher has been teaching over 20 years and has a stellar record.
It doesn’t end there. The teacher did everything that was expected of him and got off the plan of assistance. But he also filed a grievance against the supervisor citing that the expectation that he participate in the extra-curricular event was a violation of the contract. The grievance was denied, and the next week the teacher was given an involuntary transfer out of his school, where he had been for many years.
This is the kind of strong-armed tactics that HCPS is currently subscribing to. They are using the observation process as a means to bully teachers into doing anything that an administrator demands, and they are making examples out of otherwise outstanding teachers to show everyone what happens if you don’t “stay in line”.
It is absolutely disgusting!
Agreed. The “culture of fear” that most teachers are forced to work under is nonproductive for anyone involved. Administraion needs to remember that happy employees are productive employees.
It would be interesting to hear both sides of the whole story.
@Interested Observer
I know the person this happened to. There really is no other side to the story. The teacher who this was done to is very popular with the students, very admired by the parents, and is known as one of the outstanding teachers in his area. That is part of the reason that this was done to him: if an administrator can get away with bullying a popular, well-liked, long-time successful teacher, then it shows everyone else that no one is immune to becoming a target if they don’t go along with the agenda of the school hierarchy.
This is one way that the public sector is NOT different from the private sector. Bullying and harassment in the workplace happens, and regardless of whether it happens to a teacher or anyone else, it’s WRONG. The problem with HCPS is that this has become standard operating procedure, rather than an anomaly.
We need those folks to come out of the shadows and tell their stories.
We can not do that.
We can not do that. That would be illegal.
@Ratyels and @FormerHCPSteacher
Some teachers do not have sick days left to use due to medical leaves, maternity leaves, etc. That means those teachers wouldn’t get paid if they take off any day between now and June 14. A paycheck with less money is not something any of can afford right now.
Love 2 Teach,
Well then lets go hire some happy employees because the ones we currently have sure aren’t.
Well, Hemlock, if you are going to work for an organization then you better be prepared to be a supporter of that organization. If you want to work for McDonald’s then you better not be telling the customers that the food is better at Burger King. See, no one, not McDonald’s, not Wendy’s, not Arby’s, NO ONE, wants dis-loyal employees. It does’t matter who you are popular with. It’s not a popularity contest. If the administrator is 100% wrong and the teacher is 100% correct then it is still NOT up to the teacher to fix the problem. Too bad, but that is how it is.
The atmosphere in HCPS is toxic. I know a young lady that contested a negative comment on an observation. The issue went to arbitration and she won. Well, this year has been hell on wheels for her. She has been placed on a Plan of Assistance and been observed numerous times. She had only ONE unsuccessful observation. No attention was given to her years of successful observations and activities she provided to the students and community. It is a witch hunt in HCPS. Think to yourself when this environment changed. You got it, when the current superintendent arrived. It is time to move him out and all his cronies. I have never seen it so bad in our schools. What ever happended to Dimension I? It is not evident in the majority of the schools in this county.