Everett teachers approve contract

Published 10:20 pm Wednesday, September 2, 2009

EVERETT — Teachers in the Everett School District overwhelmingly approved a one-year labor contract Wednesday that raises their salaries by 2 percent.

The Everett School Board is expected to approve the contract Tuesday, with schools opening for the district’s more than 18,000 students on Wednesday.

The final vote was 878-8, a 99 percent approval.

Teachers leaving the Everett Civic Auditorium on Wednesday said it is a good contract.

“Because of the economic conditions, it was a concern of mine what was going to happen,” said Mark Hinckley, a math teacher at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek. “I think the negotiators for both sides did a good job.”

Union and district officials said the agreement actually amounts to a 2.5 percent salary increase paid by the Everett district because it makes up for one day’s pay the Legislature slashed when it was cutting the state budget last spring. Teacher salaries include state and local tax money.

Under the agreement, a first-year teacher in Everett would make $39,492 while a teacher at the top end of the scale with 24 years experience and a doctorate could make up to $85,286.

“The agreement represents a positive working relationship between the district and its teachers and the commitments both parties have made to each other,” said Superintendent Gary Cohn, who was hired last spring and started on the job July 1.

Union leaders said the contract proposal included several issues beyond money that were important to teachers.

Hidden video cameras will be banned from secretly recording classrooms without the prior written approval of the teachers union president.

“One of the major issues was surveillance,” including other electronic equipment and digital technology, said Mike Wartelle, a negotiator for the teachers union. “This expands the restrictions.”

Accusations of spying arose after the school district suspended Cascade High School English and journalism teacher Kay Powers in June 2007. She was fired in November 2007 after the district concluded she helped students publish an underground student newspaper while using district equipment. Powers did so against a direct order from Superintendent Carol Whitehead, who has since retired.

During the investigation, district officials first denied and later acknowledged that a hidden camera had been placed in Powers classroom. Powers eventually was reinstated to teach for a year. She retired this spring.

The agreement also gives teachers leeway in how they choose to provide instruction, provides child care leave for children up to 18 instead of just the first year of a child’s life and lets teachers use their school badges to get free admission to student athletic and other events in district facilities.

Kim Mead, president of the 1,100 member Everett Education Association, said the union sought a one-year contract from the beginning of negotiations.

“The reason we have a one year is because that’s what this membership wanted,” she said.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.