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Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School Board accepts union petition to negotiate on behalf of non-teachers, rejecting attorney advice
Feb. 10—GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks School Board members voted Monday to accept a petition from a teachers union to negotiate on behalf of both classroom and non-classroom professionals. That means this spring, the Grand Forks Education Association will represent classroom teachers as well as school counselors, librarians, psychologists and speech pathologists when it sits down to hammer out a new two-year contract with the board. Following nearly an hour of discussion behind closed doors, the School Board approved the GFEA petition 8-1. "We've got work to do, but it feels like both sides are willing to do the work," said School Board President Dave Berger. In voting to accept the GFEA's petition, the board maintained a more than two-decades-old practice of negotiating with the union on behalf of licensed school staff (administrators have their own bargaining groups) and rejected a lawyer's recommendation to refuse to negotiate in light of a state Supreme Court ruling that found non-classroom staff do not meet the statutory definition of "teacher." Rachel Bruner, an attorney with Pearce Durick PLLC retained by the school district, had recommended the School Board reject the GFEA's petition following the high court's ruling in Fargo Education Association v. Fargo Public Schools last November. The court had determined that school psychologists employed by that district were not considered teachers under state law, meaning school districts were not obligated to engage in collective bargaining with them or other licensed staff who did not primarily work in a classroom. According to the latest state Employee Compensation Report, Grand Forks Public Schools employed 75 licensed staff who were not teachers last school year, including counselors, psychologists, library media specialists and speech pathologists. Bruner's recommendation was met with outrage by union members, who packed Monday's School Board meeting ahead of the board's verdict on the GFEA petition. More than 50 members crowded the board's main conference room as well as an overflow room. Current and former members of GFEA leadership raised concerns about members losing their bargaining rights and other protections under the negotiated agreement. "We know everyone who works with a student in our district, whether in a classroom or not, is an educator," said Dawn Mord, a teacher and member of GFEA's negotiations team. In forceful remarks, former GFEA president and fellow negotiator Melissa Buchhop lamented union members' deteriorating trust in the school district and warned the board that rejecting the union's petition would lead to a "hostile and adversarial" atmosphere at the negotiating table this spring. "If you think there is language that needs to be changed, then you bring the proposal to the negotiating table," she said. "You don't reject our proposal that has already-agreed upon language and try to negotiate new language outside of negotiations." Following public comment, board members entered executive session to discuss the GFEA's petition among themselves and with Bruner, who Berger said called into the meeting. Board members ultimately sided with the GFEA over their attorney's recommendation, but left the door open for the bargaining rights question to come up again. Berger said he was looking forward to sitting down at the negotiating table with the GFEA this fall. He emphasized that union representation of non-teachers was not a settled matter, however. "We're talking about this board's decision for this bargaining unit for this round of negotiations," he said, adding, "there's no telling what a board two years from now will do, or would do." Past School Board President Amber Flynn also backed the GFEA petition, but asked for both sides to take a closer look at non-classroom staff during negotiations and said the school district needed more "flexibility" to hire for certain positions. Board member Eric Lunn also said he has concerns about the district losing personnel with medical training to private employers offering higher salaries; Berger alluded to similar circumstances in a Friday conversation with the Herald. Sherryl Houdek was the sole board member to vote against the GFEA's petition. She raised a complaint about what she perceives as a lack of communication on the Fargo decision by state education associations like teachers' union North Dakota United, the North Dakota School Boards Association and the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders. Houdek also took the GFEA to task, questioning how well the group represented all of its members' interests. "There are teachers that do not believe in what GFEA, or North Dakota United, does represent," she said. She later told the Herald she was referring to the union's ability to represent the non-teaching staff whose bargaining rights had come into question. In a text message, Buchhop wrote it was "unclear" what specific issues Houdek was referring to but that the GFEA remained committed to advocating for all staff covered under its agreement with the district. Representatives from the NDSBA and the NDCEL have both told the Herald in recent days that they have been in communication with school districts about the Fargo decision, though neither reported communicating directly with Grand Forks. NDSBA Executive Director Amy De Kok said the Fargo decision had been discussed in a negotiations seminar held by the school board association last week. Berger told the Herald Friday that as far as he was aware, no Grand Forks School Board members had attended the seminar. De Kok said the NDSBA has been encouraging school boards to discuss the Fargo decision with their bargaining units before attempting to change negotiations rules. "It's fair to say we are encouraging districts to have open discussions with their staff," said De Kok. Mike Geiermann, North Dakota United's general counsel, told the Herald on Monday afternoon that North Dakota United, NDSBA and NDCEL have shared the same messaging around the Fargo decision. "There are a couple of lawyers who disagree with that, and one of them is Rachel Bruner," Geiermann asserted. Bruner did not respond to a Monday afternoon voicemail left by the Herald.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Attorney says Grand Forks schools should refuse to bargain with non-teaching staff
Feb. 8—GRAND FORKS — An attorney retained by Grand Forks Public Schools is recommending the School Board should negotiate with only some of the district staff represented by the local teachers union. Attorney Rachel Bruner, of Pearce Durick LLC, has told board members to reject a negotiating petition from the Grand Forks Education Association ahead of this spring's bargaining season, according to a memo included in the packet for the upcoming Monday, Feb. 10, School Board meeting. Bruner is instead recommending the board negotiate only with the district's classroom teachers, a move that could potentially exclude librarians, school counselors, psychologists, occupational and physical therapists and other non-teaching roles. Under state law, school employee unions file petitions to negotiate with their school districts that include a description of the employees they represent. The GFEA has historically represented teachers as well as non-administrative professionals that Grand Forks Public Schools collectively calls "certified staff." A memo from Superintendent Terry Brenner, though, says Bruner recommends the School Board reject the GFEA's petition on behalf of certified staff and instead approve a "less broad negotiating unit" consisting only of employees licensed or approved to teach by the Educational Standards and Practice Board and "employed primarily as a classroom teacher." Bruner did not return a Friday afternoon call seeking comment. The change stems from a recent state Supreme Court ruling that determined school psychologists in Fargo Public Schools did not qualify as "teachers" under state law and were not covered by collective bargaining rules. "We have to follow the law of the land," said Grand Forks School Board President Dave Berger. "And when a Supreme Court decision comes down that says these bargaining units can only represent these employees licensed to teach by (ESPB) or approved to teach, we have to navigate our way through that." The ruling means school boards across the state will have to reevaluate who falls under the definition of "teacher" after the Supreme Court ruling. Last week, the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported, Fargo Public Schools employees packed a Board of Education meeting where non-teaching staff, including librarians and counselors, pleaded with the board to remain under the teacher contract agreement. The GFEA is expected to organize a similar response. A post on a private GFEA Facebook group is imploring members to pack Monday's School Board meeting. Two GFEA leadership members declined to comment for this story ahead of Monday's meeting. Berger says the board will enter executive session on Monday to weigh whether to accept the GFEA's current petition on behalf of all certified staff. For his part, he argues the court's ruling would benefit certified staff with high-demand degrees, like psychologists and therapists, who could negotiate for higher salaries individually. "Those psychologists, those occupational therapists, physical therapists and so on, they have a broader marketplace, and they can be employed outside of the classroom," Berger said. "There are many of them who have asked to be out of this bargaining unit in the first place because their salary would be more competitive." This tracks with the Supreme Court's case, which stemmed from the Fargo school district hiring a school psychologist above the rate negotiated by the teachers union. Berger said the district and Grand Forks teachers union added a new pay scale for employees with advanced degrees in 2023 in a bid to attract more "high-demand" degree holders. Asked via text message by the Herald what the new bargaining rules meant for non-teaching staff without high-demand degrees, Berger said their status would depend on whether the NSPB considered them classroom staff. In Grand Forks Public Schools, employees like paraprofessionals, custodians and front desk staff are considered "classified staff," and do not have bargaining rights. Nick Archuleta, president of statewide teachers union North Dakota United, says Grand Forks is jumping the gun if it follows through on Bruner's recommendation. He said other school districts are continuing to negotiate with the same bargaining units as they have in years past. The Fargo School Board's negotiating committee is recommending its board approve a petition submitted by the Fargo Education Association where the union would continue to negotiate for both teaching and non-teaching staff. "I don't know why Ms. Bruner would want to exclude those teachers in Grand Forks, or why Grand Forks would want to exclude them from the bargaining unit either," Archuleta said. "The system that's in place has served both the school district and the educators and administrators well, and I'm not exactly certain why they would want to upset that apple cart." Aimee Copas, executive director of the North Dakota Council for Educational Leadership, says the Supreme Court's decision means school districts may exclude non-teaching employees from negotiations, not that they must. Few superintendents she's spoken to say they plan to change their negotiating rules, she said. Educators are already on edge with this year's legislative session. "If things are going well right now, why shake things up?" she asked. "If I was back in a building, I wouldn't make any changes. That's just my personal opinion as a former superintendent."
