Schools Negotiations go to Mediation

Today, Nashville’s teachers’ union made a formal request for federal mediation in their contract talks with Metro Schools.

At issue is diversified pay, a school district proposal to give additional money to teachers who take on greater challenges.

Metro Nashville Education Association President Jayme Merritt says she thought the two sides were close to an agreement on the issue, but the school board replaced it with a proposal that would effectively remove the MNEA from the final decision making process.

“Salary is a mandatory subject of bargaining, and for the board to pull that issue off the table after we had consistently expressed our willingness to consider it was improper.”

The MNEA considers diversified pay an incentive program to be used throughout the district, and thus open to bargaining regulations.

In contrast, Metro Schools Human Resources Director June Keel says the district only wants it to be used in charter schools, with final say belonging to the school board. And she says one point in MNEA’s position is a deal-breaker.

“Their proposal that they actually put on the table at the June the 11th meeting would have prohibited Dr. Garcia from establishing a charter school. We were not going to agree to any proposal that would limit the director’s authority or the school board’s authority in that area.”

Last month, Schools Director Pedro Garcia introduced the idea of converting low-performing Maplewood High School to a district-run charter school.

The contract negotiations are in their tenth month. Agreements have already been reached regarding an across the board raise for teachers and adjustments to the existing salary scale.