It is unusual for teachers in the Mahomet-Seymour School District to begin a school year without a contract.
The last contract — signed on July 1, 2018 — expired on June 30.
Negotiation teams from the Mahomet-Seymour School District and the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association met more than 16 times with 6 of those meetings being federal mediation since April 2022, working towards a new contract that would satisfy the needs and limitations of both sides. Earlier this week, though, the Mahomet-Seymour School District pitched its “last, best and final offer” to the teachers union, who voted to reject the four-year proposal.
The district and union stand apart on five issues:
Salary Increases
The union is negotiating on behalf of certified staff, paraprofessionals, transportation, and custodians. The following table was provided by Superintendent Kenny Lee as a way to illustrate the gap between the district offer and what the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association is asking for:
| District Offer | MSEA Ask | |
| Certified Staff | Year 1-4.25% Year 2-4.25% Year 3-4.25% Year 4-4.25% | Year 1-5.0% Year 2-5.0% Year 3-5.0% Year 4-5.0% |
| Paraprofessionals | Year 1-7.0% Year 2-7.0% Year 3-7.0% Year 4-7.0% | Year 1-$1.50/hour Year 2-$1.50/hour Year 3-$1.50/hour Year 4-$1.50/hour |
| Transportation-$1.25/hr which equates to: | Year 1-6.88% Year 2-6.40% Year 3-5.99% Year 4-5.63% | Year 1-$1.50/hour Year 2-$1.50/hour Year 3-$1.50/hour Year 4-5.75% |
| EOP’s-$1.25/hr which equates to: | Year 1-6.31% Year 2-5.93% Year 3-5.59% Year 4-5.29% | Year 1-$1.50/hour Year 2-$1.50/hour Year 3-$1.50/hour Year 4-5.75% |
| Custodians-$1.25/hr which equates to: | Year 1-7.10% Year 2-6.62% Year 3-6.20% Year 4-5.83% | Year 1-$1.50/hour Year 2-$1.50/hour Year 3-$1.50/hour Year 4-5.75% |
The district’s offer includes a “two step” approach to the negotiated salary schedule each year in an attempt to meet the teacher’s desired salary increase annually.
Lee explained, “The difference between their old salary cell and their new cell is set at 4.25% so everyone gets a uniform increase.
“This creates a advantageous situation for both the MSEA and the district. The MSEA is interested in uniform raise percentages. This achieves that. The district realizes we need to substantially raise starting pay for new teachers in order to effectively compete for new teachers. That is difficult to do without recalibrating the baseline on the salary schedule. We believe this plan accomplishes both objectives.”
Members of the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association—which includes the majority of certified and non-certified staff— are also concerned with the teaching and learning environment throughout the district, MSEA spokesperson Cameron Zindars said.
“Our working conditions are the learning environment of our students,” Zindars said. “When we don’t have adequate plan time, when our class sizes get too large, when administrators are out of the buildings during the school day–it all impacts our kids as well as us.”
Class Size
In a school district where the student population exceeds expectations year-after-year, teachers are taking on larger class sizes. In 2013, the district set up guidelines for class sizes in different financial situations, but overall, elementary classes have been at the high tier of those expectations for nearly a decade. Part of what the MSEA is asking for is kindergarten classrooms at 18 students; first through third grades at 22 students; fourth and fifth at 24 students and junior high classes at 25 students.
The union would also like to see high school class enrollment based on (1) age and grade level of the students; (2) ability level of the students; (30) course content; (4) equipment used; (5) availability of space; and other appropriate factors.
According to Superintendent Lee, though, the district is “reluctant to add language to a negotiated agreement that would dictate class size,” although they are willing to continue discussion class size issues as they arise.
“MSCUSD #3 has a history of adding certified staff when numbers warrant, and have been steadfast in doing so,” Lee said. “We feel that this measure benefits our students and staff in many ways.”
Administrative Presence
The district also feels that by adding administrators to the team in order to make sure there is an administrator in each building “as much as possible” is also beneficial to staff and students.
Lee described the addition of another assistant principal to Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School in August as “not well received.” But the union takes a different perspective.
“In light of a growing district, overcrowded classrooms, and growing national concern for school safety, we believe wholeheartedly that administration presence in our buildings is of the utmost importance,” Zindars said. “We understand that there are circumstances in which an administrator may not be in the building which is why we suggested a certified staff member may be asked to serve in place of an admin should they be absent. It has been apparent throughout the process that the board has been unwilling to consider either class size or putting language in the contract regarding administrator presence. These are two issues we find integral to the safety of our schools and to cultivating the most successful learning environments for our students.”
The union is not only asking that an administrator, a principal or assistant principal, be present in the building during student attendance, at minimum, but also during parent teacher conferences and open houses.
Part of the union proposal for the contract states:
“In the event that a building administrator cannot be present, a certified staff member may be asked to serve as an acting administrator and will receive additional compensation of the daily sub rate, No instructional activities, specials or students services may be disrupted and all building staff must be alerted beforehand.”
Planning Time
Not only is the nation trying to grapple with a teacher shortage, but because of a substitute shortage, teachers are picking up extra duties throughout the school day in order to fill in the gaps. Even before the pandemic, teachers at Mahomet-Seymour were often asked to fill in for classroom teachers who were absent or to take more students into their classroom when a substitute could not be found.
Part of the union’s ask for “internal sub coverage rate increases for teachers and support staff” has been agreed upon. Yet, the union understands that covering other responsibilities throughout the district eliminates the contractual time allotted to plan.
“We are looking for equitable time that allows for entire grade level collaboration, but does not take away from our personal planning time. Over the years our amount of personal planning time has decreased significantly for elementary level teachers, while our workload has increased; not only with larger regular classes, but because the substitute shortage has us regularly taking on even more students when a colleague is out sick.”
Lee said, though, that the district administrative team has worked diligently to be creative and offer solutions that would add plan time without “sacrificing collaboration time for our staff or precious instruction time for our students.”
Staff Retention
Some of the working conditions and pay structure has caused veteran teachers to leave the district in recent years. While the district is willing to offer a signing bonus of up to $5,000 for new certified staff members who fall into the “difficult to hire category” in order to attract staff, the union believes that its own staff should be the focus of retention efforts.
“The union has held that we are more attractive to new hires and retain current staff by putting the district’s money toward salaries, not bonuses,” Zindars said. “We understand there is a major shortage in the field of education, but that shortage is also directly related to the difficulty in retaining people who have been loyal to the district. Our district currently has a lower retention rate than the state average and our teachers make 22% less than the state average. We firmly believe that we should be taking care of our current members in order to improve our retention rate.”
Zindars said that while the district negotiation team, which includes board members Max McComb, Ken Keefe and Sunny McMurry alongside the administrative team Nicole Rummel, Heather Smith, and Nathan Mills, has been “amicable and respectful,” this “retention is recruitment” message is “not gotten through very well.”
According to documents provided by the Superintendent Kenny Lee, the District and the Union have agreed on some issues: stipend review; credit for years outside the district; personal days increased, and ability to carry over; increased sick days to 16; implemented sick day payout at retirement; internal sub coverages rate increases for teachers and support staff; increased pay for driver sit time; clothing allowance for custodians; part B employees get credit for years of service outside our district; increase in part B paid holidays; extended day pay; increased minimum driver route time; removed cost to copy HR files; increased retirement incentive to 6%; decreased minimum number of years to qualify for retirement incentive; doubled reimbursement for professional conferences; paid personal development for coaches; and increased payout in case of employee death.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the MSEA said they are willing to come to the table to negotiate with the district again, but the ball is in the district’s court at this time.
On Wednesday Lee wrote, “At this time the District team is contemplating next steps, as we were disappointed in the results of the meeting Tuesday evening. Our team was very hopeful that we would receive results of an actual vote, as opposed to a straw poll. We truly believe that the offer presented last week met the goal of providing competitive pay to our current and future teachers and support staff, while remaining as responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
