District reaches tentative agreement with teachers group

In a closed meeting Tuesday night, the Red Wing School District and Education Minnesota Red Wing reached a tentative agreement on a contract for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years.

The two groups have been negotiating since late 2011 but couldn’t come together on an arrangement. For that reason, teachers employed during the 2011-12 school year were working without a contract — something that left the district wondering how much money it was really dishing out.

“It’s always for the best to try to complete negotiations as soon as possible as long as the agreements are reasonable, obviously,” Supt. Karsten Anderson explained.

During the past school year, teachers were getting paid based on what they had received in the last contract, which ran 2010 to 2011. If the new agreement involves pay increases, teachers will need to be compensated accordingly for their work from 2011 to 2012.

Although the negotiations took more than eight months, Anderson said the long time frame is more common than people realize.

“There are still about 30 to 40 school districts in the state that have not settled, so we’re not alone,” he said.

Despite the length of time it took for the two sides to agree, Anderson said the process went well.

“I think the negotiations were very cordial,” he said. “We tackled some very difficult issues constructively.”

Details of the agreement are being withheld until local teachers can review the information and meet with their group, which is expected to happen in late August.

“After they’ve ratified the agreement I’ll present the details to the School Board,” Anderson said.

A vote is likely to come from the School Board in early September.

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