As The Valley Reporter goes to press on January 10, 2024, the Harwood Unified Union School District Board is expected to meet in executive session during its regular board meeting to discuss labor relations agreements with its employees. Harwood’s support staff and paraeducators have been working without a contract for over a year. Negotiations are at an impasse and now in the hands of a fact finder.
At issue are the lack of a contract, wages, sick days, health care costs. Support staff and union employees were expected to present the board with a petition signed by 90% of all district teachers and support staff at this week’s meeting.
“We, therefore, bring this petition to draw attention to the unfairness of the board’s most recent proposals that would continue to treat support professionals unfairly.
“The board must give support professionals the same amount of sick days as they do to teachers. Indeed, support professionals work closely with our students, and are often on the frontlines of any illnesses brought into our schools. Without sufficient paid sick time, these dedicated educators are forced to choose between foregoing pay or coming to work while they’re sick. There is no reason to treat support professionals differently than teachers when it comes to paid sick time.
“In light of the rising cost of living, the upcoming large increase in insurance costs, and the dedication demonstrated by the workforce, the board must also offer a bigger raise to support professionals. A fair and competitive wage is essential to attract and retain these skilled professionals. In turn, attracting and retaining these essential educators is what’s right for our district’s students and our schools,” portions of the petition read.
Support staff include food service staff, paraeducators, administrative assistants, receptionists, maintenance staff, technology support staff, librarian assistants, SLP assistants, student support, and registrars.
BOND OUTREACH MEETINGS
This week, the board will host one of four more opportunities for members of the public to learn more about a proposed bond for the Harwood Union Middle/High School this month.
Meeting dates were hammered out at last week’s HUUSD bond planning committee meeting on December 5, 2024. A previous meeting slated for the Moretown Elementary School was rescheduled due to last month’s flooding. Watch that meeting at mrvtv.com. The board discussed its plans for working through the public comments and data received from an online survey about the proposed bond which will come before voters next November.
There will be three more in-person meetings and one final online Zoom meeting. The next meeting is today, Thursday, January 11, at the Waitsfield Elementary School, followed by Tuesday, January 16, at the Fayston Elementary and Thursday, January 25, at the Moretown Elementary School. The meetings run from 6 to 8 p.m. and feature refreshments as well as child care provided by National Honor Society students. Visit the HUUSD website for more information about the meetings and to register for childcare.
The January 30 Zoom meeting will be forthcoming.
The board’s public outreach comes as board members and district administration are working through the details of how to renovate, update and repair the Harwood middle and high school campuses. A 2021 bond vote, which included updates and renovations as well as merging middle schools at Crossett Brook was resoundly rejected by voters. That 2021 bond was for $60 million.
Since restarting work on a new bond, the board has worked with its architects on what the campuses need and how to engage the community in the process. Current estimates for the cost of the work come in at $92 million.
