Dakota Times

Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District 191 will have a new contract with the teachers union regarding COVID-19. 

Another bargaining meeting was scheduled for April 15 for the union and school district, but an agreement was reached during a meeting on March 16.

“With so many uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, it was necessary to reach an agreement so educators could focus on our students as we are making the transition to long-term distance learning,” President of the Burnsville Education Association Wendy Drugge said, according to Sun This Week. “Negotiations may be over, but the members of the BEA are committed to continue the fight for the safe and welcoming schools our students deserve and better working conditions for its members.”

Before the agreement, tensions had been rising between the two groups. The school board has been thinking about cutting $2 million from the budget and this frustrated teachers. This could decrease teacher salaries, class sizes and teaching positions and programs.  

There are six metro school districts without a contract for 2019-2021 and District 191 is one of the six. 

“Does the School Board not respect us for the work that we do for our students and their families?” Teresa Meuse, a Burnsville High School math teacher said. “Are we not professionals getting the job done? Is the graduation rate not improving?”

Steve Orth, a language arts teacher at Metcalf Middle School, said there are many issues that go beyond the settlement contract. 

“Show us the good faith. Show us that you’re sincere on making a difference. Otherwise, it’s just going to get worse," Orth said. 

Statewide, yearly salaries for teachers have increased approximately 2.1% percent, Drugge said. 

Will Morgan, a science teacher at Burnsville High School, said that "collaborative" negotiating isn't part of the contracts anymore. 

“The current adversarial process is quite obviously broken,” Morgan said. 

Next year's budget is expected to increase salaries by 1%, Miller said at the board meeting. The district said salaries aren't to increase more than 6.5%. 

“That being what we believe is a fair and comprehensive package and salary increase, it’s going to be really hard to move from that,” Abigail Alt, board chair, said.

For every 1% salaries increase, it costs approximately $1.5 million, Miller said. 

“Because programs, if they go away, then we do not need the instructors that were teaching those programs,” Miller said. “And by that I mean we cut something like theater — we don’t have theater at Burnsville ever again. We cut band. We cut the football program. We cut the baseball program.”

Teacher safety language was also proposed at the meeting to “provide a safe learning environment for students and teachers.” 

This would mean teachers are not expected to break up physical fights. 

Nathan Strand, Burnsville High School social studies teacher, said colleagues have said they were sworn at and threatened by students and that he was threatened while working on campus supervisor duty. 

“When a third colleague earlier in the year told me that he’d sustained bodily harm while breaking up a fight, I was alarmed and obviously somewhat scared,” Strand said. “Students videotaped me with their phones, waiting for me to ‘slip up.'"

But some negotiators opposed the safety language and said teachers are responsible for school safety. 

A contract for the district will be voted for on March 24.