ISD 709 and DFT Tentative Agreement
Revised February 18, 2022
Green language = Tentative Agreement on CBA language changes
Tentative Agreement Language
Article V.A.4.: Organizational: Employees who are elected or appointed representatives of the Union
shall upon request be granted leaves of absence for the purpose of conducting the duties
of the Union as required by Minnesota Statutes, Section 179A.07, subd. 603, subd. 19.
Article VIII.A.: A teacher shall have the right to inspect and to obtain copies at their expense of all
evaluations and files within the School District and maintained at the Historic Old Central
High School (HOCHS) or local school office relating to the individual teacher as provided
by Minnesota Statutes, 122A.41, Subd. 15 and to submit for inclusion in the file written
information in response to any such material.
MINNESOTA STATUTE:
MS 122A.41, Subd. 15:
"Subd.15. Records relating to individual teacher, access expungement. All evaluations
and files generated within a school district relating to each individual teacher must be
available to each individual teacher upon the teacher's written request. Effective January
1, 1976, all evaluations and files, wherever generated, relating to each individual teacher
must be available to each individual teacher upon the teacher's written request. The
teacher has the right to reproduce any of the contents of the files at the teacher's expense
and to submit for inclusion in the file written information in response to any material
contained therein.
A district may destroy the files as provided by law and must expunge from the teacher's
file any material found to be false or substantially inaccurate through the grievance
procedure required pursuant to section 179A.20, subd. 4. Expungement proceedings must
be commenced within the time period provided in the collective bargaining agreement for
the commencement of a grievance. If no time period is provided in the bargaining
agreement, the expungement proceedings must commence within fifteen (15) days after
the teacher has knowledge of the inclusion in the teacher's file of the material the teacher
seeks to have expunged.”
Article XII.A. The term, "Professional Development Period", is interpreted to mean the State licensure
period for all teachers with the exception of those with life licenses. The professional
development requirements shall be those listed by the Board of Teaching Rules and
Regulations 87010.
Article XVI Remove references to Fair Share Fee
Modification to Article XVII:
A. Paydays: All employees covered under this Agreement shall be paid every other Friday for the 2019-
2020 and 2020-2021-2022 contract years.
B. Number of Paydays: The number of equal payments of salary shall be twenty-six (26) for all
employees: unless the District switches to a twice-monthly pay schedule as set forth in Paragraph E of
this Article.
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C. Method of Payment: The employer may pay employees in the bargaining unit by depositing in such
financial institutions within the School District, as the employer shall designate the net salary or wages
owing to such employees in an account provided for each employee. Employees not desiring to do
their banking with such financial institutions as designated by the School District shall be permitted to
withdraw such salary or wage payments from such financial institutions without charge to the employee.
D. Payments made on a twenty-six (26) payment schedule shall be twenty-seven (27) paydays for any
school year in which twenty-seven (27) bi-weekly paydays exist.
E. Twice-monthly Pay Schedule: Commenting July 1, 2022 or July 1 of any year thereafter, the School
District will have the option of converting the pay periods for employees to a twice-monthly schedule in
which there will be twenty-four (24) pay periods for payment of equal installments of salary in a fiscal
year. Employees will be paid on the 15th of each month and the last day of each month. If the 15th
day or last day of the month falls on a weekend or a holiday, the employee will be paid on the first
business day prior to the 15th or the last day of the month. The District must provide employees at
least two months’ written notice prior to converting to a twice-monthly pay schedule.
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Article VII.E.: Family Leave
1. Eligible employees under this Agreement shall be allowed a maximum of twenty (20)
sick leave days per year for absences due to a serious illness or injury in the immediate
family requiring the care or attendance of the employee. Employees may use more
than twenty (20) sick leave days per year for absences due to the illness or injury of a
child to the extent provided in Minnesota Statutes, Section 181.9413., sSuch allowance
is to be charged against the current or accumulated sick leave. Such leave shall
require the approval of the immediate supervisor of the teacher who is not a member
of the bargaining unit.
2. "Family" shall constitute members of the immediate family of an employee, spouse or
registered domestic partner and for purposes of this regulation shall include parent,
mother-in-law, father-in-law, stepparent, sibling, spouse, adult child, grandparent and
grandchild. This shall also apply to foster relationships of the above listed categories.
A “registered domestic partner” shall mean an individual who has been registered
through the city of Duluth employee’s political subdivision of residence as a domestic
partner of an employee of the District.
3. In addition to the above, teachers who work twenty (20) or more hours per week may
use more than twenty (20) days sick leave for absences due to an illness of the
teacher’s child in accordance with Minnesota Statute §181.9413 (2013).
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Article IX, Health Care Savings Plan
Article IX, Paragraph G
The employee must give written notice of resignation/retirement of employment to the Senior Human
Resources Manager prior to April 1 February 1 if not returning for the following school year, or three (3)
months prior to resignation/retirement if during the school year, whichever occurs earlier, except in
cases of emergency involving serious illness or other justifiable cause, an employee may terminate
employment after such time limits with the approval of the Superintendent and may receive benefits
under the HCSP. Written notice of resignation/retirement received after April 1 February 1 for the
following school year will result in a one year deferment of the District contribution as stated in
paragraph J.
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(In order for the one year deferment to become effective, the district must inform members via email of
the April February 1 deadline a minimum of 3 times prior to the 1st of the month beginning in January
st
November. Included in these email reminders shall be the deadlines to receive an accurate HCSP
estimate at least one month prior to the April February 1 deadline. The one-year deferment set forth
st
above will not apply under circumstances in which an employee submits a timely request for a HCSP
estimate by the deadline established by the District and does not receive the requested HCSP estimate
by January 1.)
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Proposal 3 – School Calendar Language
Article XXII.G. (Paragraph titled “Period of Service”)
Period of Service: The contract period for employees paid on the salary schedule shall, except for the
period designated school not in session, be for the term of the school calendar unless otherwise
provided in this Agreement, or unless assigned to positions in which the State Department of Education
requires services beyond the term of the School Calendar and in such cases the contract period shall
be extended for the additional weeks required according to the State guidelines. The school calendar
shall be as attached hereto as Exhibit "C" and made a part hereof by reference for illustrative purposes.
The school calendar is subject to change by the School Board consistent with the Board’s authority
establish the annual school calendar as set forth in Minnesota Statutes section 120A.40 and 120A.41.
Exhibit C will also be updated to reflect the Board-approved calendar for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023
school years.
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One-time MOU Proposal for Additional PD
The District proposes a one-time MOU with the following terms:
- The District will schedule up to 8 hours for additional professional development beyond what is
currently set forth in the 2022-2023 school calendar. This will be scheduled on Monday, August
29, 2022 or another weekday prior to the start of the 2022-2023 school year in the event
unforeseen circumstances prevent scheduling on August 29.
- The additional professional development will be mandatory.
- Employees who are unable to attend due to illness or other excused absence will not receive the
stipend, but will not have their absence charged against any available leave.
- The DFT and the District have a shared expectation that employees will participate in the
additional PD day to the maximum extent possible.
- Employees will receive a stipend of $480 for this additional 8 hours of professional development.
- Employees who do not complete the professional development for any reason will not be eligible
for the stipend.
- The stipend will be paid with the next available payroll cycle following the professional
development day.
- The District will explore connecting the professional development to relicensure components.
- The MOU will sunset upon expiration of the 2021-2023 CBA, and will be non-precedent setting.
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MOU Renewals
The parties will renew and re-execute the following MOUs with the modifications noted below:
- Digital Learning Workload;
- Elementary Teacher Workday;
- Instructional Leadership Positions;
- Early Childhood Programs;
- Part-time Postings/Traveling Teachers;
- Sub Coverage;
- Co-Curricular with the removal of Paragraph 5; and
- Continue Summer School Pay MOU with Modification to Expand Beyond Summer Session 2021
and Expiration Upon Negotiation of New CBA.
Each of the above renewed MOUs will contain the following language: “This MOU will remain in effect
until the effective date of the next collective bargaining agreement.”
The following MOU will expire upon settlement of the 2021-2023 CBA: Class Size QSC Subcommittee
MOU.
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FINANCIAL TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
The following is the parties’ tentative agreement on a final package:
- Exhibit A – Increase co-curricular schedule by five percent (5%) year one. Same percentage as
salary schedule increase (Exhibit B) in year two.
- Exhibit B – Salary Schedule Increase
o 2.25% (two and ¼ percent) plus step and lane advancement for 2021-2022
o 2.25% (two and ¼ percent) plus step and lane advancement for 2022-2023
o Agree to $100 longevity increment on Exhibit B in each category for 2021-2022 and for
2022-2023
- Increase other hourly rates in contract by 2.25 % (two and ¼ percent) (applied in year one and in
year two)
- One-time longevity and retention stipend by MOA of six hundred dollars ($600) to be drafted
separately from CBA.
o Eligbile employees will be defined as follows:
Active and eligible employees hired and employed on or prior to June 30, 2021
and remain in an active and eligible status through both parties’ ratification of the
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contract will be paid the stipend with the next available payroll cycle following the
parties’ ratification of the contract.
Active and eligible employees hired and employed after June 30, 2021 and
remain in an active and eligible status through June 10, 2022 will be paid the
stipend with the next available payroll cycle after June 10, 2022.
Employees who do not meet the requirement set forth are not eligible for the stipend.
LABOR MANAGEMENT ISSUES
(Not to be formally addressed in writing beyond this TA)
The parties agree to:
1. Discuss the elementary specialists 8-day rotation within the Elementary QLT.
2. Discuss SPED workload limits and due process time within the SPED QLT.
3. Discuss secondary scheduling options within the High School, Middle School, SPED, and
Residential QLTs. The District is agreeable to this discussion taking place within multiple QLTs on
the condition that the parties work together to focus the discussion in a way that is coordinated
across the four QLTs.
4. Discuss the assignment and transfer process within the Assignment and Transfer QLT.
The District agrees it will be helpful to have subject matter experts participate in these discussions as
needed and upon the parties’ mutual agreement. If the DFT would like to request the attendance of specific
individuals at a QLT meeting, the request will need to be submitted to Assistant Superintendent Bonds at
least one month before the meeting to ensure the individual is available to attend the meeting and has
adequate time to prepare for the meeting. A District representative who is not a regular QLT participant will
not be required to attend if the individual’s other assigned job duties prevent attendance.
As to the DFT’s labor management requests concerning equity, the DFT will accept what the District
outlined in its 12/1/2021 response to the DFT’s equity issues.
The District and the DFT will continue to explore labor management training options available through the
BMS.
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