As conversations related to the safety of in-person classes during the pandemic continue at a state and local level, a pair of one-year “push” contracts and annualized pay agreements for paraeducators and cafeteria employees were approved at the last meeting of the joint Board of Education (BOE) for the Regional 4 School District.

The agreements were made for the time period from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, instead of a typical three-year agreement, due to the difficulty of negotiations during the pandemic.

“Due to the disruption of COVID, it’s been very hard to engage in collective bargaining in a manner that would typically happen,” said Superintendent of Schools Brian White at the Dec. 3 meeting.

White said that entering a one-year agreement, an approach taken by many other unions and districts in the state, is a way to “get through the year allowing them to come back to the process in a more typical way once the virus subsides.”

A 2.25 percent salary increase, and a 0.5 percent insurance contribution increase were the only changes made to these groups’ existing contracts. The annualized pay agreements were based on an individual’s schedule and pay rate, which is cost averaged until June 30, 2021.

These pay agreements provide a level of “income security” said White, “ensuring that people would essentially make the same amount of money they would have made regardless of the mode of school which gives our employees some level of security as we work through the challenges of the year.”

Pay Rate for Substitute Teachers

One of the challenges faced by the district during the pandemic is a state-wide shortage of substitute teachers, as COVID-related quarantines have increased the number of teacher absences and exacerbated issues with staffing levels.

The rate of pay for substitutes in the district was discussed at the meeting, with White informing the board that the pay had not been increased since 2015 when the state’s minimum wage was $9.15 an hour.

Due to legislation passed last year, incremental increases in the state’s minimum wage are scheduled to occur annually until reaching $15 an hour on June 1, 2023. This past September, the minimum wage increased from $11 to $12 an hour.

To comply with the state’s minimum wage increases and to remain competitive with the substitute pay rate of neighboring school systems, the joint board voted on Dec. 3 to pay non-certified substitute teachers $84 a day, retroactive to Sept. 1, 2020.

In responding to a question from a board member, who asked whether increasing the rate of pay would help the district attract substitutes, White said, “I think even at higher rates of pay, we would continue to be challenged by the circumstances” of the pandemic.

He added later in the meeting that “not only is it harder to find substitutes, in fact, some of the substitutes who in previous years would often work in our schools have been reluctant to come into schools due to medical or other challenges where they simply can’t be in the schools this year.”

White described staff availability as a “critical factor” in making decisions about whether schools remain open for in-person classes.

The district plans to conduct an analysis and comparison of substitute pay rates in the area that will inform any future actions related to substitute pay rates that could have an impact on school budgets.

Teacher Concerns Related to School Reopening

Niki Waz, president of the R4 Education Association, spoke at the meeting regarding teachers’ concerns about reopening school during the pandemic.

“Since the pandemic hit, our workloads have increased in order to accommodate both in-person students and e-learners, many times simultaneously, not to mention the added fear of being exposed to the virus in our classrooms,” said Waz.

In early November, Waz sent a letter to the joint board that discussed several concerns. White and Waz also attended teacher forums prior to the Dec. 3 meeting, during which these concerns were raised.

“Brian and I got to listen to a lot of concerns during those five individual building teacher forums and the message was clear to us, that this style of teaching and learning is unsustainable for the long term,” said Waz.

Waz asked the board for increased flexibility, with one day a week being asynchronous learning, during which students can access materials online and teaching does not occur in real-time.

This would help teachers with time to plan “high quality instruction, so students can complete their assignments and so that parents can assist in this process,” she said.

In response to a board member’s question related to how the concerns brought up by Waz will be addressed, White said, “We’ve been working very closely with our teachers and administration at the central office level throughout this entire experience” and conversations are ongoing “to best support everyone’s needs.”

“We are taking some steps to evaluate the amount of instructional minutes that currently teachers are being asked to deliver daily,” he continued. “We’ve also made some additional accommodations beyond the terms set forth in the MOA [memorandum of agreement] as a result of those meetings” with the faculty of each school district.

The Regional 4 School District’s MOA with teachers was approved earlier this year, in the late summer-early fall time frame, according to White.

As these conversations occur at a local level, the Connecticut Education Association, an advocacy organization, has continued its push for increased safety precautions, such as regular testing and operating in reduced capacities, in schools statewide.

A new report titled “Safe and Successful Schools Now” was recently released by the Board of Education Union Coalition.

The report outlines several steps the state can take to help ensure that each school system has “consistent safety protocols” in place, along with “uniform transparency in reporting and responding to COVID-19 cases,” according to a news release from CEA.

The report is available at cea.org.