Labor Relations

Dear Camas Community,

Today, our bargaining focused on secondary class size, which includes maximum class size language and options for remediation, including paraprofessional classroom support and class overload compensation.

We’ve received questions about our district’s current fund balance, the planned use of these funds over three years, and how our district’s proposal to CEA would impact the fund balance. Please read this summary to learn more about how this spending will occur and where we’ll be in two years.

Based on questions we’ve received from our community, we added the following to the Question and Answer portion of our Labor Relations page.

CEA stated that today, September 5, the district didn’t come to bargaining until 2 PM and yesterday not until 3 PM. Why are you not at the table? There is a recurring rhetoric that our district isn’t at the table, and it is patently false. Our bargaining team typically assembles around 8 AM and often stays until 7 PM or later. Monday and today are no different. What is true is that each team has its own conference room to caucus, and they come together to share at different points in the day to discuss proposals. Lately, caucus periods have been exceptionally long on both sides as we work to develop creative solutions to items without agreement.

In a few minutes, you’ll receive an alert indicating that school is closed tomorrow. Please know that we are still bargaining today and will continue to be fully engaged in this bargaining process.

Sincerely,

John Anzalone
Superintendent

Dear Camas Community,

Currently, we are bargaining with CEA and have hope that we may come to an agreement this evening. We will let you know by 6 PM tonight if there will be school tomorrow. 

Sincerely,

John Anzalone
Superintendent

Dear Camas Community,

Today was day two of negotiations with our mediator. We solidified prior tentative agreements on more than 20 items. At approximately 5 PM, CEA informed us that they would not return to the bargaining table until Monday, September 4, at 10 AM.

I’m deeply saddened that our work has been stalled. As soon as anything changes, I will let you know.

Sincerely,

John Anzalone
Superintendent

Dear Camas Community,

Today, a Washington Public Employment Relations Commission mediator joined us to assist CEA and our district in negotiations, which has provided a productive reset to our conversations. We are still negotiating tonight and plan to continue Friday and through the weekend if necessary.

Tomorrow, September 1, is a planned day off from school, and Monday is Labor Day. I remain optimistic that we can get to an agreement and start school on Tuesday. If negotiations have not yet concluded, we will send an announcement no later than 4 PM on Monday regarding school closures.

As we navigate these negotiations, we are keeping front and center the students whom we have the privilege of serving.

Sincerely,

John Anzalone
Superintendent

Dear Camas Community,

Today, you received a notice about school being closed tomorrow. We’re all saddened that our students haven’t been able to attend their first week of school.

I believe in the strength of our community to come together. Continuing to engage in dialogue will allow us to bridge the gaps currently dividing us and strengthen a foundation of trust and collaboration. We will find common ground because we must.

Important progress was made today, and I am hopeful we’ll reach an agreement very soon.

Sincerely,

John Anzalone
Superintendent

Dear Camas Community,

This morning, our district requested mediation to assist with bargaining.

On Sunday, our district’s bargaining team presented its best offer before CEA’s self-imposed strike deadline of 6:00 p.m. Our district:

• Offered lowered class sizes;

• Offered additional music, P.E., and library funding;

• Offered additional collaboration time for teachers; and

• Offered to increase teacher salaries by 5.7% this year and another 5.9% next year.

In response, CEA went on strike. They have not presented another proposal since declaring a strike.

CEA’s current monetary demands are unsustainable. As our district’s team shared with CEA this summer, their demands would exhaust all state and local revenue sources and deplete all current reserves in the second year of the contract.

We’re going to get through this. And we’re going to come together when it’s all done. But it’s probably going to take longer than any of us want. We’re hopeful a mediator will help our teams bridge the gap.

I’m sorry not to have better news this morning.

Sincerely,

John Anzalone
Superintendent

Dear Camas Community,

Today, our district and CEA agreed to meet after the board meeting at 7:30 PM tonight to discuss negotiations. Discussions will continue tomorrow.

During tonight’s board meeting, the board passed a resolution authorizing our district to take legal action, if necessary, to end the strike.

View our Labor Relations page for current information. We appreciate the engagement we saw at the board meeting tonight.

Please note: we will continue to serve lunches at Liberty Middle School and Lacamas Lake Elementary from 11 AM –  noon. Thank you for your support and patience.

Sincerely,

John Anzalone
Superintendent

CEA has informed our district that there will be no school tomorrow. They are striking.

Today, CEA presented a comprehensive proposal with higher than previously requested salary increases as well as lower than previously requested class sizes. Our district’s bargaining team is disappointed that CEA is regressing.

Our district has presented its last, best, and final offer. In it, we offered to raise salaries in 2023 by 5.7% and in 2024 by 5.9%. Our district’s proposal would make CEA teachers among the highest-paid educators in the region. Our highest-paid teachers would earn over $118,363 in 2023-24 and $124,991 in 2024-25.

Conversely, CEA’s request puts the highest-paid salaries from $121,653 for 2023-24 up to $129,746 for 2024-25. CEA’s request in its third year of the contract would put the highest-paid teachers at $135,886.

Today, our district and the Camas Education Association bargaining teams negotiated from 10:00 a.m. until after 8:00 p.m. and agreed on numerous outstanding items. What remains is below:

• Today, our district raised its comprehensive salary proposals twice: from the previous 4.7% salary increase to a 5.0% increase for the 2023/2024 school year, we then raised the offer to 5.25%. CEA’s comprehensive salary proposal remains at 8.9%.

• Both teams made meaningful progress in narrowing the gap in class sizes and additional programmatic funding for music, library, and physical education.

• Our district continues to offer to reduce class sizes in kindergarten, first and second grades,  as well as in middle school and high school.

CEA indicated they will be available to bargain at noon on Sunday. Our district’s bargaining team will return to the table Sunday morning and is committed to reaching an agreement on these outstanding issues by CEA’s deadline of 6 PM.

Over the past three months, both our district and CEA worked on and agreed to the following items:

• Providing lowered class size and caseloads to special education staff;

• Providing teachers additional authority over student discipline, restorative conferences, and reentry meetings.

• Providing elementary teachers an additional 80 minutes of planning time per week;

• Providing CEA more consistency around start and end times for their workday;

• Providing secondary teachers continuous planning time during the school day;

• Providing teachers additional monetary stipends and overload support when they have more special education students;

• Providing co-teachers (special education/general education classes) additional monetary stipends and planning time support;

• Providing school psychologists and speech-language pathologists with lower caseloads.

There are a handful of items left on the table, including:

• Salary;

• Substitute rate of pay;

• Special education stipends;

• Class size;

• Professional development stipends.

The next meeting is on August 26.

Progress was made on the following issues:

• Class size;

• Overload pay;

• Staff schedules; and

• Personal leave.

Both groups previously made significant progress related to special education services.  The next meeting is on August 25.

Both the Union and District made significant progress in the areas of grievance procedures, start and end times for staff, and music and library funding.  The next meeting is on August 24.

The Union and District exchanged proposals.  The next meeting is on August 21.

The Union and District exchanged proposals.  The next meeting is on August 17.

The Union and District exchanged proposals.  The next meeting is on August 15.

The Union and District exchanged proposals.  The next meeting is on August 4.

The Union and District exchanged proposals.  The next meeting is on August 1.

The Union and District exchanged proposals.  The next meeting is on July 28.

The District and Union held their third bargaining session.  The District provided a counterproposal, and the Union provided a counterproposal as well. The next meeting is scheduled for June 23.

Our District and Union held their second bargaining session.  The District provided an initial proposal to the Union. The next meeting is scheduled for June 2.

Initial bargaining opened, and the Union shared its initial proposal.  The next meeting is scheduled for May 24.