The Hamilton County Education Association has submitted enough signatures to start the process of collaboratively conferencing with Hamilton County Schools on issues including salary and working conditions. This process, formerly known in Tennessee as collective bargaining, brings educators and district officials together to create a Memorandum of Understanding that outlines educators’ salary, benefits, insurance, working conditions, and other provisions. President Jeanette Omarkhail will be speaking about this issue at the school board meeting Thursday evening.
Under the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act, a professional employee organization has to submit a petition signed by 15 percent of certified educators to trigger a poll calling for collaborative conferencing. HCEA has submitted approximately 1,550 signatures, or 40 percent of certified educators.
The next step in the process is the creation of a Special Question Committee that will create the ballot and choose a polling method. Last year, the poll was done using the website surveymonkey.com. Unfortunately, not all educators were able to participate due to irregularities in the survey tool. Despite litigation resulting in a second voting window, the effort fell short by 17 votes. This year, HCEA hopes to use a different vendor and is willing to front the cost.
“It is imperative that Hamilton County Educators are given a fair chance at participating,” said HCEA President Jeanette Omarkhail. “We are confident that if teachers are given a fair chance to vote, with ample time and notification, they will vote for a voice in their working conditions.” HCEA has identified a third-party vendor that is certified by the federal government to conduct digital balloting. It will be up to the Special Question committee to approve the use of this vendor.
If a majority of polled educators respond that they want collaborative conferencing, then the district and professional employee organization will meet over the spring semester to create the Memorandum of Understanding, which can cover salary, insurance, fringe benefits, working conditions, grievance procedures, leave, and payroll deductions for non-political activities.