School Board Approves Three-Year Contract Including Four Late Start Days

Photo: Barbara Ball McClure

The East Lansing Board of Education on Monday approved a three-year contract with East Lansing Education Association (ELEA), the district’s teachers’ union. The previous contract expired June 30.

The 2018-2019 calendar includes an earlier than usual start date of Aug. 28 with late start days for professional development on Sept. 26, Oct. 24, Feb. 27 and March 20. The addition of these late start days took many parents by surprise and is causing some confusion over childcare. The district had released this tentative calendar on Aug. 6.

Currently the City of East Lansing provides “Before and After Care” in elementary schools starting at 7 a.m. until school begins at 8:45 a.m. But Superintendent Dori Leyko said they will not be able to offer Before Care on the first late start day of Sept. 26, which will begin at 10:45 a.m. She said on Monday she hopes they will be able to reach an agreement with the City of East Lansing to cover the other three days.

The upcoming school year is scheduled to end on June 7. The contract also includes calendars for the 2019-20 and 2020-2021 school years. School will begin Aug. 27, 2019 and end June 5, 2020; and begin Aug. 25, 2020 and end June 4, 2021. All years include the late start professional development days.

However, teachers and administrators were not able to reach an agreement to move the daily start times to allow for later start times for older students. Several parents had requested the Board consider later starts for middle and high school based on research showing that older adolescents tend to stay up later at night and wake up later in the morning. High school start times remain 7:45 a.m., with the middle school beginning at 8:05 a.m. and elementary schools at 8:45 a.m.

Trustee Erin Graham said she is disappointed that they will not be changing the start times but is pleased that the contract includes language that allows the district to re-evaluate the start times before the end of the contract.

In addition to the new calendars, the new contract includes salary increases for each of the three years of the contract, set to expire June 30, 2021.

Trustee Terah Chambers said the process of collective bargaining was strong and successful.

“This is another three year contract which I think is really important for the public to understand,” Chambers said. “The ability to offer a three year contract is a big benefit and I’m really proud of all sides."

High school English teacher Tim Akers, president of ELEA, agreed that the process was much better this year.

“Both the ELEA's and the Board's negotiations teams went through collaborative bargaining training. Though the overall process was a bit longer, it was far less contentious and far more productive than in the past, and I hope the tone of cooperation we've established can be maintained through future negotiations.” Akers said.

Leyko said the contract was approved by 89 percent of the teachers who cast votes on the agreement.