Court rules in favor of JCTA

For the first time in a contract dispute that has lasted two years, Jay County’s teachers had a decision fall in their favor.
Indiana Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously ruled in favor of Jay Classroom Teachers Association on the two remaining issues in dispute in regard to its 2013-14 contract. It was the latest decision in a process that began when JCTA and Jay School Corporation were unable to reach a contract agreement by the Sept. 30 deadline in 2013.
“It’s a good feeling,” said JCTA president Paul Szymczak. “Going all the way back … we started off with the fact-finding, and then we appealed the fact-finding. And then we went to Marion Superior Court. Each step of the way, we’ve not fared well.
“But we believed in what we were fighting for … so we just keep pushing the ball forward. Finally we got a court that was sympathetic to the big picture and understood where we were coming from as teachers across the state.”
Jay School’s superintendent Tim Long said the corporation and Indiana Education Employment Relations Board are looking at the decision and a decision on whether it will be appealed has not yet been made. The next appeal would go to Indiana Supreme Court.
“It’s under review,” Long said. “We still are digesting what came out of that and if there’s any other recourse that may come out of that. Like all things, it’s a long process. This is just another step in the process.”
The two remaining items at issue involve the hiring of new employees after the school year begins and compensation for regular teachers who serve as substitutes for other classes during the school day.
The court ruled in favor of JCTA in its suit against the school corporation and IEERB on both.
The school corporation had contended that the superintendent should be able to determine the salary of teachers hired after the start of the school year. JCTA argued that allowing such a policy damaged its ability to collectively bargain salaries for all of its members.
The court agreed with the teachers’ argument.
“We find that this provision unambiguously, impermissibly conflicts with the Association’s statutory right to collectively bargain to establish salaries,” said Chief Judge Nancy H. Vaidik in the ruling.
The other issue involved IEERB’s striking of a provision in the teachers’ contract that would have provided them extra compensation when assigned to cover a class as a substitute. Teachers sometimes are asked to fill in as a sub during what is scheduled as their prep period.
IEERB argued that such time should not involved extra compensation because it occurs during the regular school day. But JCTA’s stance was that a teacher who uses his or her prep period to serve as a substitute then must do additional work outside of the school day.
The court ruled that such decisions should be made at the local level, especially in cases, such as in Jay County, in which the teachers’ association and the school corporation had already agreed on the issue.
“That’s refreshing to know that they understand we’re not just and 8 to 3:15 employee, that there’s a lot of extra time that we put in outside of our contracted time,” said Szymczak. “When we do sub for another teacher, we just add to what we have to do outside of our contracted time. The idea that they agree we can be compensated for that, that’s a victory for teachers across the state.”
When JCTA and Jay Schools were unable to reach a contract agreement in 2013, the sides first went to a fact-finder. He selected the school’s last best offer, a decision the teachers then appealed to IEERB.
The relations board affirmed the fact-finder’s decision, which led to JCTA filing suit in Marion Superior Court. That court ruled in November 2014 in favor of the school corporation and IEERB, with the teachers then appealing the decision to Indiana Court of Appeals.