Hartland Board of Education Approves Union Contracts

Union contracts for Hartland Schools employees were approved during Monday night’s Hartland Consolidated Schools Board of Education meeting.

Contracts between the Hartland Education Association, Hartland Affiliates Association, Hartland Food Service Employees and Hartland Maintenance Employees were all approved without discussion from the board.

Calling it a “great time of bargaining” Hartland Superintendent Janet Sifferman said the staff once again agreed to concessionary contracts and thanked the bargaining teams for their work and effort reaching the agreements.

“We notice that, we know that and we thank you for it,” Sifferman said during the meeting. “It’s the tradition that we established here long ago that we share and share alike and when times are good we share with our employees and these last many years, times haven’t been so good and our employees have helped us out with that.”

Sifferman says that all Hartland Schools employees have agreed to a salary formula where raises are based on new money to the district and new students to the districts. 

“Right now there is no money coming in and our enrollment is declining,” Sifferman said. “They (employees) have willingly agreed to the salary formula realizing that it won’t give them much opportunity to have raises.” 

With the end of the current contacts, Sifferman said it will have been an eight-year run of concessionary contracts on the part of the staff.

Other concessions included secondary class sizes that went from 175 to 165, which is still above contract language, according to Hartland Education Association President Nancy Spranger and teachers helping to maintain a positive fund balance. 

Negotiations for the teacher contracts began during the summer, according to Sifferman, who credits early and regular discussions with helping to resolve issues as they arise. 

“We have a good working relationship with our school board, our employees and our administration,” Siffereman said. “And that really makes it good for our children because we’re focused on what we’re supposed to be focused on- and that’s curriculum and instruction.”

Because the contracts were ratified before Wednesday, Sifferman says that Hartland Schools will not be affected by the right-to-work standards during this contract period.

Administrative contract renewals were also approved by the Board of Education during Monday’s meeting.