I have to say, anything I was expecting about being on the bargaining team has not yet happened. I had been told of years past that the contention could be cut with a knife...that has not been the case so far. I had been told as well that the lawyer was a total douche but that has not been my experience so far. Granted, I only have one meeting under my belt but even the seasoned members have said that the light-hearted feel is a welcome change.
One thing that was a bit annoying was the down time. First of all, while all of the members on "my side of the table" were there, seated and ready to go at the appointed time (9:00), the other side didn't arrive until close to 9:45. Considering lateness is a pet peeve of mine, strike one. The guy I sit next to said that this is common practice on their part. (RUDE!) Additionally, after listening to the "state of the district" from our treasurer and having some discussion, we broke around 11:00. Lunch was at 11:30, which my side worked through and then the other side never returned to us until near 1:00 (though they were well aware that we were ready for them). Whatever.
After 1:00, we did manage to get through about 5 major items, 2 of which we were in agreement on. The other three items will need further discussion. At around 3:05, we proposed our financial/salary proposal. I'll spare you the details but when our LRC (labor relations consultant) asked if they would like the proposal then (as we were wrapping up) or at the next meeting, I heard the lawyer say to the superintendent that he would prefer it next time because he didn't want it to ruin the rest of his day (nice attitude). They did take it and I didn't notice any overly angry mugs. Next meeting should be interesting.
Speaking of which, it will be next Tuesday and most likely there will me much discussion but not much headway because our treasurer will be in China for the next two weeks. Oh well...we're well on our way anyway.
In other news, I've got nothing. I'm excited to start the movie in LA for the book we just finished (The Giver). The kids took the test yesterday and hopefully, they did well. Oh, oops, I forgot to include their extra credit. Whoops! I'll do that first thing today.
Okay well, time to wrap this up and get to work...lots of papers to grade. It's like pea soup out there - foggy as hell. Happy Humpday! Later!
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