New Holstein Teachers, Supports Picket & Rally Against the QEO

More than 100 New Holstein teachers and supporters picketed prior to a school board meeting Monday (September 20, 2004), then packed the meeting to express their anger over being victims of a Qualified Economic Offer.

The educators chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the QEO has got to go!" and "No more QEO" as Channel 26 in Green Bay broadcast a live report on the 6:00 news. They carried signs with slogans such as, "Respect and Pay: Keep Teachers Here," and "Just Say No to the QEO," and "Is the Board Willing to Pay for Excellence?"

At a rally prior to the picketing, Kettle Moraine UniServ Director Jim Carlson said the New Holstein teachers already have won the battle in that the QEO has given them a renewed sense of solidarity that will carry them through.

No matter what the school board does from here, he said, "We've taken back our schools."

"What they can't take away from the New Holstein Education Association is our solidarity," he said.

WEAC President Stan Johnson, WEAC Collective Bargaining Director Mike McNett and WEAC negotiations specialist Dennis Eisenberg joined the picketing and the rally. Johnson assured NHEA members they are not alone. "All 97,000 WEAC members recognize what you are going through. We are all banding together. You are not by yourself."

NHEA chief negotiator Tom Fleming thanked all the WEAC members from other school districts who came to show support.

"Our fight is your fight, and we appreciate all the help you can give us," he said.

At the school board meeting, nearly a dozen teachers and citizens spoke, asking the board to consider the importance of respect and decent pay and the need to retain and attract quality teachers. The NHEA is asking the board to return to the bargaining table.

Fleming blamed the existence of the QEO law for the district's labor unrest.

"The school board refused to negotiatebecause they had the QEO," he said.

Posted September 21, 2004

New Holstein teachers vote to cut school board pay

New Holstein teachers packed the school district's annual meeting this month (September 2004) and voted to cut school board members' salaries by $25 a year.

The vote was in reaction to the school board's earlier decision to impose a Qualified Economic Offer on teachers, which resulted in no pay raise for most teachers and forced two teachers to return nearly $1,200 in past salary to the district (see below).

On September 7, about 40 teachers marched to the annual meeting to let school board members know about their anger over the QEO. Twenty-eight of the teachers were district residents and made up a majority of residents attending the meeting. Teacher Grace Flora moved to cut school board salaries from $600 to $575 a year, and the motion passed 31-16 on a written ballot.

The residents in attendance also voted 28-21 against passing the budget, but that was a formality since the board is authorized to set the district's final budget regardless of the outcome at the annual meeting.

During the annual meeting, New Holstein Education Association chief negotiator Tom Fleming noted that the district has a fund balance reserve of $2.26 million, up $590,000 from the previous year. He said that money could be used to settle the contract dispute with teachers.

Several other teachers and citizens also urged the board to return to the bargaining table and negotiate in good faith.

"One elderly woman stood up and scolded the board and urged them to treat us with respect and pay us what we deserve," Flora said. "All in all, it was a therapeutic evening."

Posted September 17, 2004

Members of the New Holstein Education Association celebrate that they collected more than $1,500 in $1 individual checks from colleagues throughout the state. Two NHEA members - Carol Lamont (front, left) and Jane Lefeber (red shirt) - have to pay the school district a total of nearly $1,200 as a result of the district imposing a Qualified Economic Offer on its teachers. (See story below)

WEAC members send 1,500 $1 checks to New Holstein colleagues

WEAC members throughout the state made a dramatic statement in opposition to the Qualified Economic Offer in early September and helped out two colleagues in New Holstein in the process.

In just a few days, members and others sent more than 1,500 checks of $1 each to the New Holstein Education Association to cover a salary "payback" that the district required of two teachers. After imposing a Qualified Economic Offer on its teachers, the district ordered Jane Lefeber to pay back $787.25 and Carol Lamont to pay back $361.95 in salary from last year.

The district got its money Wednesday (September 1, 2004), but probably not the way it expected.

A few dozen NHEA members marched into Superintendent Joseph Wieser's office and delivered a bagful of $1 checks to cover the charge. With a Channel 26 (Green Bay) television cameraman recording the event, NHEA chief negotiator Tom Fleming opened up the bag and spilled the checks onto Wieser's desk.

Fleming handed a statement to Wieser and read it. The statement explained that the $1 checks are intended to cover the payback requirement for Lefeber and Lamont, who were the only two teachers required to make paybacks because of their position on the salary schedule. Forty percent of the teachers received no pay increase, and the others received a very minimal raise under the QEO, Fleming said.

Lefeber and Lamont were near - but not at - the top of the salary schedule. They received a pay raise last year when terms of the previous year's contract were carried over during stalled contract negotiations for 2003-05. After talks broke down, the district chose to impose a QEO retroactive to July 1, 2003. Under the QEO "contract," the pay raises were so small that the district required Lefeber and Lamont to pay back what they earned in raises the previous year.

"I was appalled and livid when I got the superintendent's letter in the mail," Lefeber said after leaving Wieser's office. "I was expecting some back pay - not a lot but a little - but I didn't think we would have to pay money back to the district. Never in the history of our school district has that ever happened before."

Lefeber and Lamont said they wanted to thank every person who sent in a check, which not only covers their paybacks but makes a statement of solidarity in opposition to the QEO.

The NHEA actually collected $1,741.32 by the September 1 deadline, including $1,500 in $1 checks, a $27 contribution made up entirely of pennies and other checks in amounts other than $1. Fleming said any amount in excess of that owed for paybacks would be donated to the NHEA Scholarship Fund.

The NHEA is inviting supporters to a September 20 rally. It will begin at 5 p.m. at Hunter’s Rae restaurant in New Holstein, followed by picketing at the high school at 6:00. After NHEA members make statements at the school board meeting, participants will return to Hunter's Rae at about 7:30 p.m. for a celebration.

Posted September 2, 2004; Updated September 10, 2004