Ending a marathon meeting that exposed deep rifts between some employees and the people elected to oversee the St. Tammany Parish public school district, the School Board late Thursday reversed course and ordered the superintendent back to the negotiating table with the employees’ union.
The board’s vote came after a barrage of public comment from teachers and other workers who voiced a strong distrust in the board — and from some board members who accused union supporters of "fear tactics."
The board, meeting in committee, took up a last-minute agenda item to revisit the 9-4 vote the board took Monday night to not accept the collective bargaining agreement hammered out during months of negotiations between schools Superintendent Frank Jabbia and the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees.
The committee’s vote Thursday night, 9-3, now authorizes Jabbia to head back into negotiations with Brant Osborn, the union president. The committee’s approval now goes to the full board for consideration next week. However, since the committee consists of the full board, approval would be expected.
“We all want the right things,” School Board member Mike Peterson said. “I think there’s a remedy and I think we can get to it.”
The school district and union have worked under a collective bargaining agreement — the CBA — for decades. The most recent CBA expired in June.
The board on Monday approved the salary increases in the proposed CBA, which added an extra “step” in the district’s pay plan that amounts to $500 for teachers and $350 for support personnel. There are also financial incentives for teachers willing to move into hard-to-staff subject areas such as special education or receive advanced degrees or certifications.
But the board’s “no” vote on the CBA itself came as a surprise to many, including Osborn and Jabbia. Jabbia, a longtime St. Tammany educator, said he could not remember a time when the district did not work under a CBA, which covers salaries and myriad other policy issues for the school district’s nearly 6,000 employees.
“I relied on that CBA” as teacher, administrator and superintendent, Jabbia told the board Thursday.
But a number of board members said this week that they wanted the board to take back some of the district’s policy-making decisions, and that the board over the years had ceded too much of that authority to the union.
School Board President James Braud, one of the “no” votes on Monday, said Thursday night that “at least nine of us had problems” with the CBA.
Braud also noted that St. Tammany residents lean Republican, and that he had heard from a “significant percentage” of people who were happy to see the board take some of the policy-making control away from the union.
Braud on Thursday voted for Jabbia to resume CBA negotiations.
The rift that Monday night’s vote exposed isn’t the first time the School Board and employees have tangled. In 2022, some bus drivers staged a sickout over pay demands, prompting the board to pony up with some raises.
But this week’s tension wasn’t so much about money — although pay is a constant specter presiding over school district and union talks.
Some of the union members and supporters who took the mic Thursday — more than three dozen, with no one from the audience speaking against the CBA — said they understand that school district finances are tight. But many chided the board for what they felt was a slap delivered with Monday’s “no” vote.
“We did trust,” teacher Trinity Noble told the board. “Look where we are.”
Another teacher, Mandy Conly, took Braud to task for his reference to party politics and said the issue cuts across political party lines.
“We as teachers deserve to be respected,” she said. “Enough is enough.”
As part of its vote against the CBA, the board had directed Jabbia to instead develop an employee handbook, using components of the CBA as a framework.
Many teachers and employees who spoke said an employee manual doesn’t offer them the protection and voice that a CBA does.
But some board members noted that much of the CBA is just current state education law, in other words, the district has to follow it whether there’s a CBA or not.
Board member Matthew Greene, who voted against the CBA on Monday and again Thursday, said there are ways the district could develop an employee manual and that he and other board members are tired of hearing that the board and administration don’t have employees’ backs.
Greene said “fear tactics” used by union supporters and Osborn on social media and news stories were “shameful.” He also said the union failed to enforce a no-strike clause in the CBA with bus drivers in 2022.
“There are a lot of holes in it (the CBA) and this group picked out those holes,” Board member Dennis Cousin added.
Board member Michelle Hirstius, chairing the meeting, defended Osborn and union supporters.
“What did y’all expect,” after the surprising vote Monday night, she asked the board.
The board’s action does not set a timeframe for negotiation or for a final product. But it does say the CBA to be renegotiated will be for two years.