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Two tentative agreements with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) West and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) were passed at the Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Cornerstone School Division's monthly board meeting on Thursday.
"Our Human Resources department worked very hard to bring all the unions and employee groups that we have together to negotiate their contracts, and the board provided a mandate on those contracts," said Marc Casavant, director of education for Cornerstone.
According to Casavant, the next step of the negotiations is for the Human Resources team to "work with the employee groups to potentially have a ratification of the agreements."
A new one-agreement contract with the SEIU was celebrated as a victory by Cornerstone staff, as there had been three agreements with that union prior to these negotiations. This union had been out of their contract prior to bargaining, which started on Nov. 1, 2010.
The prior agreement with CUPE had expired on the same date that bargaining had started, on Nov. 1, 2010.
Both tentative agreements offered wage parity within the groups, and a competitive wage and benefit package when compared to the rest of the province. If ratified by the unions, the agreements will expire on Aug. 31, 2012.
"When you have an organization that is as large as the Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Cornerstone, and we have so many different employees, it is a positive step to have these contracts negotiated for any term of time," added Casavant. "It helps with the morale in the system, and the direction that the school division can continue to work towards."
The facilities department of Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Cornerstone updated the schedule for the Oxbow Prairie Heights projects, and noted that an architect will be at the board meeting in February to detail the Weyburn Comprehensive project.
Andy Dobson, facilities manager for Cornerstone, noted that while the Oxbow Prairie Heights project was seven months behind, that he is confident that a topnotch facility will be constructed for students and staff.
There has been recent concern of heat issues at both the Oxbow elementary and junior high schools reported. The goal is to move students from these older facilities into the new Oxbow Prairie Heights schools by the middle of March.
Dobson also detailed a new Strategic Business Plan for the facilities department with the board, which will provide direction for both succession planning and detailing required facility upgrades in the school division for the next five years.
According to a report by the Human Resources department, the Cornerstone school division received an influx of students in the fall of 2010.
"We have seen an increase of 95 students in our school division after receiving our enrollment numbers from September," said Casavant. "With that we had built in some continuance that we anticipated that we may have to use, and help cover off teachers required because of that student increase."
"Our enrollment numbers continue to demonstrate that there could be some growth in the division, and are compiling some numbers to help forecast our enrollment rates for next year."
During the 2010-11 school year, Cornerstone had operated with a Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of 14.74. This means on average across the division one teacher would be assigned to 14.74 students in a classroom.
The board of education approved a PTR of 14.74 for their 2011-12 school year during their monthly meeting. It was noted by the Human Resources department that Cornerstone is working slightly below that PTR.
Casavant noted that Cornerstone is in the process of evaluating the attendance boundaries for the schools in the division, and expects recommendations to come to the board of education in late March or April.
