Olathe Negotiated Agreement

`3. In its role as the exclusive representative for professional collective bargaining in the District, Olathe NEA negotiated with the requesting school district for «Terms for Professional Services», as that term is defined in K.S.A. 72-5413 (1). We begin our analysis by examining several provisions of the Negotiation Act. The Kansas Legislature passed the law in 1970. L. 1970, c. 284. It grants the professional staff of a training committee, e.B certified teachers, the right to create, join or support professional workers` organisations (EOPs). K.S.A. 72-5413 (c); K.S.A. 72-5414.

The law also grants them the right to participate in professional negotiations with the board of directors through the PEO in order to improve their conditions for the provision of professional services. K.S.A. 72-5413(s); K.S.A. 72-5414. Although the law allows for more than one PEO per district, a particular peo becomes the exclusive bargaining representative for all professional employees of an «appropriate bargaining unit,» generally all certified teachers in a school district, if determined by the majority of the unit`s professional staff. K.S.A. 72-5413(f); K.S.A. 72-5415(a). KANAAE acknowledges that since November 1970, ONEA has been recognized by the Olathe School District and the State of Kansas as the exclusive negotiator in such professional negotiations. Since then, ONEA has negotiated with the Board of Directors almost annually on the terms of professional services of the bargaining unit`s professional staff. The proposed agreement is still subject to approval by the Education Committee and ratification by the Collective Bargaining Unit. All certified or authorized non-administrative employees are part of the bargaining unit.

Please read all the related information below and contact Leigh Anne Rogers with «4. The `professional terms of service` negotiated by the applicant and Olathe NEA include Olathe NEA`s exclusive right to use the applicant`s internal postal system. Olathe NEA has this right insofar as it concerns the dissemination of information about the professional bargaining process and related matters to the members of the professional bargaining unit. After consulting with the PRESIDENT of ONEA, the district again rejected the request despite the recent KANAAE resolution. The district again referred to its agreement negotiated with ONEA. More than 2 years later, on the 13th. In August 1998, Barnett, as founder and president of KANAAE, asked the district superintendent of schools for permission to use the postal system to distribute the brochure to members of his newly formed organization. According to Barnett`s brochure, ONEA members were encouraged to give up their membership and join KANAAE for hundreds of dollars less per year, while enjoying similar benefits.

The pamphlet recommended that potential members of KANAAE`s goal of «improving the professional status and remuneration of educators» «without the social agenda of the union [ONEA]» and proclaimed, «It is time for a new voice to speak on behalf of ordinary teachers in Kansas.» The district again rejected the request, again invoking its negotiated agreement with ONEA. We will begin by reviewing various provisions of the Negotiations Act. As already mentioned, this is a legal system based on the concept of two distinct groups, the Education Committee as an employer and a PEO on behalf of professional workers who conduct professional negotiations to reach an agreement in their mutual interest by establishing, maintaining, protecting or improving the terms and conditions of employees` professional service. K.S.A. 72-5413 (e), (f) and (g); K.S.A. 72-5414; K.S.A. 72-5421; K.S.A. 72-5430(b)(5) and (c)(3). In accordance with this concept, the Law also stipulates that if the majority of the professional employees of the collective bargaining unit elect a representative for the purposes of professional bargaining, «that representative shall be the exclusive representative of all professional workers in the unit for that purpose». K.SA 72-5415(a).

While employees, individually or collectively, may always submit or communicate their positions or proposals to the Board, the right to bargain effectively remains exclusively with the bargaining unit. KANAAE recognizes that the right to negotiate has been the exclusive domain of ONEA since 1970. Since KANAAE admits that 80-90% of its members are professionals, the first element of a PEO is satisfied. Therefore, our examination focuses on the remaining legal element of a negotiating objective. For this purpose, «professional negotiation» is defined as «meeting, advising, advising and discussing in good faith to reach an agreement on the terms of professional service». K.S.A. 72-5413(g). We have already said that this phrase means more than «the duly selected and exclusive bargaining agent» who simply «makes suggestions that the board of directors can then freely ignore.» National Education Association v Board of Education, 212 Kan.

741, 748, 512 P.2d 426 (1973), replaced by law for other reasons, U.S.D. 501 v. Secretary of the Kansas Dept. Human Resources, 235 Kan. 968, 970, 685 P.2d 874 (1984). In the mid-1990s, some teachers in the district became members of the Association of American Educators (AAE), a self-proclaimed conservative alternative to the National Education Association, to which ONEA is affiliated. In February 1996, the new members of the AAE contacted a member of the school committee and inquired about the AAE`s possible membership in the Professional Council and their use of the internal postal system, i.e. mailboxes, to distribute their recruitment materials. The district rejected AAE`s application, citing its collective agreement (negotiated agreement) with ONEA as the basis for its rejection.

Douglas Barnett, one of the first members of the AAE in Kansas, independently studied the grounds of the district`s rejection and learned that ONEA was not only duly certified as the exclusive teachers` tariff representative, but also that ONEA had successfully negotiated with the district for the exclusive use of the postal system. Barnett acknowledged that in his early years at the AAE, he aggressively recruited members for the AAE and may have told others that he hoped it would replace ONEA as a representative of district teachers. KANAAE also appears to be claiming another constitutional violation: the District Court`s finding that KANAAE was a PEO meant that its members` rights under the Kansas Constitution and the Negotiations Act not to join a union/organization were violated. We recognize that both the State Constitution (Art. 15( § 12) and the Bargaining Act (K.S.A. 72-5414) essentially provide that no one may be compelled to join or participate in a trade union. However, the district court`s decision does not require anyone to be a member of kanaAE. On the contrary, it informs KANAAE members that they belong to a professional organization, which allows them to exercise their constitutional and legal rights not to belong to a trade union by resigning. These people do not have to belong to KANAAE more than to ONEA; The law stipulates that they can continue to enjoy the professional rights and privileges negotiated by ONEA without being members themselves. See K.S.A. 72-5414 and 72-5415 (only the majority of the bargaining unit must be a member of ONEA).

In short, the constitutional rights of KANAAE members have not been violated. «KANAAE is affiliated with other national and national independent teacher organizations in the United States. NUSS, J.: The Kansas Association of American Educators (KANAAE) is appealing the District Court`s declaratory decision denying it access to the internal postal system of the Olathe Unified School District No. 233. We have forwarded the Appeal from the Court of Appeal pursuant to K.S.A. 20-3018(c). «2. Olathe NEA was established pursuant to K.S.A. 72-5416(a) recognized as the exclusive negotiator for the professional employees of the applicant school district.

Question 3: Did the district`s denial of access to the postal system violate the right of KANAAE members to form under the First Amendment? `1. Olathe NEA is a professional workers` organisation within the meaning of K.S.A. 72-5413(e) of the Law on professional negotiations (`the PNA`), K.S.A. 72-5413 et seq. About 1 year later, on May 5, 2000, Vince Snowbarger, General Manager of KANAAE, made another request to use the postal system, in particular to distribute a revised brochure for members. .