1.1 The board hereby recognizes the Association as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative for all professional certificated personnel under contract or letter of intent, or on leave, or on an hourly basis. Such representation will cover all personnel assigned to newly created professional certificated positions unless the parties agree that such positions are supervisory as defined in RCW 41.59.020(4)(d). Such representation will exclude the Superintendent, Chief Operations Officer, Executive Directors, Directors, Principals, and Assistant Principals.

1.2 Such representation will include substitute certificated employees employed by the District for more than thirty (30) days of work within any twelve (12) month period ending during the current or immediately preceding school year, and who continue to be available for employment as substitutes.

1.3 Such representation will include long-term certificated substitutes employed by the District. Long-term substitutes become employees when it is anticipated or comes to pass that a member of the bargaining unit will be absent from the employee's regular teaching assignment and will be replaced in such assignment for a period in excess of twenty (20) consecutive workdays. In addition, a substitute will be considered "long-term" when a certificated employee will be gone from a position for a period of time and, according to the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, it requires the substitute to take over the full responsibilities of the position from the first day of the assignment. The per diem rate of pay for long-term substitutes will be $175 per day regardless of the individual's education and experience.

Article 12 - Association Security, Article 19 - Evaluation, Article 21 - Assignment and Transfer, Article 22 - Contracts, Work Day, Payment, Article 23 - Leaves, Article 28 - Layoff and Recall, and Articles 37-43 - Compensation and Benefits, will not be applicable to substitutes.

2.1 This contract will become effective when ratified by the Board and Association and executed by authorized representatives thereof, and may be amended or modified only with mutual consent of the parties.

2.2 This contract will supersede any rules, regulations, policies, resolutions and practices of either the District or the Association, which will be contrary to or inconsistent with its terms.

2.3  A variance to any provision of this contract may be requested utilizing the steps and forms established in Appendix C.    The variance request will be evaluated by the District and Association for any working condition issues impacted should the variance be approved.  Examples of working condition issues could include planning time, class sizes, variations to programs, the work day and teacher responsibilities.  The variance process allows NTEA members and principals to process innovative ideas and programs in response to student learning needs and to close achievement gaps while keeping working conditions in mind.  The variance process also assumes collaboration and consensus-building regardless of the size of the group involved in the variance request.

The Association and the District agree that granted variances are not precedent-setting.  The parties further agree that once the variance has expired, all variance provisions shall return to the status contained in the collective bargaining agreement.

See Contract Variance Request Forms and Flow Chart in Appendix C.

3.1 All individual employee contracts will be subject to and consistent with Washington State law and the terms and conditions of this contract. If any individual employee contract contains any language inconsistent with this contract, this contract, during its duration, will be controlling.

3.2 Neither the Board nor the Association will directly or indirectly engage in or assist in any unfair practices.

3.3 While this contract will be in force, neither the Association nor its members will engage in any concerted action against the District including, but not limited to, strike, work slowdowns and/or reprisals against Board members and/or administrators.

4.1 Association representatives will meet with the Superintendent, or designee, at least once per month during the school year to review and discuss current school problems and practices in the administration of this contract.

4.2 The Association will provide to the Superintendent, for the purposes of enabling effective communication and work with the Association, the names of its officers, committee chairpersons, building representatives and, in addition thereto, shall furnish a copy of its current constitution and bylaws.

5.1 This contract shall be governed by the Constitution and laws of the United States and the State of Washington. If any provision of this contract, or any application of it to any employee or group of employees is determined to be contrary to law, such provisions or applications will have effect only to the extent permitted, and all other provisions or applications of the contract will continue in full force and effect.

5.2 Any provision or application of this contract that is determined contrary to law, but is, subsequent to that determination, found to be lawful, will take effect upon such finding.

5.3 Any section found contrary to law will be subject to reopened negotiations in an attempt to negotiate a successor section, which is not contrary to law.

5.4 For the purpose of this section, being found contrary to law includes noncompliance with regulatory requirements for funding and/or program approval and rulings from a court of law, the State Auditor and/or the Attorney General.

5.5 The Association declares and promises to indemnify and hold harmless the District, and its officers, agents, or employees against any claims made or any suit instituted against the District or said persons, individually or severally, resulting from the implementation of the provisions of this agreement.

Within thirty (30) days after the signing of this contract by the parties, the District will electronically post the contract. The District will tender to the Association five (5) copies of the contract for every work site. Fifty (50) additional copies will be provided to the Association. It will be the responsibility of the Association to distribute copies. All employees new to the District will, at the time of signing their individual contract, be provided a copy of the contract by the District. The cost of printing the contract will be borne by the District.

Each employee will be issued an individual employment contract, which will be renewed or not renewed by the District each year pursuant to the continuing contract laws of the State of Washington. All individual employment contracts will be subject to and consistent with Washington State statutes and this agreement. Employees will be issued an individual employment contract on or before June 1 of each year of this contract. Failure of the employee to execute and return such contract within ten (10) workdays of receipt of the offer at worksite will relieve the District of employment responsibility. The provision of Article 2, of this contract will, under the provisions of this section Article 7, be controlling with respect to employment agreements. Supplemental contracts when issued are pursuant to RCW 28A.400.200. Supplemental contracts are within the scope of RCW 28A.400.200. The individual contract rider and supplemental contract are included in this agreement as Appendices A through I.

The District will not contract with a private corporation for the performance of duties currently performed by employees represented by the Association, provided that this Article will not obligate the District to operate programs or classes with its own employees, if such programs or classes do not attract sufficient enrollment to make them economically desirable to the District working with its own employees.

The District will not contract with public or private bodies to offer classes in basic skills areas as defined by the Basic Education Law. This Article will not prohibit the District, in collaboration with Association, from entering into cooperative agreements with other public or private bodies for the offering of classes or programs except as noted above.

Either the Association or the District can initiate a review of any article or part of an article throughout the bargaining process.  Once initiated, both parties agree to negotiate and engage in the collaborative bargaining process.