Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Professional Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Union and district announce tentative agreement to codify micro‑credential program
Summary
Ithaca City School District and the Ithaca Teachers Association reached a tentative agreement to codify the district’s micro‑credential professional‑development program in the parties’ contract, while preserving flexibility to change or add credentials.
Ithaca City School District and the Ithaca Teachers Association announced a tentative agreement to codify the district’s micro‑credential professional development program into the collective bargaining agreement.
The proposed language, distributed in the parties’ packets, places micro‑credentials into a new district‑initiated category while combining graduate credits and in‑service credits into a single “self‑initiated professional development” category. “We created a section for that. Really just codifying the nature of the micro credentials as intensive courses that are created by the district for the purpose of meeting district goals,” a union presenter said while describing the change.
Why it matters: the change would formalize how micro‑credentials count toward the credit totals teachers may redeem while preserving the district’s ability to add or change district‑initiated offerings. Under the draft language, district‑initiated micro‑credentials are an exemplar, not a fixed set; if the district chooses to offer more than the nine currently allotted district‑initiated credit hours, the self‑initiated limit would increase reciprocally so total available credits remain balanced.
Union presenters described the edit as a cleanup and simplification of current contract language. “We lumped graduate credits and in service credits together into 1 category,” one presenter said, adding that the wording was shortened and clarified to avoid verbosity and to treat similar credits the same for redemption and accounting purposes.
The parties also acknowledged administrative work required to implement the change, including record keeping. The union thanked Sharon Warren for tracking credits and supporting members’ submissions during the transition.
Outcome: the table “announced tentative agreement on this,” the chair said, and members responded in the room with affirmation. That announcement indicates the parties reached a working agreement on the language subject to formal ratification processes.
Next steps: the tentative agreement will be incorporated into the draft CBA language (appendix pages referenced in the packet) and circulated for final review and member ratification according to each party’s internal procedures.
