District and union negotiators marked progress on several contract items during the Oct. 11 session, tentatively resolving questions on leave split, calendar clerical errors, the sick-leave bank and department chair/team-leader pay structure.

A district staff member (Staff member, Speaker 5) told negotiators they would "stay with the current contract, which is the split of 7 5" on leave days and would not adopt a proposal to add Presidents' Day as a negotiated holiday at this time. The district also agreed to correct a clerical error on the K–8 calendar so that parent-teacher conference time is restored to the prior schedule: "we would be willing to shift that time back to parent conference time from PD time as it currently sits on that k through 8 calendar."

Sick-leave bank

Parties negotiated new language for the sick-leave bank that the district and union described as intended to simplify administration. Under the tentative arrangement discussed in the session:

- The district would donate 150 days to the leave bank at the beginning of each year.
- Staff who wish to participate would donate days by Sept. 1 (or within 10 days of hire if hired after Sept. 1).
- Calls for donated days would be made when the leave-bank committee "deems it necessary" rather than when the bank drops below a fixed threshold. The parties discussed a future automatic review if the bank reaches a 300-day level at the end of a contract year.

The district and union also discussed how forfeited leave at separation would be credited: the transcript records a proposal where only half of forfeited days credited to the bank would be counted in the same way ("half of what they contribute will go into the bank"), and the parties discussed wordsmithing to capture that mechanics precisely.

Team leaders and stipends

The parties tentatively agreed to a one-year pilot to pay middle-school team leaders based on the number of meetings they lead rather than only by committee membership. The presenter described the pilot's stipend schedule during the session: "1 meeting per week = $1,000; 2 per week = $2,000; 3 = $3,000; 3 or more = $4,000" (Staff member, Speaker 5). The district asked that the pilot be implemented for one year with an automatic one‑year sunset that would allow reopening the provision in the next bargaining cycle.

Other items

The district said it would accept the union's retirement buyback proposal to increase the payment level to $1.25 while keeping the existing formula unchanged: "We would be willing to accept going to $1.25 ... we would not be willing to change the formula; the formula would stay the same." (Staff member, Speaker 5). Negotiators also agreed to fix the parent-teacher conference clerical issue so K–8 will have two conferences (one evening and one full day) as in the prior calendar.

Ending

Most of these items were characterized by negotiators as tentatively agreed and ready for language drafting; both sides noted that final contractual text still requires wordsmithing. The parties planned to continue work on outstanding salary and supplemental items at a follow-up negotiation session.