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Union rejects board’s proposed increase to liquidated-damages schedule; proposes higher early-resignation incentive instead
Summary
The union declined the board’s proposal of steep liquidated-damage penalties for late resignations and proposed increasing the early-resignation incentive from $500 to $1,000 to encourage earlier notices; both sides discussed date windows and comparability with other districts.
Union negotiators rejected a district draft that would have raised liquidated-damage penalties for late resignations; instead the union proposed raising the early-resignation incentive from $500 to $1,000 for teachers who notify the district by the first contract day of the spring semester.
What was discussed
- The union proposed increasing the early-resignation incentive to $1,000 for notices received by the first contract day of the spring semester; the union framed the change as an incentive that would help the district by creating more lead time for recruitment.
- The union objected to the district’s proposed liquidated-damage scale, describing district-proposed penalties (which the union said ranged up to $20,000 in the earlier draft) as “excessively punitive” and noting that in the union’s unit-service research no nearby district imposed penalties exceeding about $5,000.
- Both sides discussed timing windows: the union suggested clearer, mapped date windows for levels of penalty (for example, placing the first penalty window in late May and the next level beginning in June) to avoid ambiguity about when a resignation moves to the next penalty step.
Legal/timeframe context
Union negotiators referenced the statutory resignation deadline in Kansas law — often described in bargaining as the "fourteenth day following the third Friday in May" — and argued that district penalties should align with that statutory timeline and be reasonable and transparent. The union asked the district to avoid subjective tying of approval to whether a suitable replacement has been found.
Ending
No change was adopted. The district said it had adjusted proposed values downward from earlier drafts and would refine the schedule; the union held firm against very large penalty levels and proposed alternate windows and the $1,000 early-notice incentive as part of a compromise approach.
