teams with powerful narratives

think about not just necessarily bar gaining a good percentage on their salary schedule, but to make sure they’re bargaining a good percentage on a good schedule.”

Jamie Roster, president of a unit representing office workers and par aeducators at Traverse City Area Public Schools, heard Culver’s pre sentation in Gaylord and said she looks forward to going to talks with the district this spring armed with new information.

School support professionals are struggling to make ends meet and the district can’t fill openings, said Roster, who works as lead administrative assistant at an elementary school.

“Ours is the group in the trenches,” she said. “We are the one‑on‑one aides for special‑ed and medically fragile students; we’re the (preschool) assistants. We’re managing behav iors and expected to act like nurses in the office even though we’re not nurses. And ours is the group living paycheck to paycheck.”

Marlene Bailey, a 42‑year educa tor who’s been teaching in Elk Rapids for 23 years, is part of a bargaining team for the first time ever this year and said she felt “really shocked” but better prepared by the information Culver presented.

“When you have the substance and the information to stand on, it gets you — I want to say fired up but not so much that as it gets you grounded in your own position,” she said.

Culver and Delpier regularly travel the state conducting trainings and working with UniServ directors to support bargainers. At a recent Saturday training in Kalamazoo, the bargaining team from Portage Public

Schools said they built confidence from the information presented.

The team hadn’t seen their Cost Alignment Calculator yet, but regard less of the exact percentage increase the team pursues, “this tool lets you see that a big number that sounds too big may not be when you look at this historical data,” said Matt Caramagno, local vice president and bargaining team member.

“Teachers have been underpaid for so long that seemingly large increases are needed to close that gap, and this tool lets people see that more easily. And having more people with the knowledge of what’s fair and what we deserve gives us more strength.”

Pearl Rojas‑Brown said she hopes the same is true for members of her unit, the Kalamazoo Support Professionals (KSP). The office staff, paraeducators, teaching assistants, campus safety and transportation employees have felt under‑valued and dispirited in recent years, she said.

“We’re hoping with all of this infor mation that we can build some momentum,” said Rojas‑Brown, an associate teacher in the pre‑kinder garten program. “If one droplet can create a ripple, then more of them can make a wave.” v

Some Recommended Strategies for Bargainers

■ Determine whether your local Association’s compensation trends mimic the statewide data.

■ I f so, demand financial proposals that restore your “fair share” of the Revenue received.

■ Do an analysis of your school’s financial trends over time and create comparative analysis of your school to other comparative schools.

■ T here’s a school employee shortage. Compare your pay amounts to those of surrounding districts to determine if your pay is competitive over the course of a career.

■ S hare all of the above with your membership.

DO ALL OF THIS PRIOR TO BEGINNING YOUR NEGOTIATIONS.