Concerns about staff retention and contract protections have sparked a contract dispute between administrators and teachers at the newly opened Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA) Career Connect Campus, a $100 million facility designed with a goal of preparing students for high-demand careers.
The campus just welcomed its first-ever round of students a few weeks ago, with about 1,300 students from nine school districts currently receiving training in skilled trades and technical fields, across 21 programs, according to KRESA.
Both KRESA administrators and the educators who are speaking out about their current protections, while the contract negotiations continue, agree that students have and will remain the focus.
"The good thing is all of the actors involved have been professional. You know, we continue to go to work each day. We're all worried about the kids more than anything," said Eric Stewart, KRESA's assistant superintendent who is overseeing the new campus.
KRESA and community partners have worked for years to create the opportunity for students in Kalamazoo County to have access to hands-on instruction for “high-demand, high-paying careers,” according to Stewart, with construction funded by an anonymous donation and operational costs supported through a voter-approved CTE millage.
Stewart added that another key component was finding the right teachers, which meant recruiting professionals from across industries and training them to lead a classroom of high school students.
“We went out and we recruited a whole bunch of awesome educators from their respective fields. And so we’ve hired, you know, plumbers and HVAC experts, and nurses and auto technicians,” Stewart said.
CTE staff said as many as 30% of instructors have quit since the program began, largely citing a lack of contract protections.
“We have a big, beautiful building, but it’s the educators and the support staff that are there for our students every day,” said CTE counselor Sara Dickman. “We want to make sure that we’re taking care of them to try to stop the rate of attrition that we’ve been seeing, which has been quite high and obviously impacts students when teachers decide to leave.”
More than one year ago, the group of new educators voted to form a union, and formed the Kalamazoo Career Technical Education Association (KCTEA).
KRESA administrators said this is the first group of educators to seek a union contract.
After months of negotiations, with most terms settled, union leaders said the conversations have stalled.
“KRESA administrators continue to drag their feet on negotiating a contract with Career Connect Campus instructors, and it’s placing the success of the entire career tech operation at risk," said Brian Brusach, a law enforcement instructor for KRESA and KCTEA union president.
The educators are asking for “foundational things," according to Brusach, such as "due process for discipline” and other protections he described as standard in contracts across neighboring counties. “We can’t provide Kalamazoo-area students with the best and brightest educators and create better opportunities for our kids’ future unless KRESA starts treating its educators with the professional respect and dignity we have earned,” he said in a statement.
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