All information is as of March 6. Story will continue to be updated.

Following the emergency closed board meeting on March 3, the RNEA and Board of Education reached a tentative agreement, 10% over two years rather than 12% over three years. This will increase salaries by 5.25% for the first year and 4.75% for the second. This agreement still needs to be presented to and voted upon in a ratification vote by RNEA members, and then approved by the Board of Education. Community members, parents and educators themselves have yet to view salary schedules to see if this increase is an average or across the board raises. While this deal does not solve every problem, and Rockwood will still not be at the midpoint of salaries in St. Louis County, this is a step in the right direction for district negotiations.

Countless staff members at schools in the Rockwood District (RSD) have been seen wearing red shirts, some that read ‘Rockwood Educators Make it All Possible.’ These red shirts and pins are being worn to bring awareness to the district contract negotiation process, as well as to show support for the Rockwood National Education Association (RNEA).

According to Niche.com, Rockwood ranks third in ‘best school districts in Missouri’; yet, it ranks 20th in the state for teacher salaries. Now more than ever the topic of teacher pay is being discussed throughout the community. Thomas Cook, RNEA President, is committed to coming to an agreement with the district on increasing teacher salaries to more competitive wages. 

“The reason why this is such a big issue is that not only are we in the bottom quarter of St. Louis County for a lot of our salary schedule, it didn’t used to be that way. Less than 10 years ago, we were a lot more competitive, but our rankings with the other St. Louis County districts have been dropping quite precipitously. In 2017-2018 we ranked eighth in the county and now we rank 20th [for starting Bachelors salary],” Cook said.

Throughout the course of this negotiation process, the Board of Education, RNEA and RSD all play an important role in debating issues and trying to come to an agreement. Dr. Kim Cohen, Superintendent of Human Resources, serves as the facilitator for the district side of the negotiation. 

“Rockwood utilized an interest based bargaining framework versus traditional bargaining with our teachers union. So our goal in the teacher bargaining process was, and remains, a collaborative problem solving approach focused on mutual interest,” Cohen said. “We engaged in negotiations this year utilizing the following interest based bargaining principles. We started by identifying shared interest, and that is done with the Board of Education and RNEA to establish common goals such as improving student outcomes, maintaining financial stability and ensuring fair compensation and working conditions.” 

Rockwood Superintendent Dr. Curtis Cain sent an email following the ‘Fiscal Responsibility’ Strategic Plan Community Engagement Meeting. This message addressed the increasing uproar from parents, staff and community members about information being spread throughout  social media. 

In response to the circulating information, on Nov. 12 Cain posted a message stating that the district was at an impasse in the bargaining process and stated that “it has become quite evident that information has been shared outside of the negotiations process that is misleading in nature”. 

The district’s proposal offered a 12% increase in salaries over the next three years. The RNEA initially proposed a 30% increase, and counter offered with an 18% and then a 16% increase. The 12% increase proposed by RSD does not put Rockwood at the midpoint of salary rankings across St. Louis County. 

This increase is front-loaded, meaning that there would be more of an increase in the first year compared to the third year. The district does not plan to change their offer of 12%, but make it to where it is an even 4% increase over a three year span. This offer was initially presented by the district team in Sept., and was the only offer presented by the district. On Feb. 21, the stalled negotiations were addressed in a Cabinet Connection post, with Cain addressing various financial concerns, including an announced decrease in the state government funding formula.

On Feb. 27, an article was published releasing information about a reported 17% raise for Cain. Rockwood clarified that 17% is his highest possible salary increase, and  is dependent on the increase for teacher salaries.  If Cain were to receive the 17% increase, by 2028 his salary would rise to $320,000. The salary increase from 2025-2028 is equal to $47,000. 

“At this point, it’s my sincere hope that RNEA leadership will return to the table with the understanding that 12% over three years is the most sustainable offer we can provide,” Cohen said. “We’re very open to discussions on how the salary increase is allocated to best support our educators. Ultimately, we cannot put ourselves in a position where we are being fiscally irresponsible and put ourselves in a position where we would be cutting programs or teachers.” 

Cain highlighted various points in his message posted to ParentSquare, stating that approximately 85% of the district’s budget is allocated towards the benefits and salaries of employees. He also stated that Rockwood provides staff with more family and medical leave (FML) time than what the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires. 

While Rockwood does offer more than the amount of family and medical leave (FML) required by federal law, the negotiations relating to FML are in relation to non-paid leave and district required sick days in relation to the FMLA. 

“We certainly did not want to spread a misconception that Rockwood is violating federal law, the Family Medical Leave Act. You can get up to 12 weeks of family medical leave without it affecting your job security. So basically they can’t fire you for taking family medical leave, but it’s not required to be paid leave,” Cook said. “What happens in Rockwood is that teachers get 10 sick days a year, and those days can accrue, meaning the sick days that you don’t use roll over. Let’s say I’m a first year teacher. I have 10 sick days, and I use two of them. I have eight remaining. Those roll over to the following year, and then I would have 18 total. Then they’ll roll over year to year throughout your career in Rockwood.” 

This becomes an issue when educators, some already living paycheck to paycheck, lose money out of their paychecks when on leave. Reasons for taking FMLA include the birth of a child, surgery, sick family member, recovery time, etc. Some of these examples are unpredictable and spontaneous. When already low on funds, it can seem daunting to educators to take the time off that is necessary. 

“It can be a major hardship on educators to take unpaid leave. So that’s why we’re bringing that issue up,” Cook said. “How can we improve Rockwoods current policy? Which is in accordance with federal law and above and beyond federal law, but how do we improve the current regulation to ease some of that hardship on educators.”

The RNEA agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on the topic of FML, which is a separate side agreement between two parties meaning they are willing to work together. The RNEA is planning to look into and propose an expansion on FML policies next year. 

Another issue that competitive teacher salaries addresses is educator recruitment and retention. Highly qualified staff is a term used by RSD in their Strategic Plan Steering Committee, where the district has stated they are making an effort to recruit more educators and staff for the district. 

The Human Resources department has utilized recruiting efforts such as advertisements, social media, flyers, yard signs, emails and billboards in hopes of attracting new employees to the district. Per information posted on Board Docs on the Rockwood website, the Board of Education has approved a $34,000 expenditure to First Alert 4 for “renewing a 6 week digital ad campaign to encourage people to apply for support staff openings throughout the district” and a $21,513 expenditure to “renew the 13 week radio campaign to encourage listeners to apply for support staff openings throughout the district”. While these efforts address recruiting staff, staff retention remains an issue.

The district also has implemented different paths for teacher certification, job embedded professional development and a $10,000 Department of Education and Secondary Education (DESE), ‘Grow Your Own’ grant. 

“The ‘Welcome Home Rockwood’ committee has also re-envisioned the process to ensure that all current and former Rockwood graduates, who are pursuing a career path in the field of education, have mentoring support from a current teacher,” Cohen said. “They receive a guaranteed student-teaching placement as well as a guaranteed screening interview, and then scholarship opportunities are also available for Welcome Home Rockwood participants.” 

Rockwood is also utilizing university partnerships to help recruit and retain teachers. These partnerships are not offered in every district. Having these resources available for educators is something that can aid in furthering education. 

“We partnered with Mizzou, they’re offering 50% off of masters tuition for teachers in years one through three who are pursuing selected coursework. Missouri Baptist is offering 35% off masters or EDS tuition for any certified Rockwood teacher pursuing higher education. Lindenwood University is offering 20% off tuition for any staff member that is a full time staff member or has a non-contracted position,” Cohen said. “We’ve really worked on those things that are specific to Rockwood. They’re not just something that these universities offer all districts. We’ve done that through a partnership with them, really reaching out to build our student teaching networks with them, to build our presence at job fairs and so on and so forth.” 

While the nationwide teacher shortage affects schools and districts, there are  struggles to retain highly qualified staff. 

“It’s important to note that we’re fully staffed right now, we’re not at a point like some of our neighboring districts who have vacancies. That means, as a student, if you enrolled in journalism that you might not have a journalism teacher,” Cohen said. “So we are not in that position. We have been able to continue employing what the state considers highly qualified staff members for our aging positions.”

However, teachers have reported leaving Rockwood in search of better pay. Karen O’Fallon, former Babler Elementary School teacher, resigned from Rockwood due to not being able to support herself and her family. She was also spending a significant amount of time outside of contract hours creating different resources to fit her students’ needs. 

“When I first resigned, I got a job at Whitfield School as the events coordinator. So I was still in education, but I wasn’t in the classroom. That was a really great transition job. Since then, I have gotten a different job and now work for the National Electrical Contractors Association,” O’Fallon said. “I am their member services director, which means I coordinate training and education for electricians. I reach out to contractors and help them with problems they’re having with their company or anything they may need. So it’s been a really big change, but it’s been amazing. Although I haven’t gone to college in 20 years, I went to be a teacher, but things have changed so much now. I’m realizing now that teachers can literally go out and do anything they want, because they have transferable skills and they are very growth mindset oriented.”

Differing opinions and perspectives have caused disagreements and tension throughout the negotiation process. While Rockwood teacher salaries fall towards the bottom of St. Louis County, administrators salaries reportedly rank in the upper half of St. Louis County. 

“I feel like the administrators who have been in their positions for such a long time, I think they’ve forgotten what it’s like to be in the classroom. I think the best way to learn is by doing. Rockwood preaches learning by doing. I think every administrator who sits in an office every single day should spend one day a semester or one day a quarter in a classroom so they can see what teachers are trying to deal with and compensate for,” O’Fallon said. “And it would just give them a much better idea of what we’re going through. I do think that they could have a little better balance to try to walk in a teacher’s shoes just just to see what it feels like. I guarantee you they would change some of their protocols based on just living what we live.” 

Educators, community members, students and parents have been seen at multiple locations, raising awareness with signs about their salaries, calling it Coffee at the Curbside. While this is not a strike because public sector workers in Missouri do not have the right to strike, these demonstrations are taking place outside of contract hours, making them fully legal.

On March 3, the Board of Education (BOE) had an emergency closed door meeting. The RNEA planned a Coffee at the Curbside at the intersection of N. Street and Hwy 109. Multiple Rockwood security and law enforcement vehicles were parked around the location.

The RNEA, RSD educators, as well as parents and supporters of Rockwood educators, have been using their voices on social media and other sources of media to spread awareness, and gain support from the community.

Ellen Garner, retired Eureka High School teacher, posted to the recently created “Rockwood Families United for Teachers” Facebook group, sharing her thoughts and opinions as a recently retired teacher. 

“I recently retired after 34 years in Rockwood. I spent my entire career at Eureka High School. I could have retired earlier, but I loved my job and I loved my school. It is the area where my husband and I chose to build our home and raise our family. . . Teacher compensation must be fair and equitable across the board,” Garner wrote. ”If not, Rockwood is going to become a district of transient teachers who stay for a few years and move on to better paying jobs. You will lose those passionate educators who make Rockwood their career. As a parent, as a retired teacher, that makes me sad. Rockwood teachers deserve better. Rockwood students deserve better than the transient work force you will assuredly create by making Rockwood teachers among the most underpaid in the area. I am asking you as a Rockwood parent, a Rockwood taxpayer and a Rockwood retired teacher for the district and the Board of Education to do the right thing.”

Facebook posts and groups, Instagram posts and stories are just a few of the ways people are communicating their opinions and frustrations with the negotiations process and spreading awareness for Rockwood educators. 

“I think awareness is growing. The purpose of our actions is to bring awareness to the issue. A parent group has started their own Facebook page in support of Rockwood educators. We are continuing to share and publish information, especially on our social media,” Cook said.  

As these negotiations continue, both sides of the table are hoping to come to a tentative agreement that is both fair and fiscally responsible. 

“This is an ongoing process and we hope we can come to a swift resolution. This is very unsettling for our teachers. It’s unsettling for the district, and it’s certainly not what we want for anyone,” Cohen said.