Jill Werner moves in to her new office at Waukesha North High School after leaving her old job of of 15 years at New Berlin West High School because of aggressive Act 10 changes. Credit: Gary Porter

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New Berlin - Jill Werner thought she'd retire in the School District of New Berlin.

A 15-year-employee of the district, she started as a math teacher and then became a guidance counselor at New Berlin West Middle/High School. Colleagues and parents commend the way she connects with students as a counselor and coach, and Werner said she loves West's students, staff and families.

But when Waukesha North High School came calling earlier this year, Werner, 42, accepted.

The counseling position at North comes with less salary and benefits, she said. But it's a ticket out of a district she and an unprecedented number of departing New Berlin staff members say has stifled workers in the wake of Act 10, the legislation passed in 2011 that rolled back collective bargaining and gave school boards and district administration much more authority over wages, work rules and benefits for employees.

New Berlin has become ground zero for testing the delicate balance between the pursuit of savings and workplace satisfaction in schools. Freed from the restrictions of union contracts in this largely Republican, fiscally conservative community, New Berlin's administration and School Board members say they've implemented changes that are good for the district and the 4,700 students enrolled here.

They've gotten control of salaries, bringing them closer to the state average; raised the minimum starting wage by $5,000, because board members believed there was too much compensation on the high end and not enough at the entry level; and in general taken back a district that many considered to be in the pocket of the teachers union.

But whereas other districts are reporting normal turnover, 50 of New Berlin's 314 teachers have resigned or retired so far this year, according to the administration.

There's strong speculation that about a third of this year's staff will be elsewhere by the end of the summer; employees have until Thursday to resign without a financial penalty.

"The unintended consequence of Act 10 is that there's no reason to stay in a district that is not treating you well anymore, and we have the ability to leave to go to districts that recognize our value, and want us to join their staff," Werner said. "So, as much as they thought it would balance the budget and help put money back into the schools, it's caused the quality of the education within the schools to go down, at least initially, until others are trained."

Difficult to quantify

While school employees around the state have had to adjust to contributing more to their pension and benefits, many of the departing teachers in New Berlin say their actions illustrate what happens when districts no longer are obligated to listen to employees and negotiate compromises.

New Berlin's departing staff members cite concerns that are difficult to quantify; most have little to do with paying more for retirement or benefits. Based on interviews with more than a dozen employees, the resentment appears to stem from feelings that their input doesn't matter, that the administration doesn't communicate well with them, that they aren't supported or appreciated by people in the district, and that changes meant to be good for kids are poorly executed and fail to improve teaching.

If the goal of the district is to build a more businesslike model, they ask, what successful business wouldn't be concerned by so many employees wanting to flee because of the way they were treated?

Further, Act 10 makes it easier for employees to move from one district to another, with the expiration of contracts that created financial incentives for employees to stay with a district to retirement.

New Berlin Superintendent Joe Garza said rumors and misinformation relating to the administration's work have fueled some of the uneasy feelings in the district this year.

He said the circumstances related to the legislation and, more recently, the gubernatorial recall election have complicated the relationship between the union and management.

"We will continue to bridge this gap as well as maintain our work, drawn from our district vision and focus on student learning," Garza said in a statement, which he preferred over an interview for this story.

Some teachers are more blunt about the gap.

Mark Ertmer, a science teacher at New Berlin Eisenhower Middle/High School who is leaving not just the district, but the state, spoke out at a School Board meeting on June 11.

"This mass exodus is not politically motivated," he said. "But the district's handling of such problems indicates a lack of respect and trust for its teachers. When you devalue individuals, the reaction is deeply personal."

History of tension

The tense relationship between teachers, top-level administrators and the School Board did not happen overnight in New Berlin. The community has a history of rocky labor relations.

Art Marquardt, a New Berlin School Board member, said that in the late 1980s, the board was "owned" by the teachers union, which was bargaining for substantial raises in its contracts.

Marquardt said limiting that was the main reason for the implementation of the Qualified Economic Offer, or QEO, that the state Legislature passed in part to control the raises teachers could receive.

"We were active supporters of returning some of that power back to the school board," Marquardt said.

When Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation that cut school spending statewide and limited collective bargaining, which subsequently gave districts authority to seek more benefit contributions from employees to plug holes in the budget, then-New Berlin superintendent Paul Kreutzer was one of the only district leaders in the state who stood in support of the governor at a news conference.

Many superintendents across the state undoubtedly agreed with what Walker and the Legislature were doing, but Kreutzer's action was perceived by many of his employees as a sign that the district had little empathy for them.

Marquardt said the district stood behind Act 10 and some of the state budget changes because in New Berlin, 85% of the district's budget comes from local funding, and residents demand they spend it well.

"Some of the things we needed to do to get our kids to the next level, including increasing student contact time and extra work for teachers, we were not ever going to get under the old collective bargaining method," he said.

Since the legislation passed, New Berlin required teachers to pay into the Wisconsin Retirement System, implemented a Health Savings Account plan with a high deductible and employer contributions for doing wellness activities, and limited post-retirement benefits.

But a roiling School Board meeting to approve the district's new employee handbook in August set the tone for the 2011-'12 school year. Hundreds turned out for the meeting, and many residents booed teachers who said they didn't have fair input into the handbook.

Outside, police patrolled the scene.

The handbook called for extending the workday by an hour at the elementary school and a half-hour longer at the high school, something that some of the departing teachers said felt like an inefficient use of time this year because they're spending it in meetings instead of working with students.

Marquardt countered that the staff's input on curriculum has been important, and will be used in the coming year.

Dale Destache, a veteran math teacher of 23 years who taught AP Calculus and Pre-Calculus at West, resigned not only because of his concerns with management, but also because he sees the district continuing to trim quality programs for students in its effort to save money.

Destache interviewed at Arrowhead High School, and learned on his first visit that the school still offers elective classes in woods and metals, he said.

They told him their schools were precious to them. It stuck.

"They made me feel better in two interviews than I had at New Berlin all year," Destache said.

At the board meeting June 11, science teacher Ertmer accused the district of misusing money from an insurance fund for teachers. He also said the district had shaved librarian hours to avoid paying benefits.

"The extra work that fell to us kept us out of classrooms, and frustration and negativity has poisoned what should have been a cooperative and creative working environment," Ertmer said. "It's hard to estimate the potential that has been lost here."

Marquardt disputed the notion that the School Board took money from an insurance fund and covered it up. There's a pending union grievance on the matter that is working its way through mediation.

The day after the School Board meeting where Ertmer, Werner and other staff leaving the district gave impassioned exit speeches, New Berlin's administration publicly announced that it intended to save about a half-million dollars a year annually by outsourcing custodial services.

The change would result in the termination of nearly all of the district's 55-person custodial staff.

It was another example of money saved, and employees hurt.

Superintendent Garza said education is in a paradigm shift: Schools cannot continue to operate as they have been in the new fiscal environment. And because New Berlin is out front with many of the changes, it's a lightning rod for attention, he added.

"Anytime there is a paradigm shift, those that benefitted most from the old paradigm are the least happy with the new (paradigm), which is an inevitable part of the change process," he said.