The Columbia Community Teachers’ Association has changed its name to better reflect its mission to represent all school district employees.

By becoming the Columbia Public Schools Employees Organization, the group hopes to boost membership among support staff - secretaries, custodians, nurses and other hourly workers.

"We’ve always welcomed and encouraged anybody, but there’s a perception because of the" CCTA "name that it’s really just for teachers," organization President Laura Sandstedt said.

Support staff members have been calling for a name change for several years, Maurice Guerin said during the group’s officer meeting yesterday. By doing so, he envisions a stronger alliance between groups.

"We need to come together collectively as a representative body to come to the board and talk about salaries and issues," he said. "There’s strength in numbers, and everybody’s important. It’s not just the teachers in the district doing their jobs alone; the support staff is just as important."

Although the organization itself hasn’t changed, creating a new name is the first step in the group’s effort to try to become an umbrella organization - a proposal to counter the Columbia Missouri National Education Association’s request for exclusive representation. CMNEA is expected to ask Board of Education members this year to allow employees to vote for a representative group. CPSEO instead wants all employees, regardless of political or union affiliations, to participate in discussions regarding salaries, benefits and other working conditions.

"What we’re talking about is a roundtable discussion where the district has a seat at the table, the board has a seat at the table, and all the different groups based on their job type can come together and have an open dialogue," Sandstedt said. "We need to really become the team that was part of Columbia Public Schools that has taken some hits in the last few years. It’s become evident that we really need to have a forum where everyone’s voice is welcomed and encouraged."

Relations between groups of district employees have been strained over the past few years. The issue came to a head last year when school board members and administrators asked employees to help decide where to make budget cuts.

"The intention was to give staff an opportunity to have a say, but what it did was put some groups in really high-stress situations," Sandstedt said. "One group was pitted against another group. We lost a sense of who we are as a community. I don’t fault those groups at all, but it shows me that our focus has shifted from the good of the kids to the good of having to protect ourselves. We need a dialogue. That’s the only way trust is going to be rebuilt."

The former CCTA has historically been the only recognized employee group in Columbia. But in light of a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that gave teachers the right to collective bargaining, Columbia board members last year tabled discussion about whether that policy should be changed. Assistant Superintendent Mary Laffey said the policy recognizing CCTA is technically still in effect and she does not think changing the wording of the policy to reflect the new CPSEO name requires a board vote.

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