Celynda L. BrasherFirm shareholders D. Shane Jones and Celynda Brasher teamed with the Missouri School Board Association (MSBA) to present a full day workshop on Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations in Missouri Schools. The presentation was held on October 22, 2009 as a preconference workshop for the MSBA’s Annual Conference held October 23-25, 2009. The pre-conference workshop contained four separate components, all of which were presented by Shane and/or Celynda with the exception of one session presented by Susan Goldammer, MSBA Senior Director of Employment and Labor Relations.
Each of the four separate topics had previously been presented as live streaming “webcasts” through the MSBA’s video client, ESGN. The preconference workshop provided the first opportunity for the presentations to be viewed in a live format. Topics included, “What School Board Members Need to Know about Collective Bargaining (or a Good Administrator Needs to Tell Them)”, “What is a Working Condition? – Preparing for Common Negotiation Topics”, “Managing School Employees Represented by a Union”, and “Good and Not-So-Good Contract Language in Collectively Bargained Agreements”. Tueth Keeney attorneys are proud of their commitment to the advising and educating of school administrators on the complex and ever changing legal issues facing public schools.
Celynda L. Brasher is a founding Shareholder of Tueth, Keeney, Cooper, Mohan & Jackstadt P.C. She practices in the areas of education, litigation and labor and employment law. Celynda represents numerous school districts throughout Missouri. She regularly advises boards of education and administrators on matters involving employee hiring, evaluation, remediation, and termination; student rights and discipline; special education; Section 504; school finance; civil rights; employment and business contracts; the Open Meetings Act; church/state issues; and other constitutional matters. Celynda also represents public, private, and non-profit employers in discrimination defense, collective bargaining, union organization, unemployment compensation, wage/hour compliance and terminations, as well as a variety of other employment law areas. Celynda has extensive litigation experience in federal and state courts and before federal and state administrative agencies.
Shane Jones practices in the areas of labor and employment law, education law, and litigation in both Missouri and Illinois. He routinely advises and represents employers in wage and hour matters, in the design and review of employee handbooks, and disciplining and terminating employees. Shane has also successfully defended employers against discrimination claims, First Amendment claims, Due Process claims, and other constitutional issues, in both state and federal courts.
Shane also practices in the area of collective bargaining and labor relations. He is experienced in crafting proposals and counter-proposals, and in effectively presenting the employer’s position at the collective bargaining table. He has directly negotiated, or participated significantly behind the scenes, in the negotiation of more than fifty collective bargaining agreements under the National Labor Relations Act, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, and in the “meet and confer” process under the Missouri Public Sector Labor Law.
Shane is a Vice-Chair of the Missouri Bar Labor & Employment Law Committee, an author of the “Prevailing Wage” chapter in the most recent Missouri Employee-Employer Law Desk Book, and a co-author of the “Employment Law” chapter in the most recent Missouri Bar School Law Desk Book as well as its most recent supplement. Shane has been a Tueth Keeney shareholder since January, 2003.
The law firm of Tueth, Keeney, Cooper, Mohan & Jackstadt P.C. has one of the largest and most successful education law groups in the country. The Firm regularly serves the legal counsel needs of approximately 150 school districts throughout Missouri. The Firm also has one of the largest school law practices in Central and Southern Illinois.
Tueth Keeney attorneys have directly negotiated or participated extensively behind the scenes in the negotiation of well over 50 collective bargaining agreements for school districts and other employers. Our representation includes negotiating Agreements at the table directly with unions, as well as participating extensively behind the scenes to support school districts and other employers handling their own negotiations. Our willingness and ability to assist our clients as much, or as little, as they request is a hallmark of our growing practice in collective bargaining.