Tueth Keeney attorneys Celynda Brasher and D. Shane Jones presented a series of Collective Bargaining Workshops throughout the state of Missouri sponsored by the Missouri School Boards' Association (MSBA).  MSBA staff members also participated in the presentations.  The topics covered during the statewide series of Missouri collective bargaining workshops included the following:

• The Missouri Constitution, the Public Sector Labor Law and the State Board of Mediation
• What the District Should Do (or Not Do) When a Union is Organizing Its Employees
• Be Prepared! What You Need to Know and Do Before Negotiation Begins
• The Role of Board Policy in Collective Bargaining
• Effective Negotiation Techniques for School District Negotiators
• Good and Not-So-Good Contract Language to Include - or Avoid

Workshops were held in Kansas City Missouri on January 16, 2009, St. Louis Missouri on February 6, 2009, Springfield Missouri on February 11, 2009, Columbia Missorui on February 20, 2009, and Cape Girardeau Missouri on March 3, 2009.  The series of workshops were attended by hundreds of administrators and school board members from MSBA member school districts. For more information regarding the Missouri School Boards Association, please visit their website at: www.msbanet.org.

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.

D. Shane Jones  practices in the areas of labor & employment law, education law, and litigation in both Missouri and Illinois. He routinely advises and represents employers in wage and hour matters, the design and review of employee handbooks, and disciplining and terminating employees. Shane has successfully defended employers against discrimination claims, First Amendment claims, Due Process claims, and other Labor and Employment actions in 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 bargaining table.  He has directly negotiated or participated extensively 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.

Missouri Education - The law firm of Tueth, Keeney, Cooper, Mohan & Jackstadt P.C. (the "Firm"), 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.