ROTTERDAM Board resolves teacher contract issues BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
The Mohonasen Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved a new teachers’ contract, settling a nearly two-year dispute. Superintendent Kathleen Spring said the new fi ve-year agreement contains an average of about 2.8 percent raises per year, including the step increases. In addition, the Mohonasen Teachers Association agreed to pay more in co-pays for doctors’ visits and drugs, and the union gave back some professional development days. This year, they had agreed to give back two days to save two positions. The union, which has more than 300 members including teachers, teachers assistants, counselors and nurses, had been working under the terms of a three-year agreement that expired on June 30, 2008. Teachers are not getting retroactive pay. Among the sticking points were pay and benefits and the work schedule. The district gave up its request to have the elementary teachers work a longer day. District officials had wanted to extend the day by 40 minutes to provide new after-school programs. Union President Sue Nelson said the extra time would have been to allow teachers to have meetings and for students to receive extra help. However, Nelson said teachers like the flexibility of the current format. “We can provide those things so it fits into our schedule,” she said. Instead, the union agreed to give up “rotation time,” which is a half a day every month the teachers can spend out of the classroom to do planning. “It’s about 2 /2 hours a month back with kids,” Spring said. The superintendent said she believed that additional instructional time is needed with the increased expectations that students face and the more demanding curriculum. “The more time teachers can spend with students, the more prepared we can help them be,” she said. ...........................>>>>..................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00704&AppName=1
ROTTERDAM School unions forgo wage increases BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter
Two Mohonasen unions and the district’s top administrators are agreeing to six-month wage freezes to save about $63,000. The Mohonasen Administrators’ Association and Mohonasen Supervisors’ Association have agreed to keep their salaries flat through Jan. 1. The roughly 20 administrators, which includes building principals, assistant principals and academic administrators, were due to get a 4.75 percent raise as of July 1. The seven supervisors, which include positions like the director of building and grounds, were supposed to get a 4.5 percent raise. Superintendent Kathleen Spring said both sides reached out to one another in discussions about how to cut costs. In addition, the two assistant superintendents are deferring a 3.5 percent increase and Spring will defer a wage increase as well. However, her contract extension is still being negotiated by the board. The district already laid off 13 teachers, support staff, administrators and supervisors as a result of the passage of 2010-11 budget. These concessions could give the district flexibility to save another position, Spring said. Both unions will get those raises effective Jan. 1. This is just the latest in a series of concessions by the district’s union. “For me, it talks about a culture where people are willing to pitch in and help out to save their colleagues. It’s pretty much happened across the board,” Spring said. The Mohonasen Teachers Association agreed to gave back two professional development days and pay more in co-pays for doctors’ visits and drugs in a contract the board approved last month. The union was working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, 2008. No retroactive pay was included in the new agreement, which contains an average of about 2.8 percent raises per year, including the step increases. ...............>>>>.................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01402&AppName=1
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