July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
JCESP asks for changes (5/16/03)
Editor's mailbag
By To the editor:-
About a year ago the editor of The Commercial Review advised Jay County educational support personnel and bus drivers in particular that he thought we needed to “cool it,” as he put it, because we were about to lose any public support we might have had.
Well, a year has passed and you have heard very little from us (that’s about to change). The support staff of Jay School Corp. are being taken for granted just as before.
As you may or may not know health insurance is a major issue all over, and particularly for Jay School Corp.. The Jay School Corp. has what they call a self-funded insurance plan and because of time and space I will not go into the details of the plan. Suffice to say that all employees of the school corporation that qualify and choose to can enroll in the different plans offered.
Now you might think that all employees, depending on the plan they choose, would pay the same premium, since all claims are paid out of the same pot, so to speak (not so).
The certified staff is, by law, able to negotiate what they will or will not pay towards premiums and negotiate their pay increases. This is not true for support staff. Another point that we will make here is, according to board policy, any benefits negotiated by the teacher’s union are given to administration if they desire it.
Since the support staff cannot negotiate anything, they have become the corporation’s whipping post, as far as support employees are concerned. Our wages and years of service pay have been frozen since the 2000 school year.
A lot has been said about employees of the Jay School Corp. getting their health insurance for one dollar, but you have to know that this was for single policy holders only. All family plans has a premium cost to the employees. But because certified staff can negotiate, the cost of a family plan to support staff has, in recent years, always been higher than for certified staff.
Last year the support staff was told single policy holders will no longer get health insurance for one dollar. The support staff did not like it mainly because nothing had been done with the certified staff. We were told, “suck it up, we have to start somewhere,” so our insurance went up with no wage increase. On top of that the corporation established a level of contribution toward the premium and said from now on all increases will be the responsibility of the employee, where before they paid a percentage of the premium.
At the very end of last school year the corporation negotiated a contract with the certified staff; they had been working for two years without a contract. This contract was for the last two previous years and the single policy remained at a dollar. So the teachers started this year without a new contract.
Now we are at the end of the school year and last week, on May 2, a new contract was signed. There lies the problem. If you read The Commercial Review, The StarPress (Muncie) or listen to our local radio station, you are aware that at the April 28 school board meeting, with Ted Champ absent, the board was deadlocked on ratifying the new contract.
So a special meeting was called on May 2 with Mr. Champ present and a new motion was made and it passed. In this new contract the certified staff will not be getting their single coverage for a dollar. Mr. Champ made it a point at the meeting that the certified staff had given 348 percent; they went from a dollar to $348. But along the way the certified staff has been given their years of service pay and was given a raise.
Using that thought pattern, the support staff over the last two years has given 873 percent plus our wages and increment pay has been frozen.
In our meet and confer meeting this past week with Mrs. Downing, we were offered a one percent raise. In the meeting with the bus drivers and Mrs. Downing there was one board member present. It was offered that the meeting could be over in five minutes if they would put us parity with the teachers on insurance and recognize us as a bargaining unit. They could keep the one percent and we would wait until the 2004-05 school year to negotiate a contract.
The response was this meeting will last longer than five minutes; nice try. The meeting lasted about an hour and insurance papers was passed out. We had been told our insurance would go up about five percent, but it sure looked much higher.
After the meeting some of us began to think about some of the things that had taken place in the recent past. First, regarding the board meeting on April 28. If the board was voting to ratify a contract, then the teachers had to have voted prior to that date, and it was already established what they would pay toward their insurance, and the school board had changed the memorandum a year ago at what level they would pay. The problem was, the final insurance meeting to choose an insurance carrier and what the final cost would be was not until April 30. So if we are all paying into the same pot, guess who pays what is left? The support staff.
We have drivers who probably will not be able to keep their health insurance and many support staff will have to pay the corporation back at times to keep their insurance. With the insurance going up 873 percent to the support staff and their wages and increment pay frozen, we feel that many of the support staff and bus drivers in particular have given over 1,000 percent. We have bus drivers making $2,000 to $4,000 less than they could have been making had the insurance and pay freezes not have happened.
We could be wrong, but has anyone heard of any administration taking a reduction or certified staff up until now taking a cut?
We have heard over and over, 90 percent of the school budget goes for personnel items. Why should this surprise anyone? It is the nature of all school corporations in today’s world. It is a people-oriented corporation. It doesn’t manufacture anything, nor does it sell.
It has been the battle cry for some time now (We must save the corporation!) We would suggest that without people, there is no corporation.
As has been said to the administration and board, the support staff is taken for granted.
Maybe the corporation should take a week and see how things run without us. And because many of us have been attending almost all the board meetings and trying to stay informed, we know quality people have left the corporation. They will not be easy to replace.
Jay County Educational Support Personnel — Ralph Guingrich, president; René Denton, vice-president; Nancy Hummer, treasurer; and Nancy Strait, secretary
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Well, a year has passed and you have heard very little from us (that’s about to change). The support staff of Jay School Corp. are being taken for granted just as before.
As you may or may not know health insurance is a major issue all over, and particularly for Jay School Corp.. The Jay School Corp. has what they call a self-funded insurance plan and because of time and space I will not go into the details of the plan. Suffice to say that all employees of the school corporation that qualify and choose to can enroll in the different plans offered.
Now you might think that all employees, depending on the plan they choose, would pay the same premium, since all claims are paid out of the same pot, so to speak (not so).
The certified staff is, by law, able to negotiate what they will or will not pay towards premiums and negotiate their pay increases. This is not true for support staff. Another point that we will make here is, according to board policy, any benefits negotiated by the teacher’s union are given to administration if they desire it.
Since the support staff cannot negotiate anything, they have become the corporation’s whipping post, as far as support employees are concerned. Our wages and years of service pay have been frozen since the 2000 school year.
A lot has been said about employees of the Jay School Corp. getting their health insurance for one dollar, but you have to know that this was for single policy holders only. All family plans has a premium cost to the employees. But because certified staff can negotiate, the cost of a family plan to support staff has, in recent years, always been higher than for certified staff.
Last year the support staff was told single policy holders will no longer get health insurance for one dollar. The support staff did not like it mainly because nothing had been done with the certified staff. We were told, “suck it up, we have to start somewhere,” so our insurance went up with no wage increase. On top of that the corporation established a level of contribution toward the premium and said from now on all increases will be the responsibility of the employee, where before they paid a percentage of the premium.
At the very end of last school year the corporation negotiated a contract with the certified staff; they had been working for two years without a contract. This contract was for the last two previous years and the single policy remained at a dollar. So the teachers started this year without a new contract.
Now we are at the end of the school year and last week, on May 2, a new contract was signed. There lies the problem. If you read The Commercial Review, The StarPress (Muncie) or listen to our local radio station, you are aware that at the April 28 school board meeting, with Ted Champ absent, the board was deadlocked on ratifying the new contract.
So a special meeting was called on May 2 with Mr. Champ present and a new motion was made and it passed. In this new contract the certified staff will not be getting their single coverage for a dollar. Mr. Champ made it a point at the meeting that the certified staff had given 348 percent; they went from a dollar to $348. But along the way the certified staff has been given their years of service pay and was given a raise.
Using that thought pattern, the support staff over the last two years has given 873 percent plus our wages and increment pay has been frozen.
In our meet and confer meeting this past week with Mrs. Downing, we were offered a one percent raise. In the meeting with the bus drivers and Mrs. Downing there was one board member present. It was offered that the meeting could be over in five minutes if they would put us parity with the teachers on insurance and recognize us as a bargaining unit. They could keep the one percent and we would wait until the 2004-05 school year to negotiate a contract.
The response was this meeting will last longer than five minutes; nice try. The meeting lasted about an hour and insurance papers was passed out. We had been told our insurance would go up about five percent, but it sure looked much higher.
After the meeting some of us began to think about some of the things that had taken place in the recent past. First, regarding the board meeting on April 28. If the board was voting to ratify a contract, then the teachers had to have voted prior to that date, and it was already established what they would pay toward their insurance, and the school board had changed the memorandum a year ago at what level they would pay. The problem was, the final insurance meeting to choose an insurance carrier and what the final cost would be was not until April 30. So if we are all paying into the same pot, guess who pays what is left? The support staff.
We have drivers who probably will not be able to keep their health insurance and many support staff will have to pay the corporation back at times to keep their insurance. With the insurance going up 873 percent to the support staff and their wages and increment pay frozen, we feel that many of the support staff and bus drivers in particular have given over 1,000 percent. We have bus drivers making $2,000 to $4,000 less than they could have been making had the insurance and pay freezes not have happened.
We could be wrong, but has anyone heard of any administration taking a reduction or certified staff up until now taking a cut?
We have heard over and over, 90 percent of the school budget goes for personnel items. Why should this surprise anyone? It is the nature of all school corporations in today’s world. It is a people-oriented corporation. It doesn’t manufacture anything, nor does it sell.
It has been the battle cry for some time now (We must save the corporation!) We would suggest that without people, there is no corporation.
As has been said to the administration and board, the support staff is taken for granted.
Maybe the corporation should take a week and see how things run without us. And because many of us have been attending almost all the board meetings and trying to stay informed, we know quality people have left the corporation. They will not be easy to replace.
Jay County Educational Support Personnel — Ralph Guingrich, president; René Denton, vice-president; Nancy Hummer, treasurer; and Nancy Strait, secretary
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