Board reviews teacher contract

Jay School Board members reviewed a tentative contract agreement with the Jay Classroom Teachers Association at a special meeting this morning.

Approval of the contract is expected at Monday’s regularly scheduled board meeting. JCTA members voted overwhelmingly to approve the contract last week.

The tentative agreement calls for a 3.5% raise in base pay, “tightened” language about the teachers’ sick pay bank and raises in pay rates for extracurricular activity-related work such as coaching and organizational sponsors.

“This agreement, I think, strikes a very good balance,” superintendent Jeremy Gulley said this morning.

Gulley said the goal had been to make local teacher pay more competitive with other school corporations in the area while still being fiscally responsible.

“The consolidation effort now underway … is producing some results” in terms of cost savings, Gulley said. “As the district improves financially, so should our employees.”

But he noted that 98%of the school corporation’s revenue stream comes from the state and 90% of the corporation’s expenses are personnel-related, meaning that key factors are beyond the board’s control.

“Our objective is to do similar improvements (in wages) for other groups of employees,” Gulley said.

“It’s amazing how well it went,” said board member Ron Laux, who served on the district’s negotiating team. “It’s affordable.”

The board will meet in executive session at 5 p.m. Monday to discuss collective bargaining and school consolidation, then will meet at 6 p.m. in regular session. Both meetings will be at the administrative office building, 1976 W. Tyson Road, Portland.

Gulley explained that today’s discussion session is a new state requirement prior to taking action on a teachers’ contract.

In other business today, the board approved, with members Phil Ford and Jason Phillips absent, an October field trip by Jay County High School agriculture students to the state soil judging contest in Fort Wayne.