July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Board OK's teacher pact (5/3/03)
Vote on labor deal was 4-3
With only four weeks left in the school year, the Jay School Board voted 4-3 to approve the 2002-2003 teachers’ contract in a special session late Friday afternoon.
Monday night, the board declined the contract with a split 3-3 vote, with board president Ted Champ absent to attend a funeral.
Those members who cast the opposing votes at both meetings — Doug Inman, Bryan Alexander and Duane Starr — said that having the school corporation pay an unspecified amount for health insurance was unacceptable.
With the entire board present Friday, a few members spoke their piece about the contract before the vote.
“We cannot continue to whack programs and lay teachers off forever,” Starr said. “At some time this problem must be addressed. Some board must have the guts to do so, and I hoped this one would be. I turned out to be wrong.”
Champ was disappointed that the board had declined the contract Monday after he and two other members of the negotiating team — Inman and Shannon — were board members.
“When (the contract) is all ratified and done, my personal opinion is it’s a cheap shot to say you’re not going to accept it,” he said.
“I think the teachers yielded, I think we yielded and that’s what negotiations are about,” Shannon said. “And I think we reached some common ground ... It’s by far not the perfect contract.”
The Jay Classroom Teachers Association had moved considerably from its previous position on health insurance. Previously, certified staff on a single health insurance plan paid $1 for coverage.
Under the new contract, teachers on the single plan will pay $348 per year, effective immediately. Staff members on the family plan will still pay 20 percent of the premium.
The contract also includes salary increases for teachers ranging from 1 percent up to 2.4 percent, with teachers at the top of the pay scale receiving the most significant increases.
JCTA president John Ferguson was pleased after the meeting was adjourned.
“Those things happen,” he said of Monday’s vote to decline the contract. “The board has some young people on it, and they didn’t realize how it was supposed to work. But they straightened it out, and we’ll go on.”
Ferguson said negotiations for the 2003-2004 contract will begin in about six weeks.[[In-content Ad]]
Monday night, the board declined the contract with a split 3-3 vote, with board president Ted Champ absent to attend a funeral.
Those members who cast the opposing votes at both meetings — Doug Inman, Bryan Alexander and Duane Starr — said that having the school corporation pay an unspecified amount for health insurance was unacceptable.
With the entire board present Friday, a few members spoke their piece about the contract before the vote.
“We cannot continue to whack programs and lay teachers off forever,” Starr said. “At some time this problem must be addressed. Some board must have the guts to do so, and I hoped this one would be. I turned out to be wrong.”
Champ was disappointed that the board had declined the contract Monday after he and two other members of the negotiating team — Inman and Shannon — were board members.
“When (the contract) is all ratified and done, my personal opinion is it’s a cheap shot to say you’re not going to accept it,” he said.
“I think the teachers yielded, I think we yielded and that’s what negotiations are about,” Shannon said. “And I think we reached some common ground ... It’s by far not the perfect contract.”
The Jay Classroom Teachers Association had moved considerably from its previous position on health insurance. Previously, certified staff on a single health insurance plan paid $1 for coverage.
Under the new contract, teachers on the single plan will pay $348 per year, effective immediately. Staff members on the family plan will still pay 20 percent of the premium.
The contract also includes salary increases for teachers ranging from 1 percent up to 2.4 percent, with teachers at the top of the pay scale receiving the most significant increases.
JCTA president John Ferguson was pleased after the meeting was adjourned.
“Those things happen,” he said of Monday’s vote to decline the contract. “The board has some young people on it, and they didn’t realize how it was supposed to work. But they straightened it out, and we’ll go on.”
Ferguson said negotiations for the 2003-2004 contract will begin in about six weeks.[[In-content Ad]]
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