BR teachers, district settle contract

BY STACI WILSON

Concessions made by the Blue Ridge teachers’ union in a contract agreement with the district have saved the school’s kindergarten programs.

Blue Ridge teachers and the school district have come to an agreement on terms for a three-year contract. The board approved the negotiated contract the Monday, June 13 meeting.

Notable changes include salary increases, health insurance contributions and college credit reimbursement.

The teachers’ union has agreed to no real salary increase for the upcoming year, board president Alan Hall said.

In the second year of the contract, teachers will receive a two percent salary increase; and in the third year will get a three percent increase.

But those two years of pay increases also come at a price for the union members.

Teachers will now begin paying a portion of their health insurance premiums. In the first contract year, which goes into effect July 1, they will be required to pay seven percent of the premium. In the second and third year of the agreement, the union members will be paying 10 percent of their premiums.

Hall said the health care contributions amount to a huge savings for the district. In the current contract, which expires at the end of this month, 100 percent of the insurance premiums were absorbed by the district.

Cuts would probably have to have been made in the kindergarten programs without the teachers settling for the contract terms, Hall said.

“This says a lot about our teachers,” Hall said. “They would rather take a hit than lose programs.”

Hall also said the 10 percent contribution to health insurance premiums were unprecedented in the state.

The salary schedule has also been changed in the agreed upon contract. Hall said teachers will no longer move on the salary schedule until they have earned a master’s degree.

And changes were also made in the area of college credit reimbursement, according to Hall.

The district will now only reimburse for credits at the Penn State rate for master’s level courses in the teacher’s certification area.

“It has to be a benefit to the district,” Hall said.

The level of reimbursement has also changed. The district will now reimburse 100 percent of the tuition for those who receive an “A” grade in the coursework; and 75 percent for a “B.” The district will provide no reimbursement for grades of a “C” or below earned by the teachers.

District parent Roger Stonier questioned the district’s methodology for determining who receives senior recognition and awards.

His son, he told the board, had risen to second in class rank by the end of the school year. However, the salutatorian is named based on class rank at the end of the third quarter.

The parent also said that he had concerns about how the PIAA scholar-athlete award was determined. He told the board that the award states it given to the male and female students with the highest grade point average who have also participated in sports at a certain level.

Stonier said he was told the award required an official grade point average and so the average from the end of the students’ junior year was used to determine the recipient.

“I believe the board needs to be aware of the problems,” Stonier said. “If the grade point average is based on the junior year ranking, why is there a senior participation requirement?”

Stonier said, “As a parent you tell them to “Do your best and you will be recognized” and it doesn’t happen.”

“This is not about my son,” Stonier said. “It’s about others in the future.”

Hall said the board and superintendent would work to revise the district’s policies and procedures in an effort to address those issues in the future.

The Parent-Teacher Organization presented the district with a $9,000 check to go toward the cost of updating playground equipment.

Jill Hoffman was named as the 2011-12 athletic director for the district.

Students will head back to school on Thursday, Sept. 8.

In addition to the post-Labor Day start, other changes have been instituted by the board for the coming school term.

Five teacher in-service days have been frontloaded to the year, with teachers reporting back to school on Aug. 31. The only other in-service day scheduled is May 4.

The early Friday dismissal time has also been done away with by the district and replaced by a half-day of classes on the second Wednesday of each month, except in the months of September, April and June.

The last day of classes for students in 2012 is scheduled for Thursday, June 14. Graduation is slated to be held on June 16.

If needed snow make up days are Feb. 17, Apr. 4, Apr. 5, Apr. 10, May 4, May 25 and June 15.

Registration for summer school will be held Thursday, June 16, 8-11 a.m. in the high school main lobby. Summer school classes will run from Monday, June 20 through Tuesday, July 19.  Classes will not be held on July 1 and July 4.

Again this year, the free Summer Meal program will be offered to all children, up to age 18 in the Blue Ridge cafeteria.

Both breakfast and lunch will be provided at no charge, June 20-July 20.

Breakfast is served 8:30-8:45 a.m.; lunch is served 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

For more information about the Summer Meal program call 465-3141, ext. 614.

The next board meeting will be held June 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. The board is expected to adopt the district’s final 2011-12 budget at that meeting.