I'll call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Please be seated. Welcome to our
special meeting.
of the Richland Bean Blossom Community School Corporation. This is a special meeting regarding the teacher's
collective bargaining agreement. Let the record reflect that all board members are present and we're
very thankful. And are there any visitors who would like to make comments? Seeing none, we'll get right to our
Action item which is consideration to approve the 2026 2027 teachers collective bargaining agreement.
Dr. Sanders, please I'm going to go through the tentative agreement and Not necessarily the whole contract
but everything in the tentative agreement is in the contract so we had
three bargaining sessions with the Teachers Association and I came to a tentative agreement which they
met and approved. 78% of their members voted in favor of the contract. Just going through some of the
highlights of it.
As far as salary, we added $1,000 to the base for every teacher and so the new salary range is from
$48,000 for a year for new teachers and $84,200 for teachers at the top of the scale. We also negotiated
an agreement
It's just a natural occurrence that over the years, teachers come in under different contracts. And
as a result, over the years, some teachers could get off mode, not be at the same level of salary of
their colleagues who have the same
years of experience and same education. And so we worked with the association. I came up with a process
to be able to catch up those teachers who were not on the mode. And so we agreed on 21 teachers who
will be getting a catch up increase
to their base anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000. Now, we, you know, the current financial situation is,
as we know, for schools across Indiana are not a great place, so just to pay for this outright would
be a challenge. So we also looked at
some language in our contract that paid the insurance, all except for a dollar, for eight teachers in
the corporation. So we removed that language and so therefore we'll be able to afford this catch-up
measure. In terms of health insurance,
The school corporation will continue to pay the 50% insurance contributions remain status quo with the
corporation covering 50% of any insurance increase. We did add language because insurance increased
the school trust that we work with for our health insurance. They approved a premium
freeze for one month. So during the month, well, it'll be in December that those on the insurance will
not have to pay their health insurance premium, but it'll come out in their November check because we
pay, they pay for it one month ahead of time. So to do that, we had to change some language in the contract.
We have had in the past language that if a teacher was out before a holiday that they would be charged
two days for one and just because we were concerned about the number of teachers who were absent prior
to a holiday and we,
We really don't think that that was totally effective and so we worked with the association, we changed
that language and we reduced it down to two days right before Thanksgiving and the Friday before spring
break and the purpose of keeping those two days in there is the data showed that those
those times of the year, we still have a high absenteeism of teachers prior to those vacations. Let's
see here. We put in language that if we were ever to offer the teachers early retirement, if we were
ever to do that, that we would have to notify them by February 15th.
And then we added ECA teachers certified and assigned to teach ACP dual credit courses. We'll receive
a stipend of $200 per course per semester for the extra work that goes along with teaching ACP dual
credit courses. Jennifer, is there anything I missed?
Now, I want to say something about the contract that I emailed to you. It had an appendix B1 was an
old appendix B1. So if you remember last year, we agreed with the association to look at ECA after the
bargaining period and in January, the board approved that.
a new ECA schedule. But what I sent you out didn't have that version of it. So I put it in the contract
that's before you tonight. OK. Thank you very much, Dr. Sanders. Let's get this on the table. Do we
have a motion?
Moved and seconded. Any questions, discussion? I would like to, Brandy Abel couldn't be here tonight.
She's in a parent teacher conference. But I really appreciate the relationship we have with our teachers
association. We work really hard. We have a common
and that is we want to be able to take care of our teachers. Now we also want to be fiscally responsible
for the school corporation, but we work, I think we work well to do as much as we can for our teachers
given our current economic situation.
And I told the teachers after we came to a tentative agreement, I told them, I complimented them and
said that I thought they came up, we came up with a contract that is fair to more people, okay? And
I think anytime you do that, it's a good contract, trying to think of,
everybody, and that was the intent, so. Thank you. Yeah, I too thank the association and their willingness
to work with us, and I mean, we have been extremely transparent in our finances. I mean, they know exactly
dollar for dollar what we got, what we're doing with it, and what our situation is.
You know, it's a, we maybe do a, did a little bit more than our financial folks would have liked maybe,
but it, you know, you got to have a balance too, you know. So, I mean, they, of course, go along with
it, but I'm just saying it's,
It makes things difficult on them too because now they've got to keep that purse strings even tighter
and so it adds a lot of work for them to be able to do what we've done. As always, we wish we could
do more. We've done a little, probably a little more than we should have,
that we can make it work when we all work together. And again, most of all, I appreciate the relationship
that we've had for years and years and years with the association. The relationship, you know, among
this board, between board and administration, administration and staff, I mean, it's just a great place, culture,
when we can all work together and, you know, we realize we wish we could do more. Everybody realizes
that. But everybody does understand, I believe, that, you know, we do what we can. And the teachers
know how much we appreciate them. We know how hard they work each and every day.
One of us has been one of those teachers that has done that. One of us has been a principal who watching
those teachers do that. One of us has a wife and a son who are teachers who are doing that every day.
So we care for the teachers and we really do. And so we really appreciate them and we do wish we could do more.
But we are just happy that we have a culture where we can work together and come to an agreement.
And just, I think we're blessed to be here. So. If I could just say one more thing, Dana. I want to
thank the team that represented the board, which was Susan Shockney, Debbie Tate, Paul Fetter, Jennifer
Barrett, myself.
I felt like more than any other year, we were making very informed decisions when we were looking at
the, you know, okay, what kind of increase, what would cause what effect. And they were right there
with information and so I felt more confident than ever in the decision we made. So I just want to thank
them. Yes, definitely. Thank you very much.
I think over the last, especially, I don't know, five, six, seven years, as time has gone on, our financial,
the way that we've looked at the finances has just gotten better and better, and we're just really thankful
for all the hard work you guys put in.
Any questions or further discussion? Mr. Kerr's comments, and this is a little bit earlier this year,
isn't it, than last year, as far as getting it settled? I think we were a little bit ahead of the game.
Yeah, we are. OK, but they'll get the catch-ups before Christmas again. So that gives you guys just
a little bit more time this year. I know it's always rushing around for you guys, so appreciate all
you guys do with getting that ready.
In the next couple of days, we're gonna be talking about, and I need to get on the phone with Paul,
talking about any possible increases for support staff and administrators. We wanna try to get that
before the board, for the November meeting, and then be able to determine which pay the retro would
go out to the staffs. But prior to Christmas, we think,
Okay, good. Okay, anything further? Hearing nothing, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
Motion carries. That being our only action item, this meeting is adjourned.