MCDONALD Schools approve teachers' contract

Teachers will receive a $240 signing bonus the third year.
By MARY SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
McDONALD -- The board of education approved this morning a three-year contract for teachers that includes a 3 percent increase in the first year and 3.25 percent increases in the second and third years.
The base salary for a starting teacher goes from $24,500 to $25,287 this year, $26,209 next year and $26,957 in the third year of the contract.
In addition, all teachers will get a $240 signing bonus in the third year of the contract.
Health insurance
The health insurance plan will be changed because the Trumbull County Schools Health Insurance Consortium, which served 20 districts including McDonald, has stopped offering separate plans.
McDonald teachers will be under the One Plan Health Insurance Plan. Under the old plan, teachers paid $250 out of pocket and a $200 deductible every year, with no co-payment for office visits. The new insurance calls for HMO or Preferred Provider plans, with no deductible or out-of-pocket costs at the outset and a $10 co-payment for office visits.
In addition, a Proficiency Tutor Program will be established during this school year, and participating McDonald Education Association members will be paid $16 an hour.
Treasurer Thomas Radabaugh said the district is still developing the program and he does not yet know what its full scope will be.
Classified employees
Talks are continuing with the district's 14 classified employees, who Radabaugh said have indicated they will keep working even though their contract expires Saturday.
Radabaugh said a negotiation session has been scheduled for Sept. 5 with members of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4, AFL-CIO Local 662.
He said progress is being made in those talks. The last session was Monday.
Earlier impasse
The district's 52 teachers reached an impasse with the district during talks this summer, and a federal mediator was asked in Aug. 5.
The board's Aug. 23 offer was accepted by the MEA membership that same day.
Both unions accepted a wage freeze under a one-year contract before the last three-year pact was reached in 1999.