LEETONIA SCHOOLS New building almost finished

Teachers, counselors and school nurses will start school with a new contract and 3 percent raises.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- Except for minor finishing work, construction of the Leetonia School District's new kindergarten through 12th-grade school should be finished by July 9, Superintendent Thomas Inchak said.
Inchak and other administrative staff are settling into offices in the building's elementary wing. He said some staff members are working extra days to make the transition.
The new building on Walnut Street will house all the district's nearly 900 pupils.
Contract
Teachers, counselors and school nurses will start the 2002-03 school year not only in a new building, but also with a new contract.
Inchak said the school board approved a three-year agreement Thursday with the Leetonia Education Association that gives the 58-member union 3 percent salary increases in each of the three years of the contract.
Inchak said the LEA contract expires Aug. 21. Negotiations began in April and the bargaining units met for several hours each week.
The LEA ratified the agreement June 19.
Salary ranges are as follows:
Entry-level teachers with a bachelor's degree and no experience, from $23,204 to $23,922 in 2002-03, to $24,691 in 2003-04 and $25,378 in 2004-05.
The district's most experienced teachers, with a master's degree and 17 years experience, earn $48,728 now and will receive $50,236 in 2002-03, $51,743 in 2003-04 and $53,294 in 2004-05.
Also in the agreement are changes in health-care coverage, Inchak said.
For the first time, LEA members will choose health-care providers from a network, Inchak explained. If they choose physicians or hospitals outside the network, providers will charge higher fees for their services, and insurance will cover less, he added.
LEA members currently do not pay into the health-care plan. Under the new contract, all members who started before October 1993 will do so.
The cost will be $15 per month for single coverage and $30 for family coverage, Inchak said.
District costs
The board also approved transfers to cover health-care costs. He said the district uses a self-funded system in which the board directs the treasurer to monthly transfer a set amount from the general fund into a health-care account.
Treasurer Larry Syverson said school officials look at health-care costs over a three-year period to determine how much to set aside from the general fund.
The board approved a 5 percent increase, raising the district's cost for monthly premiums from $486 to $510 for family coverage and from $212 to $222 for single coverage.
Setting aside those amounts monthly based on the number of employees in the various health plans would total about $20,800 per year, Syverson said.
The board also approved transfer of $40,000 from the general fund to the employee benefits fund.
Syverson said the district is on sound financial footing and able to keep up with the health-care costs, and the transfer is needed to ensure enough money is available to pay premiums.
He said the district covers employees' health-care claims up to $30,000.
tullis@vindy.com