SALEM School board set to vote on labor pact proposals

The pact decisions come a day before voters decide on a levy and board seats.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- After months of negotiations, the city school board is preparing to vote on proposed labor contracts with its teaching and nonteaching employees.
The school board said Wednesday it has set a special meeting for 8:30 p.m. Monday to vote on the proposals. The meeting is being held late to accommodate a school board member's schedule.
Citing negotiation confidentiality, Superintendent Dr. David Brobeck would not divulge details of the proposals.
Brobeck said, however, that both unions showed a "willingness to understand the financial situation of the district."
The votes on both pacts will come on the eve of Tuesday's general election, which includes a ballot issue in which the district is seeking a 7.85-mill, five-year emergency levy.
The district says it must have the $2.3 million the levy would produce annually to avoid having school finances spiral into a deficit.
Board openings
Also on the ballot will be openings for three spots on the board.
Seeking re-election are members Don Finch, Ken Kenst and Dr. Paul Shivers.
Brobeck said it is coincidental the contract votes are happening the day before the election.
The tentative contracts follow sessions with a federal mediator called in earlier this month to break a bargaining impasse.
The district began negotiating in April with the Salem Education Association, which represents about 160 teachers. The contract for teachers expired Aug. 31.
Bargaining started in May with the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 215, which represents about 95 bus drivers, cooks, janitors and other employees. Their contract expired June 30.
Beginning teachers are earning about $25,650 annually. A teacher with a master's degree and 30 years of service makes $54,506 annually.
The highest pay among the nonteaching staff is the $17.11 an hour paid to a maintenance foreman with 20 years on the job.
Lowest paid on the support staff scale is a cafeteria worker who makes $6.93 an hour.
For health insurance, the district spends about $943 per month for each employee on a family insurance plan and about $393 monthly for those on a single plan.
Employees do not contribute toward the cost of the insurance premiums.
leigh@vindy.com