CONTRACT Board ready to talk with teachers union

Contract talks could start as early as next Friday.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Board of education members unanimously agreed to let the district's superintendent and treasurer begin contract negotiations with the teachers union.
The decision to start the talks comes a little more than two months before the current agreement between the board and the Niles Classroom Teachers Association expires.
The board voted Friday to have Superintendent Patrick N. Guliano and Treasurer Linda C. Molinaro begin new contract talks with union representatives as early as next Friday.
Last year, the union agreed to a one-year deal that extended the previous pact through Aug. 28. Additions in the one-year extension included the creation of an insurance committee and a retirement incentive bonus plan.
The union, which boasts more than 200 members, also agreed to hold off on pay raises throughout the life of the pact.
Financial status
That deal, along with a recent contract between the district and the union representing nonteaching staff and the state's approval of a financial recovery plan, allowed Niles City Schools to avoid being placed in fiscal emergency status last month.
Last year, the district was placed under state-imposed fiscal watch status when state budget cuts put the district almost $2 million in debt.
School officials have worked to reduce that debt by eliminating overtime, cutting staff through attrition and layoffs and offering a comparable retirement incentive bonus to the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 365, which represents more than 100 bus drivers, secretaries, cafeteria workers and others.
slshaulis@vindy.com