BOARD OF EDUCATION After negotiations, new contract gives Champion teachers a 3% raise

New hires will start paying for part of their health insurance.
CHAMPION -- After seeing the bitter feud that erupted between the Champion Board of Education and schoolteachers over the previous contract negotiations three years ago, Superintendent Pamela Hood was full of praise for the negotiators of this year's process.
The contract between the board and the Champion Education Association spans from next year through the 2007-08 school year and was settled Monday night after only four weeks of negotiations with new union representatives.
"They were clear on their needs," Hood said. "There was a tremendous spirit of cooperation."
Contract's details
Under the new contract, teachers will receive a 3 percent raise over the next two years and will have an option to negotiate further for a raise for the third year.
Hood said the board wants to see what financial position the district will be in two years from now before authorizing a raise in the third year of the contract, and union negotiators agreed to leave the issue open.
Negotiators also agreed to new health-care coverage for employees hired between this year and 2006.
Hood said new hires, who will earn roughly $29,000 per year, "will be making a contribution" to their health insurance and prescription costs. How much they would contribute was not available.
In other business, the board agreed to hire a Girard company, VEC Systems, to repair roof damages to the high and middle schools.
After reviewing the estimates given by two roofing contractors, the board opted for VEC Systems because its bid, $579,719, was nearly $100,000 cheaper than its chief competitor.
Building technicians offered a maintenance plan along with its bid, which was a guarantee that the company would come out to the school twice a year and touch up damaged parts of the roofs for the next 10 years.
Work on the roofs can begin as early as next week and will likely be finished before September, school officials said.