TRUMBULL CO. SCHOOLS Warren board OKs pacts with 3 unions

Two board members voted against the contracts because of fiscal concerns.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The school board has approved three-year contracts with three of its unions, granting employees 3-percent pay raises this year and 2 percent in 2005-06.
The board approved the contracts at a meeting Tuesday with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18S, which represents more than 50 educational assistants; the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Chapter 288, which represents food service workers; and the Warren Secretarial Association, which represents secretaries.
Board President Linda Metzendorf and member Lynn Gibson voted against the pacts with members Robert Faulkner, Nedra Bowen and Edward Bolino voting in favor.
"We have a budget, and we need to try to stick to it and within the five-year forecast," Metzendorf said after the meeting. "These raises were not within the realm of the budget forecast."
Continuing talks
She declined to say how much of a raise the budget planned for because negotiations with the union representing bus drivers and custodians continue.
Under the contract that expired in June, pay in the operating engineers union ranged from $9.07 per hour $10.23 per hour.
OAPSE members' pay under the previous three-year pact ranged from about $7 per hour for a general helper to about $12 hourly for the high school manager.
Clerks in the secretaries' union earned $10.13 hourly while secretaries earned $17.02 an hour.
Metzendorf also pointed out that as of Monday, district enrollment is down by about 300 pupils.
That doesn't include an additional 92 "no shows" or pupils on the books who have yet to show up for school.
She attributed the loss of pupils to open enrollment of surrounding districts and charter and community schools.
Because dollars from the state follow the pupil, the loss of pupils means a loss of funding. The city district gets about $5,100 per pupil from the state.
"Three hundred kids is bigger than some of our buildings," Metzendorf said, listing McGuffey, Alden, Garfield, Lincoln and Secrest elementary schools as examples.