Teachers affected by pay cuts ask board to reconsider

The teachers said they didn't receive advance notice on the rate reduction.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Thirty-five part-time Youngstown school teachers have been hit with a pay cut they say they weren't expecting.
The nonunion teachers work in the district's Adult Basic Literacy Education, Neglected and Delinquent and Homeless education programs. They said they learned last month that their hourly rate of $21.20 was being cut to $15.50. They said they got notified on the day the paychecks came out with the lower pay scale.
Teacher Brendan R. Considine, speaking for the group, told the Youngstown Board of Education on Monday that it represents a 27 percent pay cut.
He asked the board to reconsider this "ill-considered" action by the administration.
Considine said later that one teacher has quit as a result of the cut in pay.
Some board members expressed concern about the reduction and what the teachers said was the lack of notice. Lock Beachum, John Maluso and Shelley Murray, attempted to have the resolution authorizing the pay cut removed form the agenda, but their effort failed in a 3-3 vote with Jacqueline Taylor, Michael Write and Kathryn Hawks Haney, opposing. Jamael Brown was absent.
Reduction necessary
The 35 teachers are paid with money from federal grants, and the programs overspent wage and benefit budget line items last year, said Carolyn Funk, district treasurer.
Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent, said the grants have enough money to continue paying the part-time teachers at the old rate, but only for five months. The programs would have to end at that point, she said.
By reducing the pay scale, the programs can be extended for the entire school year, she said.
The pay cut doesn't affect teachers who are part of the Youngstown Education Association and doing the same work. They are getting paid $22.05 per hour, a rate negotiated as part of the YEA contract, Webb said.
The school district has the right to set the pay scale for part-time nonunion workers, and the $15.50 is in line with what other districts are paying, she said.
Considine said it's the lowest in the state. Other districts pay between $18.50 and $32 per hour, he said.
Notification at issue
The affected teachers said they were angered by the lack of notification and explanation in advance of the pay cut.
Considine said he got a telephone call from his supervisor Oct. 21 telling him of the reduction, the same day that the pay rate was changed. He said he didn't get a real explanation of why the cut was imposed. The job paid $21.05 an hour last year.
Denise Vaclav Danko, administrative assistant for the ABLE program, told the board that she had a staff meeting with affected personnel in October and told them of the pay cut. Those not at the meeting got a personal phone call from her, she said.
Danko later told The Vindicator that the affected employees had also been warned of the impending pay cut in earlier staff meetings.
Appeal denied
Considine said he realized the affected teachers had no recourse other than an appeal to the school board.
In the end, they found no support there.
After an explanation of the program finances, the board voted 6-0 to pass the resolution enacting the pay cut.
Webb said the pay scale actually should have been reduced last year when all outside tutors were to have their pay cut to the new rate. Between 60 and 70 part-time teachers were affected at that time, but, somehow, the people in the ABLE, Neglected and Delinquent and Homeless programs were overlooked, she said.
That mistake has now been corrected, she said.
gwin@vindy.com