South Range board to meet with district’s teachers union

NORTH LIMA — South Range Board of Education will conduct its next meeting with the district’s teachers union Feb. 22 as originally planned, schools Superintendent Dennis Dunham said.

A meeting scheduled for Feb. 1 was canceled after school was closed earlier in the day because of bad weather. The board met with the union, the South Range Education Association, as scheduled Saturday and agreed to continue talks Feb. 22 and if needed, Feb. 23.

The meetings are for contract talks with the district’s teachers’ union and therefore are closed sessions. Dunham said contract negotiations at South Range involve board of education members meeting face-to-face with the teachers.

At the meetings later this month various board members will meet with individual committees, he said.

The South Range Education Association represents 92 certified staff members, including teachers and tutors. The union’s three-year contract will the district, effective Sept. 1, 2005, will expire at the end of August. Dunham said likely an agreement will be reached by the end of the month and he expects the school board to vote on the contracts at its public meeting in March.