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| − | + | Teachers in the Highland School District, embroiled in tense contract negotiations with the district school board, voted this evening to reject the most recent offer and move forward with a strike.A union representative said 155 members attended a meeting to cast votes and 139 voted to decline the offer.District Superintendent Mike Sutton advises parents to expect a strike beginning Thursday. All buildings but the <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/michaelkorssonline.php>Michael Kors uk</a> main office will be closed, he said. "There will be no school-sponsored activities during the length of the strike and the only access to buildings will be to those that have contractual agreements with the school district," he said.The two sides met for about six hours on Monday night with a federal mediator present and both sides tendered proposals, Sutton said on Tuesday.No more meetings are scheduled, Sutton said, "but both sides have expressed willingness to come together <a href=http://www.museosangennaro.com/Public/wdluk.php>Louboutin Shoes UK</a> at the discretion of the federal mediator."聽Neither he nor Highland Education Association President ShiAnne Shively would discuss details of the latest offers.鈥淲e are headed to a meeting now to discuss what the board had on the table,鈥?Shively said shortly before the start of this afternoon's 4 p.m. meeting at the Highland city library.A strike would be the first in the district's history. Shivley called the latest update "very disheartening."Teachers are demanding wage and benefit increases of 6 percent. They last got a pay raise in 2010.District officials, meanwhile, have offered a slight increase in benefits but not in wages.The district pays starting teachers $43,718 in salaries and benefits. (A salary for a starting teacher without benefits is $35,318.) The highest paid Highland teacher makes $106,308 in salaries and benefits.The union has asserted that the district鈥檚 fund balance of $4.6 million could cover wage and salary increases.However, Sutton has said that the fund balance could only cover such increases for a short while before running out.The two sides also differ on a longtime retirement benefit that provides for three years of 6 percent salary increases to any employee who gives three years notice of intent to <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/guccioutlet.onlinesalecc.php>Gucci Shoes</a> retire.Sutton says such a benefit is outdated and unrealistic in the face of the state's pension crisis.However, teachers have described the benefit as being both attractive to teachers and a cost-saver for the district in that it encourages higher-salaried staff to retire and to be replaced by less experienced teachers making less money.Valerie Schremp Hahn contributed information to this report. | |
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Revision as of 07:59, 11 September 2014
@@@ Teachers in the Highland School District, embroiled in tense contract negotiations with the district school board, voted this evening to reject the most recent offer and move forward with a strike.A union representative said 155 members attended a meeting to cast votes and 139 voted to decline the offer.District Superintendent Mike Sutton advises parents to expect a strike beginning Thursday. All buildings but the <a href=http://www.avanttravel.com/michaelkorssonline.php>Michael Kors uk</a> main office will be closed, he said. "There will be no school-sponsored activities during the length of the strike and the only access to buildings will be to those that have contractual agreements with the school district," he said.The two sides met for about six hours on Monday night with a federal mediator present and both sides tendered proposals, Sutton said on Tuesday.No more meetings are scheduled, Sutton said, "but both sides have expressed willingness to come together <a href=http://www.museosangennaro.com/Public/wdluk.php>Louboutin Shoes UK</a> at the discretion of the federal mediator."聽Neither he nor Highland Education Association President ShiAnne Shively would discuss details of the latest offers.鈥淲e are headed to a meeting now to discuss what the board had on the table,鈥?Shively said shortly before the start of this afternoon's 4 p.m. meeting at the Highland city library.A strike would be the first in the district's history. Shivley called the latest update "very disheartening."Teachers are demanding wage and benefit increases of 6 percent. They last got a pay raise in 2010.District officials, meanwhile, have offered a slight increase in benefits but not in wages.The district pays starting teachers $43,718 in salaries and benefits. (A salary for a starting teacher without benefits is $35,318.) The highest paid Highland teacher makes $106,308 in salaries and benefits.The union has asserted that the district鈥檚 fund balance of $4.6 million could cover wage and salary increases.However, Sutton has said that the fund balance could only cover such increases for a short while before running out.The two sides also differ on a longtime retirement benefit that provides for three years of 6 percent salary increases to any employee who gives three years notice of intent to <a href=http://capstone.edu.sg/images/guccioutlet.onlinesalecc.php>Gucci Shoes</a> retire.Sutton says such a benefit is outdated and unrealistic in the face of the state's pension crisis.However, teachers have described the benefit as being both attractive to teachers and a cost-saver for the district in that it encourages higher-salaried staff to retire and to be replaced by less experienced teachers making less money.Valerie Schremp Hahn contributed information to this report.
