Bonner County Teachers Ok Pact Educators To Get 3 Percent Increase Under One-Year Contract
After a bitter, two-year dispute, Bonner County teachers and administrators settled on a new contract and a 3 percent salary increase for educators.
“There was give and take on both sides, and we are happy to have this one hurdle out of the way,” said Enid Trenholm, president of the Bonner County Education Association.
“It’s time to move on and focus on the larger issue of how to improve education for the children.”
Negotiations between district officials and teachers have been on-going since the start of school last year. Talks stalled in May when the district hired a team of professional negotiators from Seattle for $14,500.
Frustrated teachers took their case to residents this month and urged school trustees to meet with them and finalize a contract. It took only two days of meetings to draft a contract, which the school board approved Tuesday night.
“We gave what we could and treated the teachers and district fairly,” said trustee Jerry Owens. “We still have a ways to go to make it (negotiations) something that isn’t turmoil every year and get on with our prime concern - the betterment of education.”
Trenholm said negotiations shouldn’t have languished for nearly two years.
“It gets back to communication and leadership in this district,” she said. “Those issues still need to be addressed.”
Teachers cast a vote of no-confidence in Superintendent Max Harrell last year. That vote has not been lifted, Trenholm said. Harrell and the school district attorney, Charles Dodson, threatened to get a court order earlier this month to stop teachers from talking to residents about negotiations.
The new agreement was reached with the help of mediators and trustees. The two sides were in separate rooms and passed proposals back and forth. Teachers and school board members want to avoid repeating that process.
“Instead of all this nonsense, hopefully we can sit down with each other, have a mutual respect for each other and address how we improve education,” Owens said.
“There are lots of issues still on the table, but now I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.”
The school district has been plagued with problems, including an estimated $415,000 deficit and several million dollars worth of damage done to school roofs from heavy snow last winter. The board even had trouble finding a replacement for a trustee who resigned Sept. 17.
Those problems are being worked out now, Owens said. Four trustee candidates will be interviewed and one appointed next week. The district also expects a $2.5 million insurance settlement to fixed damaged school roofs.
“We still have to get on some sound financial footing,” Trenholm said. “It’s time community leaders came together, had some input on how we can solve problems within the district and put education as a top priority here.”
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AGREEMENT Under the new one-year agreement, the starting yearly salary for teachers increases $245 to $19,575. The top salary for teachers moved to $39,338, a little more than a $1,000 increase. Administrators received a 2.8 percent raise in June. The contract also reduces class sizes and raises pay to $50 a day for non-certified substitute teachers.