EV contract will add pay for work done off the clock

Teachers in the East Valley School District can recoup some of the time they spend grading papers off the clock this year.

The school board voted Friday to ratify the contract for certificated staff to include 20 hours of per diem pay yearly for hours worked after the end of the school day. The East Valley Education Association accepted the contract about a week ago.

“Teachers put in a lot of extra time,” said Jan Beauchamp, district assistant superintendent for operations. “Now they can use that time for work after school, planning and staff development,”

While the contract is good for two years, the 20-hour per diem is for this school year only, Beauchamp said.

Next year, the board can decide whether to renew that portion of the contract or not.

“It will simply depend on our economic situation remaining stable, and our reserve fund continuing to be stable,” Beauchamp said.

Certificated staff did not receive an increase in base pay, Beauchamp said.

The district began working on a new contract with the EVEA in August, going through the old contract page-by-page to update outdated information.

“Altogether we made about 150 changes,” Beauchamp said. Some of the changes were just small words or minor changes to wording. Some parts of the contract were several years old, she said.