Email link

Respond to editor

Read comments (9)

Share link

Bloomfield Board okays contract for the teachers and support staff wage schedule

Thursday, October 29, 2009
By Timberly Ferree, Staff Writer

The master teacher contract and support staff wage schedule for the coming school year were both approved during the Thursday meeting of the Bloomfield School Board.

The master teaching contract was approved in a 7-0 vote by the board.

The 2009-2010 contract includes a salary scale increase of 2 percent from the 2008-09 scale.

The contract also updates the teacher seniority list as well as changes the retirement incentive to allow eight teachers to retire and receive a one-time $25,000 contribution to an annuity account.

Language was also added to the contract to allow a one-time deposit into members VEBA account of three quarters of one percent prior to Dec. 31, 2009.

Adjustments and language in the extra-curricular scale were also made.

Prior to the contract's approval discussion was opened.

Superintendent Dan Sichting explained, "I hope the state doesn't cut us (funding). But, if the state cuts us we'll have to make cutbacks..."

That will definitely play into the future, he added.

Board president Marvin Helms commented on the timely manner in which the contract was reached.

"It was good to get it done in a nice, timely fashion," he said.

Collective bargaining on the tentative agreement began on Oct. 5 and two bargaining sessions were held with the Bloomfield Teacher's Assocation.

The tenative agreement was ratified by the BTA Oct. 28.

BTA President Ben Helms also commented on the process.

"I was tickled to death, it was done in such a civil and friendly manner," he explained.

In a 7-0 vote, the board also approved a two percent increase to the support staff wage schedule retroactive to July 1, 2009.

During discussion, Sichting commented that the increase "was a minimum cost that was less than $20,000 to do."

He also stressed that the support staff deserves the increase.

Helms also noted, "I'm just glad you got this done. It makes for a better climate."

Comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on gcdailyworld.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

About freaking time. Bloomfield doesn't respect its teachers enough.

-- Posted by jimmy42 on Thu, Oct 29, 2009, at 10:52 PM

OK Bloomfield does not respect them, but yet they got a 2% increase.

As small as that my seem allot of Indiana teachers are getting nothing they are losing there jobs all together.

-- Posted by bfman on Thu, Oct 29, 2009, at 11:06 PM

Well usually they don't get their increases on time, but I'll say one thing. The collective bargaining at the school has gotten a lot better ever since Dan Sichting was made superintendent. Although this doesn't really apply to the contract, I would like to see foreign language taught at Greene County schools earlier, maybe around the second grade.

-- Posted by jimmy42 on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, at 8:07 AM

The $25000 incentive to retire early is a good thing. Maybe some of the teachers will take it so in future years Bloomfield will have "above state average" scores on the ISTEP.

Isn't it a shame that Bloomfield has come to wish for above state average scores? I believe 2% is too much if you give raises based on performance.

-- Posted by MS POOH on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, at 8:31 AM

Standardized test should be done away with. A child is not a test score. You can't give performance based salaries, because some teachers will boost grades to get the raises.

-- Posted by jimmy42 on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, at 10:42 AM

Isn't that one of the purposes of the ISTEP, to grade the teacher and how well they prepare the kids? The only way a teacher can boost that grade is to do a better job teaching.

-- Posted by MS POOH on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, at 3:16 PM

Kids may not learn the necessary material in order to excel at college if the teachers are required to teach around a test. There are a lot of things kids need to know outside of ISTEP material. The ISTEP is for the sole purpose of seeing which schools in the state are the most successful and then the most successful schools get "rewarded" with funding. What about the schools that didn't do so well that probably need that money more?

-- Posted by jimmy42 on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, at 6:02 PM

I agree ISTEP does force teachers to teach to the test. I think that is a shame also.

I'm not sure about the other schools, but I know Bloomfield teaches to the ISTEP test. This is what makes the BELOW AVERAGE ISTEP scores at Bloomfield even more disappointing.

Most, if not all, of the Math curriculum is centered around the ISTEP test. They are constantly given tests/quizzes/worksheets that have questions that are identical to the type of questions that are on the ISTEP, but yet the the teachers are not able to adequately prepare our kids.

Maybe one of the reasons is because of the many Disney/kids movies that are shown. I have no problem with movies that are subject related or educational, but the movies that have been shown are rediculous. These movies were not shown as a reward for good work, but used as more of a baby sitter.

-- Posted by MS POOH on Fri, Oct 30, 2009, at 10:06 PM

I think maybe the fact that they've moved the ISTEP to spring might help a little. Last year on the elementary ISTEP there were questions that not even the teachers could figure out so some teachers from the county wrote a letter to the state.

-- Posted by jimmy42 on Sat, Oct 31, 2009, at 8:43 AM