VWCS bd., teachers ink tentative contract

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

More than 100 active and retired teachers attended Wednesday’s Van Wert City Board of Education as a show of solidarity and to learn what the next step would be in contract negotiations.

With the feeling that both sides were close in coming to an agreement, the board decided against moving beyond mediation to the fact-finding stage and, instead, worked out a new tentative three-year contract proposal with leadership of the Van Wert Federation of Teachers (VWFOT).

VWFOT President Jeff Hood said teachers would vote on the contract sometime after they return from Christmas break on January 2, but before the board’s organizational meeting on January 11.

Hood said the contract proposal includes a 2 percent across-the-board raise in each of the three contract years, as well as increases in supplemental contract stipends. The union made a concession that would move teachers currently on a PPO (preferred provider organization) health plan to high-deductible Health Savings Account (HSA) plans, while the board withdrew its request for cuts to the current severance and benefit package for retirees.

The VWFOT president complimented the district’s building principals, who he said got involved in contract discussions to help bring the two sides together.

Both Superintendent Staci Kaufman and Board President Debby Compton were pleased that a contract proposal could be reached.

“We are pleased to reach an agreement tonight with the VWFOT on behalf of the Board,” Kaufman said. “The quality of education and services available to students in this district was quickly apparent to me in the short time I’ve been in the superintendent position at VWCS.

“We have an outstanding staff who help make this district the caliber it is,” the superintendent added. “The Board and the administrative team very much appreciate the efforts of our teaching staff.”

Compton also released a statement on the proposed contract.

“We strive to always make decisions that are in the best interest of the district as a whole, so that the Van Wert City Schools can provide the best education for our students,” she noted. “Our teachers and support staff are vital to this district. We appreciate each and every employee of the VWCS district and the work that they do to carry out our mission to ‘…empower each student to thrive by inspiring continuous learning and responsibility.”

Compton also noted that she and the other board members felt it wasn’t in the district’s best interests to prolong the contract negotiations if both sides could come to a reasonable agreement on Wednesday evening.

“We felt like if we talked outside of mediation that we would come to an agreement … we felt like we were pretty close,” she said of Wednesday’s discussions. “It’s more amicable this way.

“Sometimes it’s tough when both sides can’t come to an agreement,” Compton said, adding that she felt like the Board and administration, as well as the teachers, really wanted to come up with a proposal that was fair to both sides.

In a marathon meeting that lasted more than three hours, the board also interviewed a number of candidates for an open board position. Although two positions were up for election in November, only one person, Scott Mull, was on the ballot, leaving one board position to be filled.

The board will choose the new person during its January meeting.

Also Wednesday, the board formally acknowledged the Eggerss Stadium Committee’s recommendation to renovate the existing stadium and add new locker rooms and a concession stand at the current site.

Larry Mengerink, who with fellow district resident Kent McMillen, was instrumental in bringing the stadium issue before the board, urged board members to quickly create a vehicle to accept project donations, noting that he has a number of people approach him wanting to donate.

Kaufman said that would likely be a first step in the process.

Meanwhile, a board decision made later in the meeting underlined the need for action on the issue.

Board members approved a motion to stop using the visitors’ bleachers at Eggerss Stadium, effective immediately, because the district’s insurance company felt the bleachers posed a safety threat that could make them uninsurable.

During his report, Assistant to the Superintendent Bill Clifton made a presentation on the 2018-19 school calendar. It is proposed that the 2018-19 school year start a week later than the past two years, on August 20, 2018, returning to a more traditional VWCS school year that would end on May 24, 2019, with graduation on Memorial Day weekend (May 26, 2019).

Parent-teacher conferences would also return to around the Thanksgiving holiday.

During her report, Kaufman talked about creation of a business advisory council, which is now required by the state.

While the district could join with the Western Buckeye Educational Service Center on an advisory council, Kaufman said the administration feels that the district should create its own business advisory council to complement its CEO career education program and similar activities within the district.

In other action, the board:

• Accepted the resignation of Brianna Recker, elementary school paraprofessional, effective December 21.
• Accepted the following supplemental contract resignations: Richard Nouza, girls’ head soccer coach; Regina Brenneman, RESA facilitator (previously approved at the August 16 meeting); Mary Kramer, Year 1 mentor (also previously approved on August 16).
• Approved the following supplemental contracts: Jennifer Trittschuh, Year 1 mentor; Brenneman, Kramer, Sara Pugh, Sara Royer, Tiffany Werts, and Traci McCoy, focused mentors.
• Approved Ty McClain as a volunteer middle school girls’ basketball coach.
• Approved a one-year agreement between VWCS, Van Wert County Family and Children First/Help Me Grow, Van Wert Count Board of Developmental Disabilities, and the Council on Rural Services (Kids Learning Place) to provide services for children with disabilities ages birth to 5 years old enrolled in the Head Start/Early Head Start programs.
• Approved the donation of .052 of an acre to the City of Van Wert as a temporary construction easement for contractor access and sidewalk reconstruction for the 2018 Jefferson Street reconstruction project.
• Approved a request for early graduation from an independent student.
• Approved revised language of the Franklin Park agreement removing district ownership of the property.