School board approves two-year master contract

The Fairfield Community School District Board of Directors Monday unanimously approved a first-time, two-year master contract for teachers agreed upon by Fairfield Community Education Association and the district negotiating team.

It provides an overall wages and benefits package of a 3 percent increase for school year 2012-13, a cost of $249,102; and a 3.04 percent increase in 2013-14.

The state average this year is 3.702 percent for 10 districts of comparable size to Fairfield, ranging from 2.99 percent to 4.22 percent, said superintendent Art Sathoff.

?We are recognizing longevity for the first time,? he said. ?Teachers who have been working in the district a long time and have maxed-out on the pay scale steps, didn?t see any movement year to year. It?s really a minimal longevity pay, a drop in the bucket compared to some districts.?

Contract language changed personal business days off, dropping the word business, allowing a total of five paid days off a year for teachers without needing to provide a reason. Guidelines specify not taking those days in conjunction with holidays and how many teachers in one building can take a day off at the same time.

?This doesn?t change what our practice has been,? said Sathoff. ?I don?t see anyone taking advantage of this. It?s more work on a teacher to be gone than to be here. It shows we have professional respect for our teachers.

?Our teachers got contract language and it was important to me to have a two-year contract. It gives us a bit of stability in budget planning.?

Sathoff said negotiations were pleasant and that this was an early settlement.

?I heard only good remarks from everyone about the negotiations,? said board member Jeri Kunkle.

Fairfield High School teacher Diane Goudy, a member of the negotiating team, said the tone of the talks was the best it?s been in years.

The bargaining process moved smoothly and progressively this year, said FHS teacher Kevin Hosbond, chief negotiator for the teachers? union.

?The process allowed both sides to filter everything down to some of the most important issues,? he said. ?For the teachers, it was salary increase and step movement, longevity pay and personal days. The association feels good as a whole about the outcome.

?I think the two-year contract is a first for our district. It really helps the district with budget planning and decision-making.

?It was the most positive bargaining process I?ve been through in all three years I?ve been on the team,? said Hosbond. ?I think it speaks well of the leadership of our district.?

?I am glad to do this,? said board president Jennifer Anderson as she signed the board?s resolution to approve the contract. ?Thanks to everyone who worked on this.?

The board also approved support staff contracts and salaries, teacher salaries, and administrators? salaries for 2012-2013.

Sathoff?s salary and contract will be considered at the June 18 school board meeting, after the board?s evaluation process. His salary for his first year as superintendent has been $134,900 with a total package of $165,201.

Board members Bob Waugh and Jerry Nelson voted no on the list of administrator salaries, but it passed on the 5-2 vote. Those 2012-13 total compensation packages are:

? Fairfield High School Principal Aaron Becker, $127,495; a 2.41 percent increase from this year?s $124,490.

? Auxiliary services director Fred McElwee, $126,090; a 2.44 percent increase from this year?s $123,092.

? Curriculum director Marci Dunlap, $120,551; a 2.53 percent increase from this year?s $117,582.

? Kim Sheets, district business manager. $112,941; a 2.66 percent increase from this year?s $110,012.

? Fairfield Middle School Principal Laura Atwood, $102,564; a 2.89 percent increase from this year?s $99,687.

? FMS associate principal Matt Jones, $102,133; a 2.9 percent increase from this year?s $99,258.

? FHS associate principal Brian Stone, $101,897; a 4.18 percent increase from this year?s $97.807.

? Activities director Jeff Courtright, $101,550; a 2.91 percent increase from this year?s $98,679.

? Pence Elementary School Principal Chris Welch, $101,340; a 4.2 percent increase from this year?s $97,253.

? Technology director Mark Cremer, $87,917; a 4.79 percent increase from this year?s $83,899.

Waugh questioned why three of the 10 administrators actually received more than a 4 percent increase while seven administrators received a 2+ percent increase.

?We based the percentage off of the teachers? contract, using a 3 percent increase for the whole group of administrators,? said Sheets.

?Rather than everyone [on the administration team] getting a straight 3 percent increase, we as a team, decided how to share it,? said Kelly Schloss, principal at Washington and Libertyville elementary schools, leaving the district at the end of this school year.

?Last year, I hired three new administrators at the bottom [of the pay scale],? said Sathoff. ?I was the main pusher of adding $1,000 to the those three bottom salaries. On each occasion, we hired our No. 1 choice of candidate. So yes, we?re playing catch-up on those three salaries.?

Nelson said as long as the district?s finances are ?in the black, that?s OK. But we?ve got to be careful.?

Sathoff said the administrative team went from 13 to 12 the previous year, and administrators took five furlough days last summer to help the budget.

?Our administrator?s salaries are at the top of the bottom third of comparable Iowa school district,? he said.