BC News

District and principal's union reach two-year contract agreement
Release Date: Feb. 25, 2010

The district and its principals’ union have reached a tentative agreement on a two-year contract that calls for annual salary increases of 2.5 percent.

That figure is half of the 5 percent increases in the current deal, which expires at the end of the current school year.

The 14-member Bethlehem Principals Association (BPA) is comprised of elementary and secondary principals and assistant principals, as well as the middle school house leaders and high school academic deans.

“This agreement with our building leaders is fair and appropriate, particularly given these economic times,” Superintendent Michael Tebbano said. “Coming to such a reasonable agreement through a very productive process ensures that our focus continues to be right where it belongs — on our classrooms and students. I am proud of our partnership with the BPA and the job they do leading Bethlehem’s schools every day.”

The BPA voted unanimously to approve the deal in early February. The Board of Education approved the agreement at its Feb. 24 meeting.

As part of the settlement, the BPA agreed to phase out an annual $750 stipend for meeting professional development goals. This provision calls for a one-time $500 payment to be folded into their 2010-11 salaries.

Through the agreement, the association also agreed to raise its doctor’s office visit copays to $25, from $15, in the event that plan becomes available to the district. (Health insurers require a certain number of employees at a copay level to offer a plan in that range; The distirct has not yet reached that threshold for the $25 copay.

The BPA agreement also includes a modest retirement incentive for district administrators eligible to retire. Association members who retire in their first year of eligibility would receive $7,500; those who retire in their second year of eligibility would receive $6,000.

Agreements with top administrators

The Board of Education also recently reached an agreement with the district’s three top administrators, aside from the superintendent, for effective salary increases of less than 1 percent next year.

Superintendent Michael Tebbano had previously announced that he would not accept a pay increase for this year or next year.

The recent agreements with the three top administrators — Assistant Superintendent Jody Monroe, Chief Business and Financial Officer Judith Kehoe and Pupil Personnel Services Director Rita Levay — call for 1 percent salary increases for 2010-11. Yet, because all three agreed to terminate what had been an annual $750 stipend in their contracts, the effective increases are less than 0.5 percent for each of them.

Salary increases for these positions are typically negotiated year-to-year.

Tebbano and the other three top administrators initiated the effort to look into savings through $25 doctor’s office visit co-pays, and have all signed on to have their co-pays increase to this level when that plan becomes available to the district.

 

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