Done Deal

Administrators agree to terms

A new contract for Granville School District administrators calling for a 3 percent pay raise is being called a fair bargain by the Board of Education and administration association members.

 

The agreement features a 3 percent raise in each of the years it covers, 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012. Contained in the contract is a provision providing for an automatic 1 percent raise in the event there is no agreement for the 2012-2013 school year.

Superintendent Mark Bessen said the clause is a contract standard that applied to the 2009-2010 school year until the new contract was signed, meaning the effective raise for this year is an additional 2 percent.

The administrators covered in the agreement signed Jan. 4 include Granville High School Principal Dan Poucher, Granville Elementary Principal School Diane Dumas and Mary J. Tanner Primary School Principal Kristie Gijanto as well as GHS Assistant Principal Carina Cook, the unfilled position of director of curriculum and instruction and Director of Special Education Diane Quick.

In the 2009-2010 school year with the raise, Gijanto will make $92,689; Poucher, $86,005; Dumas, $81,102; and Cook, $72,100. Quick’s salary will rise to $72,100 after July of this year. 

Business manager Cathy Somich said the raises will cost the district about $9,667 this year but said the savings to the district would be in future years as administrators pay larger portions of their health insurance premiums and pay toward retirement health insurance.“It’s a difficult year and I thought that we made a number of concessions to come something that is fair to both the members and the community, too,” said Gijanto, who serves as Granville Administrators Association president.

Gijanto cited concessions by the membership in regarding health-care insurance coverage that included an increase in the member contribution and an increased share of insurance costs upon retirement as the reason for including a 3 percent pay raise in the new contract.

“It’s very comparable in what raises are being given in education. Members have had to go to lots of training and a lot of college years to get to this level  — it’s a fair increase for the training they need and have to have as administrators,” Gijanto said.  

Board members said they would have preferred to give smaller raises, but the concessions they received in exchange saved the district money.

“We got some giveback on the medical; we think we gained some ground there,” Board of Education member John Steves said.

“No, I’m not really comfortable with a 3 percent raise but it was a situation where in the end we thought we were going to have a better package,” he said. “The health in the end cost more than the raise.”

“That’s what negotiation is,” he added. “You don’t always get what you want, but it’s a fair settlement for both sides.”

Going forward, Steves said, he is sure other school personnel who have pending contracts with the school district have been waiting to see how negotiations for the administration group turned out.

 “I’m sure the other parties are looking at it to see what happened there, analyzing it,” Steves said.  “It’s a starting point. It all boils down to what both parties come to the table with if they can offer saving in another part of the contract, who knows?”

Bessen noted the contract was largely negotiated before he joined the district but said the agreement showed there had been some give and take from both sides. The contract gave some idea of what both sides were willing to accept considering the times, he said.

“This gives you an idea of what the norm in the area is,” Bessen said. “It’s fair; obviously everyone would like to get more, but it’s fair on both sides.”