There might not be classes in the Redbank Valley School District, but there will be extracurricular activities.
The school board president earlier this week issued a statement on the district’s website that stated extracurricular activities would go on despite the threat of a strike in the district.
“In the unfortunate event of a strike enacted by district employees, the school board will permit the sports teams and bands to continue their activities without interruption, as long as they have coach supervision,” William Reddinger said.
In a letter on the district’s web page, Chad Shaffer, chairman of the district’s negotiations committee, said the district is willing to provide a $2,000 signing bonus and 2% salary increase for each of the next three years.
The support staff, his letter said, would receive an $1,800 signing bonus and a 40-cents-per-hour wage increase in the first year, which would rise to 42 cents in the second and third years of the contract.
However, Redbank Valley Education Association President Kristen M. Landers told the newspaper that the district has not increased its salary proposal from the initial offers.
“The board has simply shifted numbers around in their float proposal to make it look that way,” she said. “Their total dollar amount has not changed.”
Shaffer told the newspaper that salaries for the past two years would count as the first two years of a new new five-year contract, and that salaries would remain frozen for both groups in lieu of no health care insurance changes for those first two years.
Landers said in a recent letter that the board’s salary freeze would be the fourth such freeze taken by many staff members “over the course of their careers.”
Shaffer, in his letter, said teachers have responded by requesting 2.5% annual raises for all five years of the contract, and that would “not permit a balanced budget in the end.”
Shaffer told the newspaper the district has asked for all employees to start making co-payments, with amounts such as $20 for an office visit and $125 for an ER visit, and that represents a reduction from the district’s previous offers.
Landers told the newspaper that the 11 new co-pays and a reduction to the contribution to the health savings account would result in a financial burden for some of the staff.
“Many of the co-pays are for recurring treatments and will add up quickly,” she said. “We have agreed to review the co-pays and accept some in order to help the school district reduce premium costs, but not all due to the negative impact on our staff members.”
Shaffer said the district “insists” that one-time grant funds be used for one-time expenses and not to justify recurring expenses.
“Grant money from federal COVID-19 relief and an unexpected budget surplus from last school year are temporary and related to the pandemic,” he said. “Their occurrence cannot derail our efforts to limit recurring expense increases to the amount of recurring tax revenue that can be generated.”
However, he said, the district insists on maintaining annual expense increases that can be matched by annual tax increases in order to maintain a balanced budget and not necessitate further program and position cuts.
“Your teachers do not wish to strike,” Landers said. “However, we may need to do just that. In the spring, we chose not to strike in order to allow more time to reach a settlement.”
She said the goal was to have a “fair contract” negotiated by the beginning of this coming school year.
“We do not wish to cause discomfort to anyone or to disrupt the education of our students,” Landers said. “That being said, a strike is the only option we have left in order to move the process forward.”
Landers said the association, which has been without a contract since June 2019, has authorized a strike, but for that to happen the district would have to be notified 48 hours in advance of a strike. Students are to report for classes on Thursday.
Landers said the last official proposal the association received from the board is dated April 19 and expired May 31, and that another negotiation session has been “tentatively” planned.