Oct 11, 2006 By Amanda Clegg 3 min read

DEEMSTON – The Bethlehem-Center School District teachers’ union is asking the school board to return to the bargaining table three days into the teachers’ strike. Debbie Young, spokeswoman for the teachers’ association, said the association sent out a certified letter Tuesday afternoon asking to resume “meaningful” negotiations.

“We are trying to get back to the table with them,” Young said, adding that salary and class size are the issues at hand.

According to a press release from the board sent out Tuesday, the last proposal from the board before negotiations stopped was a five-year contract beginning this school year and ending in the 2010-2011 school year.

The board’s proposed contract offers the teachers a minimum $1,300 increase each year, and over the five years a teacher’s base salary on the bachelor’s scale increases a minimum of $6,500 and a maximum of $23,200.

“With the proposed increase in the last year of the contract, the teachers would be earning a minimum of $22.35 per hour (for new hires) and a maximum of $50.74 per hour,” according to the release. “It is projected that 62 percent of the teachers would be at the maximum rate.”

Current salary for Bethlehem-Center teachers with a bachelor’s degree starts at $27,000 annually and reaches $59,750 for teachers with 17 years of experience. That breaks down to $20.46 and $45.28 per hour. Any teacher having a master’s degree receives an additional $700 per year and for every six credits an additional $300 to $1,500 is added on to their base pay. In the first year of the proposed contract, teachers with a bachelor’s degree would make $27,500 annually ($20.84 per hour) at step 1 of the pay scale and $61,050 annually ($46.26 per hour) at step 17. After five years, step 1 reaches $29,500 ($22.35 per hour) and step 17 increases to $66,250 ($50.21 per hour). Forty-one of the 109 Bethlehem Center teachers have reached step 17 and 26 more will reach that step in the next five years, according to the press release.

The board and the teachers’ association have reached agreements in writing on issues, such as health care and retirement incentives, according to the release.

Under the tentative agreement, teachers receive full health care with vision and dental insurance with co-pays of $10 for physician visits (up from $0), $5 for generic prescription drugs and $20 for brand name prescription drugs (up from $10).

Young said the teachers “took concession” on health care to “save money for the district.”

Andy Meyers, president of the Bethlehem-Center Education Association, stated that the concessions made in the health care resulted in a savings of $200,000 a year.

As for retirement incentive, teachers would receive a district-paid single-coverage health care plan and an increased payment for unused sick days at $25 to $50 per day for 1-100 days, $100 per day for 101-200 days and $150 per day after that.

An agreement was also reached on payments in lieu of health coverage, child rearing leave, grievance procedures, additional leaves with pay for union representatives, higher mileage reimbursement, sabbatical leaves, life insurance and transfer language.

Meyers placed the local teachers at the bottom of the county earning scale.

“Although our teachers are the lowest life-time earners in Washington County, as well as having a salary next to the lowest in the county, the Board of Education is offering teachers a salary increase that does not even meet a cost-of-living raise,” he said. “The board’s proposal will put teachers even further behind.”

Wade Smith, board spokesman, said the board is “certainly willing to negotiate” as long as the letter contains no “land mines.”

“We’ll see what’s in the letter,” he said.

“We’re willing to come back to the table.”