Charlo school board refuses to budge on bargaining agreements
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CHARLO – Last week school board trustees held fast to collective bargaining agreements and refused to grant raises to two long-time Charlo bus drivers who have been paid entry level wages since August. The board also denied a request for a $25,000 retirement bonus made by a 70-year-old teacher because she was four years short of the terms of in a bargaining agreement.
“I’m not saying someone’s not worthy of the acknowledgment, but I have a hard time making an agreement and then backpedaling and doing something different,” Trustee Diana Kelley said.
Art teacher Sharon Hertz argued the board wouldn’t be breaking its agreement by granting the retirement bonus to another teacher who has served 11 years with the school district. The district’s collective bargaining agreement says teachers are eligible for the bonus once they have served 15 years with the district, but also includes a provision for the board to have ultimate say in the matter.
“Our (contract) clearly says that each case is reviewed individually so I don’t feel as though it’s going against our negotiated agreement to give her some part of a retirement incentive,” Hertz said.
Hertz said the teacher’s caseload has steadily increased over the years as staff for the special education department decreased from three teachers to one. The educator is responsible for approximately 30 special ed cases, Hertz said.
For Board Chairman Shane Reum, making the exception wasn’t clear-cut. He said making an exception for a teacher with 11 years of service could lead the district down a slippery slope. Will future teachers with seven or eight years under their belts approach the board for the bonus?
“Where does it stop?” Reum said.
Although the board voted unanimously against the incentive, Boardmember Dave DeGrandpre said the teacher should receive some sort of recognition.
“If she’s truly been exemplary, that’s fantastic and we should show appreciation somehow,” DeGrandpre said. “I don’t know that a retirement incentive is the right way to go.”
The board also claimed its hands were tied in the case of collective bargaining agreements signed by Clyde Olsen and Cindy Paulsen, two bus drivers who requested a pay raise at the February board meeting. Olsen drove buses carrying Charlo schoolchildren for Coulter’s Automotive for more than 30 years. Paulsen drove for 17 years. When Charlo district transitioned into an in-house bus service last year, the pair signed on to continue as state employees, but didn’t realize that their pay would be approximately 25 percent less than what they previously earned.
In February the board tabled the pay raises amid strong board opposition.
The classified employees union, which negotiated the contract Paulsen and Olsen signed, met after the raises were tabled, and obtained approval from 13 of its 14 members.
Last week Boardmember Duane Weible made a motion to bring the salaries up to what the duo were making while driving for Coulter’s Automotive. Weible also asked that the district issue retroactive back-pay for the differences in salaries.
“I just don’t think it is right,” Weible said. “We should have at least grandfathered them in.”
The board voted down the measure 4-1.
Reum said the retroactive pay was a “hang up” he couldn’t get past in the proposal and that the drivers should have said something immediately after they noticed the pay cut, not when the school year was almost over. Kelley and DeGrandpre also said they weren’t on board with a retroactive pay.
The board then voted 3-2 to negotiate Paulsen and Olsen’s contracts in the collective bargaining agreement.
Transportation Coordinator Doug Hertz said the board must make changes if it wants to keep drivers who have an impeccable safety record.
“It’s getting to the point where I can’t even get anyone to drive the bus,” Doug Hertz said.
He added that new trainees often are poached by higher paying districts because Charlo wages are so low.
“They aren’t even paying their expenses,” he said.
Attempts to get the district to restructure the bus drivers’ compensation package have “fallen on deaf ears,” according to Doug Hertz.
“If something doesn’t change I’m not going to stay either,” he said.
“I think we all understand that we need to change the rate structure and address this issue,” DeGrandpre said. “We’re not trying to punish anybody. We appreciate the service they’ve given and we need to deal with this, but I think it’s appropriate in a collective bargaining agreement.”
Negotiations on the collective bargaining agreement were set for March 24.
Kelley said it might be wise to include a one-time bonus to cover retroactive pay for Olsen and Paulsen, in addition to a pay raise. That would achieve the same goal, without breaking the bargaining agreement.
Weible was doubtful that would work. “I just don’t think it’s even fair,” Weible said. “We’re going to start losing these drivers. I don’t know anyone who is going to take a 25 percent pay cut for a full year. Then you’re going to make them big promises for next year and they’ll come back? I don’t think so.”
