The Olentangy Local School District Board of Education unanimously approved a one-year contract for the district’s teachers at Tuesday’s meeting.
The new contract will go into effect on July 1, 2017, to succeed a one-year extension of a three-year agreement from the 2012 to 2013 school year, which allowed the district to realize more than $15 million in savings.
There are three big components of the new agreement including a zero percent increase on the base salary. Teachers employed in 2012 did not receive an experience credit but will in the new contract, while teachers who were not employed at the time will receive a 2.25 percent, one-time stipend.
The agreement allows the district to avoid $1 million in expenses compared with the cost of a traditional 2.25 percent base increase, which compounds over time, according to city officials.
“A one-year contract agreement is in the best interest of the district as it allows us to move forward, but be ready to adapt to our growing population and needs within the district,” Superintendent Mark T. Raiff said.
Board president Dave King said the contract reflects the district’s efforts to be cost-efficient while recognizing the work being done on a daily basis by its teachers.
“The board of education recognizes the district’s recent cost-saving measures has come from our teachers. Primarily because of their past concessions, the district exceeded its goal of remaining off the ballot for three years despite continued enrollment growth,” King said.
The new “agreement is a reflection of those partnerships and the effort that has resulted in Olentangy consistently being ranked among the best school districts in the state,” said Elaine Eddy, OTA president.
The OTA represents 1,268 teachers in the district and the contract will run through June 30, 2018.
In other business:
• Justin Emrich, a teacher at Olentangy Berkshire Middle School in Galena, was presented the 2016 Ohio Preserve America History Teacher of the Year national award at the meeting. The national award program is co-sponsored by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Preserve America with the Ohio competition coordinated by the Ashbrook Center at Ashland [Ohio] University. Emrich was selected from among nine nominees by a panel of historians and educators from Ohio.
• The district selected 55 out of 250 applicants for the Attendance Boundaries Committee, said Krista Davis, director of communications for the district. Each committee member represents a building in the district, she said.
The committee had its first meeting last week and its members have prior committee experience, Davis said, but are not district employees.
She encourages parents to go to the school’s website, which has information about the committee and to debunk rumors such as sending Olentangy students to the Buckeye Valley school district.
