Laurel teachers start year without a contract

When students in the Laurel School District return to the classroom next week, teachers in the district will be workingwithout a contract.

The current four-year contract of the Laurel Education Association expires the next day, Aug. 31.

Negotiations between the 79-member union and the district’steam started in January butan agreement has yet to be reached. It has not been determinedwhen the next negotiating session will take place but will likely be in September, said Steve Skerbetz, who is chief negotiator for the association and a high school biologyteacher.

Both Mr. Skerbetz and Superintendent Len Rich say the two major issues are salaries and benefits.

“There are no sides” in the negotiations, Mr. Skerbetz said, adding further information cannot be disclosed as talks are ongoing.

The association’s president is Betsy Sample and there are eight members on its team.

“At Laurel, we have always been a family and will remain that way,” Mr. Skerbetz explained. “When we come to an agreement, it has to be something that everyone can live with.”

“The board team is keeping the greater school board informed on the success or lack of success in teacher negotiations,” said Mr. Rich, who noted that there is an offer on the table and dialogue has been open.

“It’s a changing economic climate and we have to have different types of contracts than we have had in the past,” he explained, adding that there are annual projected fiscal deficits occurring for the thirdyear in a row.

Teachers are already on a high deductible insurance plan, Mr. Rich said, and health care is becoming more costly.

Mr. Skerbetz acknowledged that health care “doesn’t get cheaper.”“We have an offer on the table,” Mr. Rich summarized. “It all comes down to wagesandbenefits.”

Mr. Skerbetz has been with the district for 22 years and has worked on five contracts. In that time period, there have been two occasions whereby teachers have gone back to school without a contract, including 1996, he said.

Salaries and benefits are a sticking point consistently in all school districts, Mr. Skerbetz pointed out.