North Ridgeville Board of Education approves STEM teacher contracts

The North Ridgeville Board of Education approved contracts for STEM teachers at their regular meeting on April 12.

The contracts come in the midst of difficult negotiations between North Ridgeville City Schools and the North Ridgeville Education Association after the union rejected the district’s latest contract offer on April 7.

In response, the union posted a statement to their Facebook page blasting the board’s decision to hire teacher’s at Ranger High Tech Academy at higher salary levels while at the same time claiming fiscal responsibility.

“These new teachers will be making significantly more money than other new hires and many current staff members in the district, the union wrote.”

The board is willing to pay these four STEM teachers roughly 10% of what it would cost to settle the NREA contract representing 280 members. This is absolute hypocrisy when the board is claiming to be fiscally responsible to the community. This is a willingness issue by the board to not compensate current teachers adequately, and their actions this evening prove it.”

The union takes issue with the new STEM teachers being brought in at salary levels significantly higher than standard hiring practices in the district.

In an email statement, union representative and North Ridgeville High School teacher Sam Rufener rejected the district’s argument.

“The BOE and administration will argue that they have to pay the new teachers at this level because they are extremely qualified,” Rufener said. “These four teachers, as well as the STEM academy director, all come from the Parma schools.

They have standard teaching licenses that are in standard subjects. The BOE and administration are showing that they value these new teachers more than the current NRCS teachers.”

Rufener made it clear he was not speaking out against Ranger Academy, however stated said calls by the board for fiscal responsibility are unwarranted given

“If these teachers were brought in at step five, as has been practice, the district would save $76,000 during the 2017-2018 school year,” Rufener said. “Over the next five years it would save approximately $335,000.”

Rufener said the some union members voluntarily took a pay freeze in past negotiations and believes the new hires have not made the same sacrifices while being offered much higher starting salaries. District teachers were brought in at step five regardless of the amount of experience.

On April 10 district superintendent Jim Powell released a statement rejecting calls from the union to improve their contract offer end encouraged the two sides to work together through mediation to find a workable solution.

The April 10 statement referred to the hiring of six new STEM teachers as part of a district-wide restructuring.

Powell said Ranger Academy is designed to introduce competition from charter schools which have been drawing students away from the district.

Powell said on April 13 the district is working in partnership with many local businesses and organizations including Hyland Software, University Hospitals, French Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, LCCC, and the City of North Ridgeville to develop a STEM-based curriculum.

“We have amazing teachers in the district and I’ve worked with them for a long time,” Powell said. “They have been a part of restructuring and they are ready for this.”

Powell said the transition to STEM far preceded the current negotiations and feels the union is misrepresenting the issue as the district moves towards further emphasizing STEM.

“Teachers we hire in these positions have to be able to design a curriculum with these partners with a very specific set of skills and competencies needed to be able to do that,” he said. “When we looked at hiring teachers for Ranger High we were very careful.”

Powell said charter schools have cost the district $1.5 million and amounts to $6,000 for every student who leaves the district.

Contract negotiations between the board and the union remain at a standstill, according to Powell until a federal mediator calls both sides back to the table.

“The board is pretty adamant that they have gone as far as they can and it puts our teachers in a good position but it also holds off going to the community for more funds,” Powell said.