001[Music] Welcome to tonight's special board meeting. Let the record show all board members are present. Uh we will stand for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Can you click our mission there? >> Sorry. >> At Monster, we are dedicated to excellence every student, every day. Our mission is to cultivate excellence, empowering every student to realize their full potential and achieve high levels of learning. >> Our vision is as a school community where all students have a sense of belonging, take ownership of their learning, and find joy, passion, and purpose in their continued growth. Item 1.5, public comment information. We currently offer two ways in which the
002community can participate in regular school board meetings. The first public comment section on the agenda is for addressing current action items that are on tonight's agenda. These comments must be submitted by noon on the day of the meeting. The procedures for submission are posted on our website under board of school trustees. The second public comment section is for general comments and does not have to be specific to an agenda topic. If you wish to address the board during the general public comments section of the meeting, please put your name and topic on a card and give to Miss Deb Hayes at the start of the meeting. All public comments are limited to three minutes per individual with a total of 30 minutes allotted for each public comment section on the agenda. Item 2.1, individual public
003comments. I don't believe there are any. Item three, action items. I don't believe we have. Item four, any items that may properly come before the board. I don't believe so. Leads us to item 5.1, our proposed 2025 teacher collective bargaining agreement. Dr. Ricks, >> it is my distinct privilege to share with you the pieces of the colle the tenative agreement between School Town of Monster and the Monster Teachers Association. Before I get into the bullet points, I want to thank the Monster Teachers Association for their uh collaborative work on this uh tenative agreement and for their teachers ratifying this contract on their end. I also want to thank uh Mr. Trip and Feldus, Mr. Melby, Miss Bergrren, the building level leaders that were a part of uh bargaining this contract from the administration side. It
004was most of the way done before I came on board in terms of uh spirit of collaboration. So that work uh clearly uh shows how well the relationship has been built between the the association and the administration team prior to my arrival and I want to make sure I give credit to them because they did a great job. So this is we are hoping to to settle a two-year contract with the with the teachers association. In this two-year contract, the raises will range from 4 to 4.6 7% depending on factors that will be described later in the presentation. In the second year, those amounts drop in half based on our projected income from the state of Indiana. We will increase the minimum salary in order to be able to uh recruit teachers in the coming
005years and we will increase the maximum salary to help benefit those teachers that have been with us the longest. We will also be increasing our the district's contribution toward health uh insurance in each of the two years. We'll talk about that. We intend to increase the 401A retirement annuity ever so slightly over the course of the contract. And we have asked for some changes to the PTO policy to start to increase communication so that we're able to plan for teacher absences uh moving forward. and we have some new agenda positions that we'll discuss. So, that is the overview. This is the compensation model for year one of the two-year contract. There are five factors that we're taking into consideration for the teachers raises. Those factors include the evaluation results. If a teacher is effective or
006highly effective, they will get a 1.9% raise. If they have been with us at least a year, they will get an additional 1.6% raise. If they have a content area degree that is a master's that is not required to do their job. So for for example, if someone had a career prior and they had to get a master's degree in order to get their teaching license, that is not the same as getting a master's degree in their content area so that they could teach uh AP, for example, or so that they could be a literacy expert. Uh so that master's degree is the bar to entry to the profession. So only folks that had a a bachelor's or a previous mast's as their entry into the field and got an additional masters will be eligible
007for this amount. Did I capture that accurately? >> That's per Indiana code. And academic need, we are characterizing academic need as someone who participated in a PLC in the previous school year. So, uh, anyone who was with us last year and was part of a professional learning community will also see this.5% raise. And then the state of Indiana requires us to differentiate pay for anyone that has acquired the early literacy endorsement. That total number of employees at this point is approximately right around 8 to 10. We anticipate this number going up for a couple of reasons. one, we're incentivizing it pay-wise, but also the state is requiring it at their next license renewal in order to be able to continue to teach elementary. So, we imagine that will inflate uh if not by the end
008of this contract over time uh moving forward. So, those are the factors that add up to the 4.7. If you have all of the cards in your card deck, then you make a 4.7% raise, which really only includes about eight people that could get all the way to the top of the mountain. Most people will get a 4% raise. Some additional folks who have the master's degree, as described previously, will be able to get a 4.5% raise. Any questions about any of those factors or those percentages? Okay, we would like to increase the minimum salary from 55,000 to fix 56,200 in hopes of being competitive both regionally and within the state. We would like to move the maximum salary from 90,000 to 94,000 in order to capture a majority of the raise at the top
009end inside of their base so that it counts toward their turf. Any questions about either of those? Okay, these are the secondyear factors. If you imagine cutting each of those previous factors we spoke about in half, these are the numbers that are derived there from. And we would like to move the salary up an additional $500 in the second year in hopes that it continues to help us be competitive regionally and within the state. And we maintain the maximum salary at 94,000 in the second year. and any amount of money that would be part of their raise over that 94 would be considered a stipen both in the first year which is less likely given the amount but more likely in the second year. In terms of health insurance contributions, our goal given uh our
010desire to take care of our employees health is to cover the first 1% of the insurance cost in each year of the contract. Right now, we know that our premium will go up 1% and we are covering that 1% for our employees so that the entirety of their raise will be a true raise. They will not just be to offset insurance in the first year. In the second year, we we anticipate it could be 1% or more. We're committing to that 1% in the second year. Any increase beyond that 1% will be assumed by the uh folks who are insured, our employees specifically. And so this is the known cost for this year that we are increasing and then we won't know in the second year until we go to market and find out what
011our premium will be. Any questions about any of the insurance pieces? Well, that's weird. >> I made it angry. >> Let's go forward. We did it. Okay. And this is the it's the same amounts in the second year. the additional 1% based on the premium as anticipated. Any questions about health insurance. Excellent. In our 401A retirement annuity, uh there was a request to to increase it. We believe that we wanted to increase it to try and and reflect years of service to a certain extent. And so it will increase gradually from 2.5% to 3% after 10 years of service. There are increments in years six seven >> three >> after three >> that's it after three after five and after 10 so those will those will increase um so if you're with us after three
012it goes to 26 after five it goes to 27 and so on. Any questions about retirement paid time off provisions? We are asking um that we decrease the amount of Oh, this is for the paid time off provisions for good attendance. So teachers now have the opportunity to miss up to an hour without using a PTO day. Must be for medical appointment and with advanced notice limit of three times per year. What we see is people taking a half day off and they have like a 2:30 or 3:00 appointment. And they can make that appointment if we just cover that last hour of the day. As we all agree, six hours of great teaching and one hour of coverage is substantially better for students than half day of substitute teaching. We love our substitute teachers.
013They're wonderful, but the teachers are the ones who design the curriculum. We are also adding in an exceptional attendance uh comp uh compensation model uh per semester and school year. Stipens will range from $500 if you have uh uh good or perfect attendance each semester. And if you have um perfect attendance for the year, then you will receive a $2,500 stipen at the end of the year in addition to the perfect attendance stipens each semester. Also, the PTO buyback rate was increased to reflect our sub pay. Any questions about any of those three items? Additionally, we are asking that uh teachers seek approval for absences before or after any break, holiday or vacation. That way, we know to anticipate the absence and are able to make decisions about coverage uh appropriately. And we are asking
014that a maximum of 13 PTO days can be used each year without verification or prior approval. That number was previously 20. And again, this is an opportunity for us to be in communication with our employees so that if they miss 13 days, we can support them if they're uh experiencing a health issue and most importantly so that we can anticipate their absence and cover the classrooms for students. >> Dr. What's the process of seeking prior approval? >> We are working through the nuts and bolts of that. We know that fall break is very close in time from when you guys will potentially ratify this contract. That first fall break, there may be no process. Folks who already have it in, they may get cart blanch and we'll pick it up in Thanksgiving and communicate with
015those folks. And then we're creating a some sort of automated system that will come to me. I'll be able to approve. It'll flow back through the system to the building principal and and uh HR so that they can not note it appropriately uh so that we're in full communication about those days being approved and the teacher being able to uh get it in front lines so there's a sub and so on. Um, I just wanted to add, I know this is probably a pretty big change for the district just in terms of logistics and and doing things and and folks may feel like, well, gee, they're, you know, putting the putting the thumb screws on a little bit, but I know for a fact um that some districts do not allow for uh a day
016off before, after a break, vacation, the the um, you know, the three-day weekend, the those kind of things, they don't allow for it at all. So I I still think it's very lenient program. So I just I just want to address that because I know some folks might hear that and be like, "Well, that's kind of not fair, but it's it's still fair, very fair and very lenient process." >> And again, for us, it's really an opportunity just to see it coming. That's really what we want. We just want to know that classroom is going to be uncovered and we need to find a way to have coverage and uh we want to obviously reward good attendance. So it's kind of both. Thank you. Any other questions or conversation about this? >> Just to circle
017back to the the uh rewarding good attendance. I echo everything you said about the advantage of having our full-time teachers in the classroom. Um and I I know we discussed this, but I thought it would be great to um talk about how many teachers would have obtained that perfect attendance stipened last year. >> That that's a great question. Do you have a ballpark figure to share with >> perfect tennis? >> I apologize. For perfect tennis, we would have had two teachers last year who would have gotten that award. >> We would had probably another six to eight. I have to go back look who might have got exceptional attendance. um but two had perfect attendance >> and we don't know if it'll be as big of an impact this year given that the attendance we
018we will factor attendance retroactively to the beginning of the year and when they started the year teachers did not know this would be an incentive but in the second year it's in the contract they will have known starting a year we will really probably have a a great number at the end of that year to have a sense of how effective this strategy is We hope it really helps folks who are close to get there. It's a it's a nice windfall and we want to help folks who are in their classroom for all 180 days feel the gratitude that we feel for that. So all right we are into the agenda. These are all new agenda positions. Uh so boys and girls soccer, girls uh varsity flag football and assistant uh varsity flag football, a
019strength supervisor and morning program, boys and girls cross country assistant, a cyber patriot club, Best Buddies spons we'll take it building by building. Are there any questions about any of these new? These are new. Okay. Wilbur Wright, best buddy sponsor, sixth grade sponsor, seventh grade sponsor, eighth grade sponsor, and a debate team coach. Any questions about any of those? Okay. and for the elementary and environmental science club sponsor that will be open at all three buildings. >> And for the district, I've asked for an English learner lead teacher. Our program has grown and we want to make sure that somebody is helping the the ENL teachers in each of the buildings with their compliance paperwork, with their instructional strategies, and to make sure that we are in goodstead. We have some very talented teachers that
020have the capability to do this. We would like to post this and hire one of those teachers to help help us facilitate this program. Any questions about either of those? These are uh changes to addendum positions that were previously in the contract. The extracurricular coordinator position, which is a is a split position. Right now, there are two people. So, when you see this number, cut it in half per person. Uh to move it from 2100 to 6,500. And instead of additional pay to supervise events, this will be all-incclusive. This will be part of their duty whenever they're there. That's their supervisory. So, and then the Friendship Club, apparently finding Friendship Club sponsors was not as friendly as we had hoped. And so, we'll reallocate those funds into some of these other agenda. Uh, >> it
021it morphed into Best Buddies. I still stand by the joke. Um, the ele the elementary outdoor science lab morphed into the into the other positions as well. and uh robotics team coach. Uh we wanted to increase their pay given how successful that team has been and how important it is to what we do. And our stand sponsor uh is no more. Oh, I believe that's everything that we wanted to cover in terms of the TA. Any questions about anything? >> I don't have a question, but I do want to make a couple comments. One, thank you for this presentation. And I know we've done abbreviated versions of this in the past. This is probably the most thorough thorough program we've done for the public to see what we've done. And then secondly, I want to
022make sure the public also know that we had an executive session to discuss collective bargaining and one of our responsibilities to make sure we can afford this. There are going to be a lot of districts that can't do what we're doing for our our teachers. And I'm very proud of the team that has allowed us to do that over these last few years. Um the laws are changing our um reimbursement from the state uh budget is going to probably get hit. So the fact that we can still next year plan know that we can do this um I I just really appreciative and grateful for that. Anybody else? >> Thank you, Dr. Ricks. >> Thank you, guys. And thanks to Mr. Tribis for putting together such a great presentation. >> Yeah, that was a 10-minute
023presentation that collectively took a long time to to put together. So, thank you everybody for all of your hard work. Uh, item number 6.1, individual public comments. There are none. Item 7.1, announcements. Our October regular schoolboard meeting will be moved up a week just because of fall break. And we also have an executive session set for October 20th. With that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Schwarz Wolf. So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Castro second. >> All those in favor of the motion, please say I. >> I. I. >> Motion carries. 5-0. Meeting adjourned.