The four Republican members of the Board of Finance want to tear up new contracts between the Board of Education and the school district’s teachers and administrators.
The agreements approved by the school board Oct. 30 pay principals too much money and include too many sick days, Finance Board members said.
At a special meeting Wednesday, the board voted 4 – 2 to recommend the town’s Board of Selectmen be put in front of the public at a town meeting scheduled for Dec. 14.
The vote was split among party lines, with Democrats Mike Lyon and Nancy Schmitt voting in the minority.
Board member Dick Burke said administrators receive starting salaries of $89,000 a year and with annual increases, are making $120,000 by the third year on the job.
Burke said administrators receive 45 paid sick days, six weeks paid vacation and 18 paid holidays throughout the school year.
“This money needs to come out of the pockets of the administrators and back into the classrooms,” he said.
Copies of both contracts are posted at the end of this article.
Board member Tom Kelly said the administrator’s contract appeared to be one sided, in favor of the administrators.
“The contract is all about what the administrators are getting and does not have much of what Oxford is getting in return,” he said.
The agreements approved by the school board Oct. 30 show a zero percent wage increase for the Oxford Education Association (the teacher’s union) and Oxford Administrators Association (school administrators, other than the superintendent) in the first year of the contracts.
The two-year teachers contract, scheduled to begin Sept. 1, 2010 calls for a one percent cost of living increase in its second year.
The three-year administrator’s contract — scheduled to begin July 1, 2010 — calls for a 2 percent wage increase in its second year, and a 2.5 percent increase in the third year.
At least three school officials were at the Board of Finance meeting, but did not attempt to speak. Rules regarding “special meetings” prohibit public comment, members of the Board of Finance said.
Board of Education member Paula Guillet told the Valley Independent Sentinel her colleagues negotiated a good and fair contract with teachers and administrators.
Guillet said that if the contracts go to a town meeting and are rejected by residents, the contracts could go into arbitration.
“If the contracts go to arbitration, it will cost the town a lot more money,” she said.
Republican Selectman David Yish supports the Board of Finance’s recommendation, adding that having discussions on the contracts would be good for residents.
Yish said he requested at Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting that the education contracts be added to the town meeting scheduled for Dec. 14.
Yish’s motion was overruled, with Democratic Selectman Dave McKane voting no. First Selectwoman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers, a Democrat, abstained.
“Hopefully, with the Finance Board’s recommendation, the Board of Selectmen will reconsider its decision,” he said.
In an interview Thursday, Drayton-Rogers questioned the legality of the Board of Finance vote. She said the board’s agenda did not state its members would vote on the issue — therefore rendering the vote moot.
“It doesn’t make any difference how the vote went and makes me question the board’s motivation,” she said. “The contract was negotiated in good faith.”
The teachers contract was submitted to the Town Clerk’s Office on Nov. 12 and the administrators contract was submitted on Nov. 16.
The contracts are open to the public for 30 days of receipt at the Town Clerk’s office before they are ratified, according to state law.
