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Turner schools settle contracts

BELOIT TOWNSHIP — Teachers in the Turner School District will get a pay increase and will lose health insurance through the WEA Trust.

The district and the teachers union this week agreed on contracts for the next two school years.

Aside from changes to pay and benefits, the contracts will change the time of the school day starting this fall.

Per the new contracts, teachers will get a 3.8 percent total package increase in the 2009-10 school year, Administrator Dennis McCarthy wrote in a news release. They will get a 3.9 percent total package increase in the second year of the contract, McCarthy wrote.

The teachers association agreed to switch from insurance coverage through the WEA Trust to a Dean and Mercy dual choice option and to Delta Dental, McCarthy wrote.

That’s a change previously made by district administration and support staff, he wrote.

It was a hard decision for the teachers, who have in the past given up other things to hold on to their WEA insurance, said Shelly Crull-Hanke, teachers union president.

“We gave up a very big, valuable asset that we had in our favor,” Crull-Hanke said. “It was a really hard decision.”

The change will allow the district to pay teachers more competitively, McCarthy wrote.

In addition:

-- The teachers agreed to the board’s request to change the workday for all teachers to be from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

-- The two sides agreed to an additional 15 minutes of structured class time at the middle and high schools. Those school days now will run from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

-- The district agreed to the teachers’ requests for an increase in life insurance from $20,000 to $30,000.

-- The district will add four assistant varsity coaches and a DECA advisory position.

-- The district will attempt to schedule 30 minutes of prep time daily for elementary teachers.

-- The district will institute a sick leave bank for teachers.