Previous contracts had language in them that protected sound educational practices while the board is trying to remove that language.

And yes, there are financial issues as well as the school board talked about shared sacrifice but in practice, they are trying to balance the districts budget soley on the backs of the employees of the district (other than the administrators who have recently been given raises).

As far as transparency goes, this current school board came in with an agenda. They are pushing dollars and cents as the answer to everything, while neglecting to mention the effects that their decisions will have on the education of children in the district. See section 19 of their contract offer where they can remove special ed. teachers from inclusion classrooms to the detriment of both special ed. and regular ed. students. See also the reduction in planning time. At the elementary level, reducing planning time will also reduce student access to phys. ed., art, music, computer labs, and the library which are all vital to a well rounded education. At higher levels, the reduction in planning time will result in a loss of time for students to work with teachers individually if they are having difficulties as the teachers will no longer have time for that.

There is only 1 member of the school board with any experience in education, but the three newest members seem to be in control and only care about dollars and cents and not about education. If they continue to push their agenda, they will destroy an excellent district in a very short period of time.

Also, they seem to be selective in their striving for fiscal responsibility. They have hired new lawyers that charge hundreds of thousands more for services than the previous lawyers did. That is why the teachers want both sides of the story heard. Then people can decide for themselves.

Finally, even posting about an average salary is misleading. The BBHCSD has many teachers with a lot of experience. If you would place the teachers from this district on salary schedules from other districts, the average salary would actually be much higher. (See Orange, Solon, Beachwood, Hudson, Aurora, and even Westlake are all districts that have a higher pay scale in this area). Harping on the higher average is a disingenous attempt to show that our teachers are overpaid, when in fact is is in line with other districts.

Forgot to mention one more thing. On the board negotiations page, they take sole credit for forming the suburban health consortium. There are two problems with that. #1 - not one current board member was on the board when it was first formed. #2 - It was actually cooperatively founded by the school board at the time, the union members at the time, and several other school districts that all agreed to work together to save the districts money. If the unions had not agreed to it at that time, the consortium would never have been founded in the first place. (BTW: That consortium has saved the district (and other districts) millions of dollars over the years)

RE: 8:49 post -
In what way is any of this rant relevant to board negotiations?
I just reread these posts, and after reading this last one, it just shows how bitter and difficult you must be to negotiate with. I now realize I've wasted my time earlier (2 comments below) responding to someone who is overly agitated and just makes my head spin. You must pick a fight over everything. I'm done here. Let the readers go to these contracts, links and sites for the facts.

Lyn, the ODE link is much more reliable than the Buckeye Institute. I've found so many errors on the BI website, that all of the information found there is subject to scrutiny. My salary is listed incorrectly, I can list over 20 people that I personally know that are no longer with the district that are still listed as receiving salaries when they have not worked for the district for anywhere between the last 1-5 years. And you ignored the part where I pointed out the problems with the retirement calculations.

As far as the SS issues, I will grant that normal contributions are 6.2%, but who knows how long that is going to be kept down with the current political climate. I don't see any time in the forseable future where either the democrats or republicans will raise that back to the 6.2%. And check your facts as well. Govt employees including teachers do pay medicare taxes as well. So you can add that 1.45% medicare tax on top of the 10% teachers currently pay. BTW: Current proposals also include raising teacher contributions to 12% which would mean that teachers would pay currently 3 x what public employees are paying and if it goes back up to 6%, it would still almost 2 x as much.

The ODE link includes administration (principals, supt., and other administration in the board office) which raises the overall average. Actual district average is around $77,000 for staff. If you are so concerned about averages though, an easy way to lower it would be to hire about 100 new teachers. That would lower the average to about $64,000. (To bad it would raise overall costs by almost $4 million dollars. See the problem with using average salary now???)

There was no personal attack there lyn. Knowing your motives for posting makes a difference on interpretting your posts.

You want a link to facts, here you go: http://www.beesstaff.org/#!facts|cfzx

Once again, per ODE link for 2010-2011 year:
$78,868-TEACHERS
and it also lists the ADMIN.- $92,485

Lyn,
People who use the "average salary" argument are not really making a valid, relevant point, and only further proves they need to crack open a dictionary and look up the meaning of "average." Every profession has an "average salary" (based on numerous factors). That figure is the average salary of ALL teachers in the district from the ones who've been teaching for many decades to the ones who are newbies right out of college.

When you have teachers who've been teaching for 15,20,25 years, of course their salary will be higher than those who've only been teaching for 5 years (for example). So, that's going to increase the "average" salary. After all, wouldn't YOU expect to be making significantly more if you were in your career for 20 years (for example) over someone who has only been in the profession for 5 years?

I know that's how I roll. As do many others.

One would make a more valid argument, for example, if you take the "average" salary of those who've been teaching for 5 years or less because you're getting a more focused average, instead of the broad stroking of the brush.

"crack open a dictionary and look up the meaning of "average." "
Thanks, but I know the meaning - do you?
The Ohio Dept. of Education link also gives the median salary. Need that definition? Would you like that figure? $80,292
I felt the average salary was more representative. You can put whatever footnotes on it that you want, but the fact still remains that $78,868 is the AVERAGE of all classroom teacher salaries, of course some with more years and higher than others. THAT is why it is AVERAGE, by definition.

And you being clueless, Lyn, is further advanced by your response.

Who cares what happened before? This kind of "I said this...You said that..." is irrelevant to knocking out TODAY'S contract - even if you don't get what you FEEL you are entitled to. No one ever gets everything they want - that's part of negotiating. If you get your panties all knotted up over who gets credit for something, you'll never get a new contract formed.

Here is a chart that includes N. Royalton. http://media.wix.com/ugd//c60d60_5036cb6c4da88f738c34e10c9c0a56a0.pdf

They are within $1000 everywhere along the track.

As you say the ODE (Ohio Dept. of Education) is reliable, these are listed as average TEACHER salaries for 2010-2011-
$63,159 North Royalton
$67,665 Independence
$78,868 Brecksville

And again on problems with using averages. If you want to bring Brecksville down to North Royalton's average, just hire 100 brand new teachers. The average will then be the same. The only problem with that is that it will raise the total payroll by about $4,000,000. If you put the Brecksville teachers on the North Royalton pay scale, the average would still be very close to the same. The difference is the amount of experience in the staffs. Since Brecksville has been downsizing, most of the newer teachers have been RIF'ed and the average experience level is much higher now in BBH -vs- most area districts. This will raise the district average. If you brought N. Royalton's staff to Brecksville, their average would still be close to the same.The contract $ amounts for both districts are very close, the difference is in the experience of teachers in the two districts.

I see where the discrepancy is now. I clicked on the link for average salary by groups. The district reports all instructional salaries as teacher salaries, while the ODE only counts classroom teachers. The district includes the 11.5 counseling positions, the 4 Media Specialist positions, the 2.7 remedial specialists, and the 7.1 small group instructors as teachers in their average. Those 25 positions average just under $70k and would account for the $2,000 difference between ODE data and District Data. It wasn't due to admin salaries. It was due to ODE seperating groups out into smaller groups that the district doesn't do in their reports.

Lyn,
If people like you do not value school districts that are ranked "Excellent" or "Excellent With Distinction", then move.
But, people like me who move into districts that are ranked with such status (and I'm a Brecksville grad and attended there from 1st grade on) move into those for the quality of the school districts and realize that kind of education is not cheap and are willing to pay for it.

People who live in these districts and constantly complain need to pack up their crap and move. Perhaps a city like Garfield Hts where people don't give a crap about their schools.

Troy -
Nice personal attack.
Check the ODE site and you will see that districts do no have to be among the top 10 highest paid to be ranked "Excellent" or "Excellent With Distinction". There are many.
Go to the site, don't just lash out.
This exchange just goes to show that the teachers/union DO fear transparency. I gave 2 links for readers to decide for themselves, and these links are both often used for reference. A reader may choose to disregard the info, or may decide to make an uninformed opinion.
So, once again - I've provided the 2 links for people to go to themselves and they can come to a different conclusion than I have, or not. I just think the teachers are sitting with extremely good salary and benefits, including retirement and should not be complaining about THIS.

Lyn,

It was *NOT* a personal attack.

Your use of words and terminology needs to really stop. Don't tell me to look at a website that has averages and medians. Your incessant whining is only further highlighting your ignorance (which is bordering on stupidity).
But, playing the "personal attack" card is typical ploy/whine when people like you are put into a corner WITH FACTS!

Troy-
Calm down.
The "ODE" site is for the "Ohio Department of Education" and is full of many facts and figures, not just salaries. It is not a propaganda site. If you do not want the info, fine - but back off, please.