LCC Board approves a teacher salary increase
— Angie Steffen
Laurel Advocate
COLERIDGE — Laurel-Concord-Coleridge school board members agreed on a new contract for teachers.
“This year’s negotiations process went smoothly and I want to commend both the board committee and the LCCEA committee for their time and dedication to this process,’’ said Supt. Jeremy Christiansen.
The Negotiated Agreement with the LCC Education Association calls for a $900 increase on the base salary (to $37,300) which represents a 2.47 percent base salary increase and a 3.05% increase in total compensation.
Paid Time Off (PTO) provisions amended in relation to single (vs double) deduction for an absence on restricted days (e.g., professional development, first/last five student days) at teachers’ discretion.
Bereavement Leave verbiage from the Faculty Handbook added to the Negotiated Agreement.
The Board is considering a local district extension of Emergency Paid Sick Leave, currently provided under federal CARES Act, and that expires at the end of the year.
The Policy Committee is recommending approval of this additional leave and notes that only those employees having a positive test result and required to self-isolate will be eligible for this additional leave.
The proposed motion also makes it clear that this local leave is not effective should employees be eligible for other Covid-specifc leave at the state or federal levels.
Supt. Christensen also updated the Board on the local impact of the pandemic.
“It would appear that our school district is seeing reduced numbers of students and staff members impacted either directly or indirectly by Covid-19,’’ said Christiansen. “As of Monday, we will not have any staff members out of school due to either isolation (positive test) or quarantine (close contact).”
It is important to note, Christiansen said that in nearly all instances of students and staff members who are subject to quarantine, the students and staff members have had close contact outside of school with someone else who has COVID-19, in most cases, another family member.
“I believe that this helps to reinforce the effectiveness of our school-based preventative measures and procedures, including mask requirements, social distancing, enhanced sanitizing and hand hygiene, as well as limitations on visitor access to school buildings,’’ Christiansen said. “Within the past month, we have seen shifts in requirements and guidelines linked to Nebraska’s Directed Health Measure (DHM) as well as through the NSAA organization. Through this past week, we were operating under a 25 percent capacity for indoor activities with attendance limited to household members of students.”
As of Dec. 12, the Gov. Pete Ricketts updated his Directed Health Measure as of Dec. 12. Indoor activities can now have up to 50 percent capacity with no restrictions specific to household members only. Through guidance from the NSAA, grandparents will be allowed as immediate family to games and events.
The Board also honored outgoing Board member Tyler Specht.
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