Contracts signed with school employees, administrators

The La Conner School District Board of Directors unanimously approved a 12.4 percent across the board increase for their Public Service Employees, as recommended by Superintendent Whitney Meissner, at its Monday board meeting. They also approved a 3.1 percent salary adjustment for administrators.

Meissner reported meeting with the PSE “a couple of times” to reach the tentative agreement. These negotiations were in marked contrast to the long and contentious bargaining with the La Conner Education Association representatives. That agreement was reached Aug. 28, one day before school started. There had been a 10-hour Sunday negotiating session and a strike vote overwhelmingly approved by the teachers.

The classified employees range from bus drivers through custodial, food service, paraeducators, secretaries and others. Meissner told the board that there will be continuing conversations on reclassifying specific union positions to exempt status. As with the teachers, support staff and the administration will have regular meetings to monitor the budget.

The administrators raise met the state mandated figure. A study will be conducted to assess the range of wages and job responsibilities in the region with schools in La Conner’s athletic district.

Both contracts are for one year.

The board heard from two sets of students who had travelled abroad: Rachel Drake and Sophia Benetti went to Honduras on a La Conner-Anacortes Rotary Club Youth Engaged Service Program. Twins Madison and Michael Kooch shared the joys of learning about pizza in Rome and chocolate in Paris on their summer culinary arts club trip led by Georgia Johnson. Johnson reported that the group “worked like a team, say as a family,” and that people were pushed out of their comfort zones and grew from that tension. Board members listened with varying degrees of broad smiles and applauded at the end.

Bonnie Haley, director of business and operations, reported enrollment at 592 FTEs – Full Time Equivalent students. That is 15 above the 2017 average. The head count is 608 with part-time students. The largest growth is in the middle school.Assistant Principal Kathy Herrera told the board that 47 percent of the student population is playing a fall sport. “That’s a big number for a small school,” she said.

The board adopted three policies: Policy 3116: Students in Out-of-Home (Foster) Care; Policy 6000: Program Planning, Budget Preparation, Adoption, and Implementation and Policy 6100: Revenues from Local, State and Federal Sources