Little available for Oak Harbor school employees

The tentative four-year contract between Public School Employees of Oak Harbor and the Oak Harbor School District calls for no wage or benefit changes this year.

“I think everyone involved recognized that current economic conditions have left the district with little if anything extra to offer financially,” Kurt Schonberg, the district’s director of human resources, said in a press release. “On the other hand, we were able to improve and update many aspects of the contract in ways beneficial to everyone.”

The agreement adds $5 a month toward health benefits for all classified staff in 2012 to 2013 and another $5 a month for healthcare the year after that.

In the final year of the contract, 2014 to 2015, classified employees would receive a 0.5 percent wage increase.

The issues discussed ranged from clarification of transportation contract language, to the effects of numerous reductions in staff positions and hours due to budget cuts, to the continuation of a professional development fund for PSE members designed to support efforts to improve their job performance.

PSE represents bus drivers, secretaries, custodians, para-educators, food service workers, maintenance crews and computer technicians.

 

Contact Whidbey News Times Staff reporter Rebecca Olson at rolson@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5052.

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