USD 410 board approves master contract for 2017-18

The USD 410 Durham-Hillsboro-Lehigh Board of Education approved the 2017-18 Master Contract for certified employees, and com­pen­sation changes at a special meeting July 19.

Not many changes were made in the master contract, said Max Heinrichs, superintendent.

The one change building principals requested was for teachers to apply five days before taking a personal day, he said.

“We didn’t have a rule before, and (without notice in some cases) we didn’t have enough time to find substitute teachers.”

Heinrichs said the district has a well-designed negotiating process known as “interest-based bargaining.”

The certified staff has a negotiating team with half of the district’s staff members from the Kansas National Education Association and National Education Association, he said.

“(The certified staff) gets schooling from KNEA, and this year it took only 21⁄2 hours of negotiations,” he said.

The way it works, he said, is that the district puts everything on the table it can do, and the negotiating team does the same.

“Then together both sides develop mutually acceptable options,” he said.

“We are thankful that our negotiations are done in one night,” he said.

In addition to approving the master contract, the BOE unanimously approved increasing administrative salaries by 3.777 percent.

The only exception was with Robert Rempel, activities director and assistant principal, who received a flat $10,000 for receiving certification as a certified principal.

Jill Hein, student service coordinator, received a 188-day contract instead of 178-day, adding 10 days to her contract.

Based on that, the school board recommended compensation changes.

Classified staff received a 50-cent increase in hourly wages and benefits.

Lena Kleiner, TEEN advisor, will also receive a 3.777 percent raise, which is carried by the district, but doesn’t show up as a USD 410 salary, Heinrich said.

The only other change, Heinrichs said, involved Danny Fulton, with four hours at Hillsboro Elementary School and two hours driving a bus on the south route.

All the changes in salary and the negotiated agreement were done in open session following three executive sessions—two for negotiations—and one for personnel.

The members of the board include Jared Jost, Tim Kaufman, Kim Klein, Rod Koons, Jim Paulus, Mark Rooker and Joe Sechrist.

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