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Nearly 150 people — mostly teachers and their supporters upset with the current state of contract negotiations — packed into the Benjamin Logan Board of Education’s meeting room Monday evening for a lengthy meeting that covered a wide range of topics.
The administration and the Benjamin Logan Education Association are at an impasse about how much of a raise the district can afford to offer its teachers for the coming years, BLEA President Marge Jenkins and Superintendent David Harmon said. Both parties said they are prohibited from discussing the specifics of that negotiations, including how much the teachers requested at the outset.
The two sides have met three times prior and are scheduled to meet May 30 with a mediator, they said.
Data presented by the teachers and their supporters at the meeting indicates teacher salaries have increased by 8.5 percent over the past 10 years — with no raises at all granted in four of the years — and that salaries remain lower than Bellefontaine, Indian Lake, Triad, North Union, West Liberty-Salem, Kenton and Fairbanks at all levels of advancement. With increased out-of-pocket expenses for benefits, they said they are taking home less than they did three years ago.
“I question your commitment and support to the staff,” 34-year teacher and lifelong Ben Logan district resident Lori Young told the board during the public comment portion of the meeting. “Sometimes I feel like we are adversaries and not partners in the educational process.”
The superintendent, however, said after the meeting that Ben Logan salaries are “right dab in the middle” when looking at Ohio Department of Education comparisons of similar districts statewide.
The teachers also said the district has $5.9 million in cash reserves — or nearly 120 days of operating expenses. Harmon — and Treasurer Mandy France who presented an in-depth five-year forecast — said the district is at the high water mark of its five-year levy cycle when expenditures begin to outpace revenue.
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