Grand Rapids school board ratifies 2 new teacher contracts
For more information, contact:
Grand Rapids, Minn., March 22: The Grand Rapids school board voted unanimously on Monday to ratify two, two-year contracts with teachers that extend through the 2012-13 school year.
Teachers and school officials negotiated 19 months before reaching the agreements. Teachers earlier approved the contracts by a 90 percent to 10 percent margin. Grand Rapids was one of the last districts to reach agreement with its teachers on contracts for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. They’re among the first to reach settlements for 2011-12 and 2012-13, joining Duluth, Winona and Floodwood.
“We are pleased the school board has ratified these agreements,” said Dan Jinks, president of Education Minnesota Grand Rapids. “Grand Rapids teachers are grateful for the support they received from the community throughout this process. Even though the negotiations took an especially long time, the fact that both sides eventually agreed to contracts that work for everyone is an excellent example that Minnesota’s collective bargaining process works,” he said.
The first contract applies to the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years, and will expire on June 30. That contract calls for a 0.5 percent salary increase in 2009-10, and a 0.75 percent increase in 2010-11. Those settlements are below the statewide average.
The new contract for 2011-12 and 2012-13 calls for 1 percent salary increases in each of those school years.
The Northland Community School District in Remer – Longville is now the only school district in Minnesota without a settled contract with its teachers for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 school years.
March 22, 2011