by Carrie Moritz, Gazette
On Tuesday, April 18, the Garretson School Board held a special meeting to discuss staff negotiations. While much of the meeting was held in executive session, the board did approve a raise for all teaching staff and received another update on the electric buses. The board was also happy to hear of further cost savings on the athletic complex.
Negotiations with the Garretson Teacher Association were fairly straightforward, said Superintendent Guy Johnson. "With small talk to start, and small talk to end, the whole meeting was about 29 minutes," he noted.
While there were changes in leave policy language and dismissal time language, the main thrust was negotiations over pay. South Dakota legislators had approved a 7% increase in funding for teacher pay during the last session, which was to not only help combat the inflation seen over the past year, but to also keep the state competitive, according to legislators.
At the Garretson School District, teachers will receive a 3.5% increase to their salary from 2022-23 along with a flat $1800 increase.
When asked by the Gazette later about the increase, Superintendent Guy Johnson answered, "The total amount is about 7%, the amount that the state legislature increased the target teacher salary, although the combination of straight percentage and flat dollar amount means that some employees end up with a slightly smaller percentage and those on the bottom of the pay scale end up with a smaller dollar amount, but higher percentage raise than staff whose tenure is longer."
The base salary for the Garretson School District will be $46,090 for the next school year.
Johnson then updated the board on the bids for charger station installation with regards to the three electric buses being purchased. He reminded the board that two companies had submitted bids, and both "understood the project very well." He intended to move forward with the lowest bid, and said the full project will be covered by the grant monies.
Using that as a stepping stone, he announced there was further good news with regards to the athletic complex, which had started construction the day before. Mammoth Sports Construction had found the track underlayment asphalt was in better condition than expected, which meant the company would not have to mill off quite as much surface, saving the district $64,000. This is on top of the cost savings reported at the March 28 special meeting.
He then added that the concrete under the high jump area was also in better condition than expected, meaning it would no longer have to be removed and replaced. With that news, he said he intended to sign off on grading the north parking lot of the complex unless there were any objections from the board at a cost of $17,000-$20,000. Johnson pointed out the district would still be saving approximately $45,000.
"We're saving money, we might as well...get it done," said board member Jodi Gloe.
The target finish date for the project is August 1.
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