Board dissension evident

Member expresses displeasure over salary negotiations

Freshman school board member Craig Grant broke ranks with his colleagues Monday, publicly expressing his displeasure in the district’s salary negotiations with staff, administrators and teachers.

“I’m disappointed that we are offering 144 teachers less of a percentage increase than we are offering administrators and classified staff,” Grant said, moments after board members Sue Morgan and Linda Robinson had defended the board’s position.

School board members rarely express dissent in front of district employees.

But Grant said he was surprised by Morgan and Robinson’s defense and felt uncomfortable leaving the impression that all was “rosy” among board members when, in fact, it’s not.

Grant said he was “embarrassed” by reports that some Lawrence teachers had left the district for better paying positions in De Soto.

“We have the ability to rectify the situation,” Grant said. “I hope we can.”

Sensing a confrontation, board President Leonard Ortiz asked that the discussion be shelved on the grounds that it bordered on revealing board strategies. None of the board members objected to Ortiz’s request.

Elected in April, Grant, now retired, is a former lobbyist for the state’s teachers union, Kansas National Education Assn.

Grant’s dissent did not go unnoticed.

“I think what we heard tonight was an accurate expression of the board’s priorities,” said Lawrence Education Assn. President Sam Rabiola. “They may not pass by unanimous vote, but they are the board’s priorities. We hope there’s still room for discussion.”

Negotiations between the LEA and the board have stalled in recent weeks.

Generally, the board has offered teachers minimum, across-the-board pay raises of $2,600. Other increase would push the average teacher raise to 8 percent.

That plan would cost the district $2.6 million, including fringe benefits and other costs.

Last week, the district’s administrators and administrative staff – secretaries, para-professionals and maintenance workers – received raises that, according to Grant, averaged 5.64 percent.

But because of the way the district’s salary schedules are structured, Grant said, 144 of the district’s more than 850 full-time teachers would see their pay increase between 5.1 percent and 5.6 percent.

“I don’t think it would take much to close that gap,” Grant said.

The 144 teachers, he said, are those with the most education and the most experience.