Ramsey June 12, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5 The Ramsey Board of Education has approved a threeyear contract with the Ramsey Education Association that includes average pay increases of 2.88 percent for each of the three years for the teachers and 2.9 percent increases for the secretarial staff. The REA, formerly the Ramsey Teachers Association, was recently renamed as the group represents the district’s teachers and administrative assistants. The vote on the contract was 8-1, with trustee Richard Muti casting the lone dissenting vote. Interim Superintendent Bruce DeYoung acted as facilitator for the negotiations process. In a prepared statement, DeYoung said, “As you know, the last two rounds of negotiations between the RTA and the board each dragged on for years and were more than a little contentious. The contract that we finalized in August, after a year and a half of negotiations, was set to expire this June, so we needed to get right back into negotiations. Both sides agreed that most of the substantive issues had been settled in those last two rounds and both sides agreed to a more ‘abbreviated’ round of negotiations for this next contract. Instead of each side hiring a negotiator to act on their behalf, I was asked to act as the facilitator of the process. I agreed. “In February, I began to speak to both parties and with each separately. It was decided that the focus of this round would be limited to the duration of the agreement (one year, two years, three years) and to the salary settlement. I was given parameters by the board that I was to stay within. “A few weeks ago, we had an agreement in principle that I brought before the board with proposed salary guides for both the teachers and the secretaries. It represented a three-year contract that stayed within the guidelines provided to me by the board.” DeYoung pointed out that school boards and teachers are now restrained by -- and taxpayers are protected by - a two percent cap on increases in tax dollars raised for the general fund to run the schools. He added, “As you know, the budget that the board recently brought before the District teachers, secretaries to receive pay raise community came in lower than that and this settlement fits within that budget for next year.” The superintendent added that the contract that is about to expire contains a figure called the increment load. This figure represents the cost of salaries moving forward as staff members move up the guide based on experience. “The increment load does not give any raises to those (continued on page 21) Surrogate council Ramsey’s Pack 306, Den 5 Cub Scouts (Wolves) opened a recent Ramsey Council meeting. Pictured are Ramsey Mayor Chris Botta with the Cub Scouts, who took seats at the dais and led the pledge of allegiance to start the meeting.