Moses Lake School Board, employees OK labor contracts

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake School Board members approved labor agreements with the unions representing teachers and aides at the last school board meeting.

The Moses Lake Education Association agreement will be in effect for three years. Teachers will receive a pay increase of about 3 percent, Mark Johnson, executive director of business and operations, said.

In a later interview, Johnson said the Washington Legislature cut teacher salaries by about 2 percent in 2011, and reinstated that money in 2013. The new MLEA contract also includes compensation for work performed outside the school day and for teachers who have more students than the agreed-on maximum class size.

There's also compensation for teacher training. Johnson said teachers already were being paid for it, but it wasn't in the contract.

The contract with the Moses Lake Public School Employees union (which represents aides, bus drivers and other support staff) includes a 50 cent raise across the board. There's also a provision that employees must pay at least 1 percent of their health insurance premium, but Johnson said all but a few employees already are paying more than that.

In other business, district superintendent Michelle Price reported a committee was formed to revise the schedule at Moses Lake High School. Board members voted in August to jettison the four-period day as part of an effort to reduce overcrowding at the high school and middle schools.

The committee has met twice, Price said, and will be working throughout the fall to have the new schedule in place by March, which is when registration begins. District officials are accepting applications for a committee that will work on converting Columbia Basin Secondary School into a middle school.

Another committee has already been formed to help the high school students at CBSS, Price said.

District officials made a commitment that current CBSS students could stay together as a class, she said.

A committee to draw boundaries within the district is in the process of being formed, she said.

Johnson reported the district has taken occupancy of the new transportation center.

Board members tentatively decided to hold their next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 26, in the new building.