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ESD teachers picket over contract troubles Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Education specialists from Jackson County ESD protested the lack of progress in contract negotiations Wednesday night at a meeting of the ESD board of directors. Pickets voiced their frustrations to board members such as Al Densmore of Medford. ESD officials noted that county ESD teachers have the highest average pay in the state. By Vicki Guarino Education specialists at the Jackson Education Service District took their employment dispute to the streets Wednesday, picketing to spotlight troubled contract negotiations. Teachers carrying placards lined up along Grape Street as ESD board members and others filed inside district offices for a regularly scheduled board meeting. Teachers have asked for a state mediator�s assistance, but told the board that the door to negotiation remains open nonetheless. "I think if we sit back down, that we can work things out," said teacher bargaining council member Terry Pierce, who works in an ESD program for developmentally disabled students. Teachers say the major issues are compensation, insurance, discharge policies, retirement benefits, unpaid leave and layoff and recall rights. They have been working without a contract since July. In a brief response to teachers, ESD Superintendent Joe Crowder, speaking for the board, noted the high salaries Jackson ESD teachers already enjoy � "one of the highest scales in the state." A wage survey by the Oregon School Boards Association and the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators supports Crowder�s assertion. In the last contract year, the average Jackson ESD teacher earned about $45,000, the highest in the state. In a local comparison, the average teacher pay in Ashland, Central Point and Eagle Point districts was just over $40,000. Outside the board room, Pierce and teacher representative Mike McEachern said the high average reflects a highly experienced work force at the ESD. Pierce noted that beginning ESD teachers earn less than their counterparts elsewhere. The statewide report showed a beginning Medford teacher earning $26,909 last year, and a beginning ESD teacher earning $28,166. The Ashland base wage was $28,601. Pierce also said many ESD teachers must have highly specialized training and certification for which they do not receive added compensation. The ESD board has offered the teachers a 2 percent raise overall, and a 3.5 percent raise for teachers at certain levels of training and experience. Also, the district is covering what Crowder said is a 27 percent increase in insurance costs. McEachern said the 2 percent raise doesn�t cover cost-of-living increases. Also, he said, other proposed contract changes would wind up costing teachers. "Our members would actually be taking a pay cut if we accepted what they�re offering," McEachern said. He said the next step in negotiations is up to the board. It could be another month before a mediation session can be scheduled. The dispute involves about 100 ESD employees who provide a variety of specialized services to nearly 3,000 students in 31 school districts in a five-county Southern Oregon region. Services aid students with physical and mental difficulties, some of which are extremely severe. ESD staff serve as sign language interpreters for deaf students, therapists for orthopedically impaired and operate STEPS � Specialized Training/Education Program Services � for disabled youngsters in most local schools. The ESD also operates a technology center with interactive video link-up in classrooms for distance learning. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA