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40 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, December 16, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend June 19, 2004 Teachers agree to class-size increase However the tentative Medford contract plan doesn’t cut school days By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Medford students won’t lose any school days but may find themselves in larger classes next year. The school district and its teachers union announced a tentative agreement Friday that effectively erases limits on class sizes. The new contract terms have yet to be formalized, but union officials are asking teachers to approve it. "The (union) is trusting the district ... to not overburden teachers," said Sally Killen, spokeswoman for the Medford Education Association’s negotiation team. Class sizes in Medford’s two high schools and middle schools likely will grow by an average of five students per class — an increase to 35 students in high school and 32 students in middle school, said Dan Zaklan, director of secondary education. The district has said it will try to control the growth of elementary school classes by combining classes and eliminating the district’s pilot program to place sixth-graders in middle school. "I don’t think anybody really knows what the numbers are going to be until we show up in August," said Arnold Bleicher, who teaches third- and fourth-year Spanish classes at North Medford High School. Advertisement Four teachers are scheduled for layoffs. The district had anticipated as many as 44 teachers would lose their jobs, but numerous retirements, resignations and transfers lowered that number. The 2004-05 school year will remain 190 days long, the same duration as last year. With the agreement, school officials will be able to cut $6.2 million to balance next year’s budget, Zaklan said. The district’s expected state revenue for the year is projected to be $75.3 million. While teacher raises decreased from 3 percent to 2 percent, teachers will pay $50 per month toward their medical insurance premiums instead of the $75 they currently pay. Teachers wouldn’t have been required to pay anything for the premiums this year, said Zaklan, but they agreed to pay $50 per month if the district used the money to restore music programs and teaching assistants, union officials said. Music instruction for kindergartners through sixth-graders was reinstated,. Music was eliminated last month to balance the budget. But teaching assistants in elementary schools will number 14 instead of the current 64. Those cuts just contribute to teacher’s diminished ability to deal with larger classes, union officials said. No assistant principals at the high-school level will lose their jobs, maintaining the district’s desired ratio of students to administrators, Zaklan said. The union had proposed eliminating an assistant principal job at the district’s two high schools to save $250,000 each year. The district also dropped a push to revise contract language that would have allowed teacher layoffs according to competence rather than seniority. That change wasn’t necessary because the district already has procedures to terminate teachers based on their competence, said Killen, the union spokeswoman. Teachers must vote on the contract by July 1. The school district agreed to make the tentative agreement available to the public after the Mail Tribune made a formal request for it. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities