The Cottonwood Union School District is preparing to enact a newly ratified teachers salary contract that dates back to the controversial 2006-2007 school year and runs through the 2009-2010 school year.
Cottonwood district superintendent Robert Lowden said the contract was approved by the county, ratified by the districts board of trustees on March 14 and is ready to take effect. The tentative agreement was approved by the teachers on Feb. 24.
"While it is good to put closure on the many months of contract dispute, it is disappointing that the teachers received a lesser salary increase than all the other employees in the School District and one of the smallest settlements for 2006-07 in all of Shasta County," Cottonwood Teachers Association negotiator Susan Boilon said.
The contract includes a 3.4 percent salary increase for teachers for the 2006-2007 school year, and a 3.6 percent increase beginning in 2008. There are no salary increases for the 2009-2010 school year, due to the current state financial crisis.
The district's administration is working to include the retroactive teachers raises in their March 31 paycheck, according to Lowden.
The Cottonwood school district took another step at their board meeting last Tuesday, when Robert Lowden signed a two-year employment contract with the district removing his interim status.
With contract negotiations aside, the new superintendent said he hopes the district can continue to make progress.
"It gives the district, the board and myself some stability for the next few years to move forward with what we need to do," he said.
Lowden predicts more challenges ahead due to the current financial situation facing California school districts.
"We've gone through layoffs and the challenge from now until the summer is to put the program back together into a program that we want, and that is the best for the kids. That's challenge we have to face," he said.
Lowden started working for the school district on Aug. 1, 2008 as interim superintendent. He said he wanted to a more permanent position because his family enjoys the area, and he enjoys working at the Cottonwood Union School district.
"I like the district, I like the people that are here - the teachers, the staff and the board," he said. "It's a good situation, and I feel that now that the negotiations are being worked out, that it is a really positive place to work."
The Cottonwood Teachers Association welcomes Lowden into the position.
"We are hopeful his leadership will show reform from past leadership practices and he will not engage in nor honor the inequalities that have existed in the past. We expect a new era of honest communication, and equitable treatment for all employees," Boilon stated.
The superintendent's employment contract includes an annual base salary of $106,200 plus $1,000 for a master's degree. It is a two-year contract effective until June 30, 2011.
The superintendent's contract includes health insurance, but it does not include the controversial clause of his predecessor, former district superintendent Dale Hansen.
Hansen's contract granted him the right to continue health insurance for up to five years after they cease to be employed by the district. Alan Swanson, a former part-time attorney employed by the district, also had this health-insurance clause in his employment contract.
The board is said to be in negotiations with Swanson regarding the provision.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 3
DIDYAHEAR writes:
Couldn't believe the news last night Mrs. Boilon was saying, "Now we can focus on the children, which is what is really the important thing in all of this..." Oh, you mean like the sick out last year and the lack of Christmas and Thanksgiving presentations this year. You should have been focusing on the children all along. Look at Red Bluff, all the school personnel took a pay cut so no one would loose their jobs! Cottonwood school's have really changed, and not in a good way. They have taken the family out of education, their is no loyalty or commodore in Cottonwood, everyone has been out to get everyone else for years, heck the new Superintendent was so full of B.S. he couldn't even look at the camera when they interviewed him. Be careful if you work in the CUSD, if you turn around for a second, someone is going to stab you in the back. So many people are loosing their jobs because of the raises and retro-pay, everyone is being quick to sell everyone else out to save their own job. Nasty vicious rumors are flying far and wide about all of the aides, the newbies want the jobs that they feel some of the older aides can no longer do anyways. They've been saying some of them need to just retire, they don't need the jobs anyways. How can they be that selfish? Those aides would be lost with no work, they would have no reason to get out of bed. Shame on you Mrs. Hudson, how can you think you should even have a say in who deserves their job or not? Sounds like you are one of the first to go, and you are jealous. Fighting that hard for $ 9.00 an hour, ridiculous, get a life!
cottonwoodmom writes:
In response to Didyahear
It is obvious that you are just out to stir up trouble with inaccurate information and naming names. Why don't you support instead of antagonize? I help regularly in the Cottonwood schools and am friendly with aides and teachers. The things you are saying simply are not true. The new superintendent is trying to clean up a lot of messes left behind from years of poor management. You seem to speak only with anger and bitterness. How sad!
POB writes:
Didyahear--
You make the aides sound like they are helpless people with no lives. I know most all of them and I think they would take offense to you saying they wouldn't be able to get out of bed. Come on! It seems awfully easy for you to hide behind an anonymous name and talk badly about other people. If you have a problem with someone you need to talk to that person instead of put their name on a website, with lies none the less. You seem to be ready to respond to every article printed about the Cottonwood Schools' situation with hateful and untruthful facts. Since your daughter will be graduating this year, I hope you will be leaving with her. You are an instigator and we don't need people like you causing problems. The Cottonwood Schools need to heal. You're not helping..
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