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Teachers criticize negotiating process

Dozens of teachers from the Jordan School District overflowed the Jordan Board of Education meeting Tuesday night to express disgust with the process used for contract negotiations.

More than a dozen teachers signed up to address the board during the public comment period at the end of the meeting. The tense comments came as the board and the Jordan Education Association (JEA) remain at an impasse on a contract agreement for employees. Teachers received a one-time 2 percent bonus in November.

The school district offered to boost steps and lanes (pay that teachers receive for years of experience and education) next school year but said it would only increase pay for each subsequent school year if the Legislature set aside money for that specific purpose. The JEA believes that’s unlikely.

“We are concerned that the district’s unwillingness to consider salary increases for the 2013-14 school year puts the district at risk of losing quality teachers to surrounding school districts that are providing increases,” JEA President Jennifer Boehme has said, noting that Jordan teachers agreed to forgo salary increases in recent years.

The two sides will meet with a mediator in coming weeks.