Central Greene teachers offered incentive to retire
WAYNESBURG – Central Greene’s school board unanimously approved Wednesday night an early retirement incentive for teachers with hopes it could save the district money.
The incentive is a one-time payment of $10,000 with a 10-year healthcare plan, or until Medicare kicks in. Teachers must be at least 53 years old and have 22 years of service, the last 10 of which must have been served in Central Greene.
“If people will retire, it will save the district money,” Superintendent Brian Uplinger said.
Melissa Wilson, president of Central Greene’s teachers’ union, said she was relieved to hear about the incentive, since it’s the same one the board offered teachers last year. She said 13 teachers took the incentive last year and retired. Of those 13 positions, seven of them were not replaced, she said.
“Finally, they’re listening to us,” she said.
Wilson said she’s been in touch with teachers in the district who meet the incentive criteria.
“I am not going to pressure those teachers, because I don’t want them to feel like they are the saving grace to this district or that their decision is the only one that can stop those furloughs,” she said.
The board discussed furloughing six teachers, including four high school special education teachers and a life skills teacher and an art teacher at the middle school. The furloughs would have been part of $1.4 million the board decided to cut out of the tentative 2016-17 budget, which is scheduled to be adopted at today’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the middle school auditorium.
The board decided the cuts were necessary since it still has not received the $3.4 million in 2015 taxes owed them from Alpha Natural Resources, which declared bankruptcy in 2015.
The teachers pleaded with the board to find another way during a June 20 meeting, where Wilson asked the board to consider a retirement incentive. After that meeting, the board and the teachers discussed the possibility behind closed doors.
Despite the new retirement incentive, those six furloughs could still happen, said Kirk King, solicitor for the district, because the board also approved Wednesday a two-week extension to the deadline for when they have to notify teachers and staff of any furloughs or transfers. The deadline was moved from Friday to July 15.
Wilson said she agreed with the board to move the deadline, “if it means saving jobs.”
“That’s two more weeks for them to find some other solutions to their financial mess and I’m just glad one of them is an early retirement incentive for teachers,” she said.