Oregon-Davis teachers will see an increase in their retirement benefits and changes to the sick day policy, as part of the 2018-2019 Master Teacher Agreement approved by the school board Monday. The school corporation is increasing its annual contribution to qualifying teachers’ 401a plans from $400 to $500, according to Superintendent Dr. Don Harman.
“That teacher has to be here at least five years,” he explained. “If they leave before that five years, they don’t get that. . . . I agreed to up that to $500 to encourage, hopefully, teachers that are here one to five years to stay at Oregon-Davis. So that contribution will be $500 per year, but again, they still have to be vested for five years.”
Harman said the administration and the teachers association also agreed to combine sick days and personal days into a new category called “personal time off.” “So a teacher now will have 14 days of personal time off, so that will include their personal days and sick days,” Harman told board members. “Now, one item that is in there is that a teacher cannot exceed more than four consecutive days without written approval by the superintendent. So we don’t need a teacher taking 14 straight days to go to the Bahamas or on vacation; they need to have approval.”
Harman added that a lot of school corporations are taking the combined approach, when it comes to sick days and personal days.
