Pike Township teachers agreed to a new one-year contract with the district Dec. 13 that would bring an average salary raise of more than 5% and a minimum starting salary of $45,000.
The contract, which the school board is expected to approve during a meeting Dec. 16, totals about $2.6 million in raises, base salaries and benefits. View the contract here.
The Pike Classroom Teachers Association and district officials had to use a state mediator after the two sides couldn’t meet a November deadline to establish a new contract.
Pike schools have gone to remote learning multiple times recently — often with little notice for families — amid the tense negotiation process because of a lack of teachers and other staff, including bus drivers.
What’s in the contract?
• A newly hired teacher will receive a base salary of no less than $45,000. The most a teacher can make under the contract is $88,962. (For reference, a current Pike teacher with a bachelor’s degree and four years of experience whose base salary is $46,000 will receive a total base salary increase of $2,608.)
• Teachers can be absent from work for personal or family illness for a total of 14 days the first year and 12 days in each year after without loss of compensation.
• The contract is retroactive to July 1, 2021, and ends June 30, 2022.
• Pay for athletics coaches ranges from $2,312 to $13,000.
‘I just feel like I’m not being heard’
Teachers, bus drivers and parents packed a school board meeting Dec. 9 at Central Elementary School. Many used the public comment portion to criticize board members and Superintendent Flora Reichanadter. Some union members held signs at a nearby intersection beforehand as passersby honked their car horns in support.
Union president Chris Ludy announced a vote of no confidence against Reichanadter. One district staff member said he put in his two-week notice, and a high school sophomore said they will likely enroll in another school district soon.
Keisha Nickolson, a fifth grade teacher, said after the meeting work has been difficult because of the day-to-day uncertainty if school will be in person or virtual — or if some students might be hours late because of transportation issues.
Nickolson, who has a daughter in seventh grade in the district, started teaching 10 years ago and said she recently sold her home in Fishers to move to Pike so she can live where she teaches.
The bottom line, Nickolson said, is teachers and other staff need better transparency from the district.
“I don’t feel disrespected,” she said. “I just feel like I’m not being heard.”
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853 or tylerf@indyrecorder.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
