By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The Niles Community Schools Board of Education meeting tonight will include some very special guests – students from Cedar Lane School.
Principal Rich Klemm and teacher Tara Carlson will attend the meeting with students to give board members a review of their Reaching for the Reins project which took place at the Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Buchanan.
Also on the agenda is a contract ratification with the Maintenance/Custodial Union.
Niles Superintendent Doug Law said Friday that the three-year deal included a reduction in sick days as well as holiday days for employees. Wages will stay the same, but maintenance and custodial workers will see new, budgeted insurance packages including an increase in deductibles and co-pays while vision and dental benefits have been dropped from the plan.
The deal was reached, Law said, on the "provision that we will not privatize." Law says that the school system is not actively looking to privatize any of the maintenance or custodial services. The negotiations, which were completed in three weeks and addressed attendance issues with 36 members of the unit, were "very friendly" according to Law.
The fact that the deal is based on such a provision may be a relief to employees who have seen schools turn to contracting out bus drivers. There was also the recent teacher buyout of which 16 educators accepted, Law said. The buyout alone, Law says, has expected savings of $230,000 per year – and could be even more. The insurance changes to the maintenance/custodial contract will also provide considerable savings.
The school board also plans a motion to set the date for the annual budget hearing, reviewing the General and School service budgets and there will be a project bid approval for various projects that are projected to be completed over the summer. According to the agenda, bids have already been received for certain electrical projects that are part of the Building and Site Fund millage. Those bids will be up for approval.