There I be trike
if th Benton Harbor teach-
r d the Be rd of Educ -
tion n't ttle their diffe
rence before hool tart
ccording to Benton Har-
bor du tion ociation
po esman ike
Schoeroder.
The current contract
expir August 26. egotia ..
tio h ve been under
y since ay.
The BHEA i trying to
ep up the negotiation
and plan to do in forma
pic eting" of the
dmini trative office at
711 . Britain ne t week.
ccording to icheal
eebler, Dir ctor of Em
ployee Relation for the
S hool Di trict The BH
h accu ed the Board of
usin talling tactic. The
fact of the matter is the
BH h continually
to re-writ e ch
Littl Leagu Director
Ted Hu ddre d the
B nton Harbor Recreation
Bo d Tuesd y on behalf
of LL parents manag IS
and co ches,
LL official pointed out
th t 396.80 had b en
turned over to Rec Center
employee arvin Hayes for
the purch of insurance
for LL players.
Hurse sho d a receipt
d ted arch 21, 1979 for
the 396. H then related
he recei d call month
later from insurance gent
illi e requesting th t
the premium be paid.
Hurse told the Board
'It
quite a
.�
and every ction of the
current master agreement.
The Board' negotiat
ing team ha propo d a
minimum number of chan
ge from the existing con
tr ct" continued eebler.
ECO 0 IC ISSUES
The talks are continu
ing and are expected to
move into economic issue .
" After repeated request
for the BHEA's economic
demands, the teacher's
bargainers have not respond
ed,"said Keebler. He dded,
"Recently, they have taken
the po ition that they will
supply their demandssupon
receipt of the Board s pro
posal. This is rather dif
ficult there are many
thing that can have an
impact on the final con
omic pa k ge that the
Board can offer.
• •
the players were
not covered."
Hayes e plained that
he took the money and
used it to pay LL bills
at Bargain Center.
Board Pre 'dent Herb
Quade ed for com-
plete report from Hur
and Hayes.
The LL po ernen al 0
pointed out they had no
ore receipts for clo to
2,000 turned into the
Re Center. Haye main
tained that print-out
from Bargain Center and
C porting tore ill sho
all funds collected ent
to tho store for LL
to purchase.
"For example "said
Ke bIer, a question of
class size has been under
descu ion, The BHEA
found one - kindergarten
teacher with 32 students
at the end of the school
year. At the sam time,
the BHEA failed to sho
that e also had many
kindergarten classes with
as fe as 12 students.
The average class' size
aero the District for
Kindergarten teachers was
19 students hile the maxi
mum allowed under the
contract is 25.'
Keebler explained the'
economic impact that class
reduction could have on the
School District. 'There are
201 elementary classrooms
in the School District. This
is not ounting the kinder
garten program. If e were
to reduce the maximun
cia by just one student,
this ould m an that the
hool Distri t would have
"to hire at le t eight ne
tea hers at starting cost
"of more than 10400.
The effect on the District
budget would mean an.
inc rea in costs of more
than 83000.
"Therefore the econ
omic package involves many
factors. I t is more than
ju t a discussion of ages
to teachers. e must 100
at all the demands that
the finances of th I Dis-
trict. The finance are
lirni ed," remmded
Keebler.
TEACHERS'D. Y:
The BHEA also has
indic ted that elementary
teacher have only 35
minute of planning time
but r the teacher' negotia
tors have failed to sho
that the elementary
Jeachers, by contract, spend
Ie than ven hours each
day in school and 45
minutes of that time in
cludes a duty free lunch
period. The teaching mater
ials that we now u in the
District often ha the les
sons spelled out in detail
in the teacher's editions.
Th materials greatly re
duce the time needed by
teachers for lesson prepara
tion.
SCHOOL CALEND R:
"The Board has pushed
for several weeks to get a
School Calendar tentatively
approved. This is an impor
tant item a parents and
tudent need thi infor
mation for planning their
hool year. Ho ever, the
BH A insi on sh rtening
the numb r of days tradi
tionally used to in rvi e
te her before hool
starts. ntil we can come to
me typ of agreement on
this issue we do not have.
a calendar for the school
year ' said eebler.
GOTIAT 0 S
CONTINUE:
Keebler said, "The
Boards team continues to
review the BHEA dem nds
and offer counte porposals
and has the authoruty to
reach agreement when the
rights and interests of the
Board of Education, tax
payers and students are
gauanteed," said Keebler.
AUGUST 15·21,1979 THE CITIZE
PAGE 3
RECOG ITIO
FOR SE VICE
•
age a
•
o
e
EE
XT WEE: A cl
up 10 at the proposed
hool d' for the
Benton Harbor b
•
•
JOEL PATTERSON
lect developer and design
a schedule f r constru tion
of Ri r Terr ce - the 2
housing units ted for the
old ar et ite.
The ayor's final
"good news" announ m nt
called for a day-long r treat
with comrnissi oners and
taff to "e tablish a ater
billing" y tern and deal with
an in-depth budget revie ."
Patterson explained
that the city's poor ter
billing system as the b . s
of the city's debt ith
Benton To nship St.
Jo ph Township and the
Jiont S age Treatment
plant.
According to Patte n
he learned of the city s,
problem with th three
municipalitie in the local
pre .
City re
,
Benton Harbor City re
mains without insurance as
the Commi . oners refused
to take. action onday
night on which insurance
company should receive the
city's business.
Commissioner ic ey
Yarbrough warned the com
mi loners 'you're making
a big mistake."
The city h been with
out coverage since Augustl.
The two agencies vying for
the business are the
the ugh
•
a
e
agencie . m ndation to th full om-
c anus i a Benton
Harbor based fum with the
lowest quote. Flaugh is a
Fairplain agent and as
8 000 over the anus
agency bid: I don't under-
tand the problem '
Yarbrough . d. 'One com
pany i offering mor cov r
age for le mon y.
B nt n Harbor a r
Joel Patter on glided int
the post prim ry ampaign
exhibiting th charm, of a
polished pro and wielding
auth rity with the deftne
of an a ured leader.
Bounching bac from a
poor showin at the polls
ugust 8 Patterson con
duct at the onday night
commi . on meeting was
apparently geared at a more
positi imag and was an
abrupt 'about-face from
pre-primary actions.
Patte .on's concluding
remarks climaxed the even
ing's performance and left
the citizens with an upbeat
image. He announced:
- HUD had approved the
city' 87,500 UDAG grant.
The funds will go to the
Rivervei Drive area to
beautify the area by the
r--------------------------...;...._-------- ,.- - F bank' to run w r
and water line to the
location for the
office and to purcha pro
perty in the area for econo
mic expansion.
- Preliminary agreemen ts
with HUD had been orked
out for the 2,010000 for
Kalamazoo de eloper
Darrell Jacobs to erect a
restaurant and hotel south
of the boat launch on
Rivervei Drive.
ichigan Housing Author
ity had given Capital and
....... � Associates the go-ahead to
EXTERMI ATOR SAYS
BID PROCEDURES .CO FU'SING
ith the
The hang-up has occur-
re in special committ
designated by ayor Joel
Patterson to make recom-
t