The Greene County School Board and the Greene County Education Association recently ratified a two-year negotiated agreement.

Superintendent Tim Christensen says the contract includes $225 increase in the base salary for 2017-18 school year and a $175 increase for the 2018-19 school year. Overall, there is a 1.68-percent increase in the total package for GCEA. He explains another aspect of the agreement.

“We did end up taking all of them illegal and permissive items out of the master contract, which is something that we can do. We did form a committee that would be comprised of three teachers, two board members and superintendent that would look at permissive issues and make possible changes on those on a yearly basis.”

Christensen points out that the five meetings with GCEA representatives went well. GCEA member Heather Manken agrees that the process went smoothly and the outcome was fair. She adds that they wanted a two-year agreement due to the collective bargaining changes that require unions to be certified before negotiating for future years.