Compensation issue before SAD 22 directors

HAMPDEN — The SAD 22 board of directors is scheduled to hear grievance complaints Wednesday by teachers requesting to be compensated for work they had done to cover unfilled positions in two of the district’s schools.

The scheduled hearing will mark the second time this month that teachers and union representatives have filed complaints regarding the new special education lead teacher position.

Earlier this month the board rejected a similar compensation request by Hampden Academy Norman Prouty. The teachers union has since filed a request with the state to let an arbiter settle the issue.

Joe Gallant, president of the Tri-22 Teachers Association said he did not want to comment on the situation until the union could present its case before the arbiter.

The board’s opinion, said Superintendent Carlton Dubois, is that since the two positions weren’t formally filled there was no compensation due. Dubois said the board had reviewed the provisions of the contract and found no support for the grievance.

The position was created last winter to help with the extensive paperwork required to be completed by the special education teachers.

With only two of the positions filled this spring, the work of the other two positions was covered by the special education teachers, who would have normally done it. In one school the job was split among three of the teachers, at least two of whom are involved in the grievance process.

As well as being faced with the compensation issue, the board is also looking at the future of the lead teacher position.

At the July 11 meeting, in which it had asked Dubois to inform the union in writing of the board’s stance on the grievance, the board voted to have the position reviewed by a special committee. The committee will consist of board members and special education staff members.