By Sara Strong
The Luverne School Board dealt with unsettled contracts Thursday at its regular meeting.
Teacher Dave Svingen spoke on behalf of teachers when he addressed the board about the contracts. After 13 negotiations and two mediation sessions, teachers have been without contracts since July 1.
Svingen said to the board, "You are one of the unique school boards, the envy of 90 percent of the boards during their dire financial times. You have comfortable cash reserves and a community that passed the referendum."
With these factors considered, he said, "There seems to be not enough interest on your part to settle."
Svingen said that board members often comment on how they value staff and are proud of their work. He said backing those statements up with a contract the teachers support would mean more than praise.
"Do you want the average school?" Svingen said. "Then settle for an average contract. As an association, we are losing patience."
He reminded the board that they live in a community that values education and a board that fully supports teachers who are doing their jobs.
One of Svingen's personal concerns is his own retirement. He said that without a contract, he doesn't know if he can retire after 34 years of teaching.
He reminded the board of teachers' success in instilling the value of learning in Luverne students. He said 85 percent of the high school graduates go on to more schooling and 80 percent of those complete their degree.
Board Chair Don Bryan gave a report on negotiations as well. He said the Board tried to settle Nov. 1 with an offer of 9.17 percent salary increase over two years along with increases in sick and personal days which showed board support of teachers.
"We're very anxious to settle this contract. We do not want to negotiate in this meeting, but I'm reporting it to the board," Bryan said.
Standardized test results
The board also heard a presentation on student test results from the past few years.
Elementary Principal Melody Tenhoff said of the compiled results in general, "We're doing our job teaching the standards. There's always room for growth, and that's why we're here."
The tests included in the data included the well-known Iowa Basics. Tenhoff emphasized that material in tests may not match what the teachers are teaching and the results donÕt always measure an individual's growth.
In Luverne, for example, math computation scores have consistently started out low, because the curriculum is more about problem solving.
But with that base knowledge of problem solving, the computation scores increase in later grades and are well above average. In fact, a testing expert remarked to Tenhoff that sheÕd like to know what Luverne is doing to reach the high math scores.
The Basic Standards Test can catch students at risk for not passing early on. They can be helped early enough to make sure they make the graduation standards.
Jan Olson, curriculum coordinator, said, "We are testing our kids a lot and that's why we need to start looking at the data and see what we're doing with it."