Teachers in the Carmel Clay school district participated in a demonstration in front of Woodbrook Elementary School today. The teachers demonstrated their opposition to a new contract that is currently set be enacted at the beginning of 2013.

Scott Staley, a math teacher here, participated in the demonstration. He said his main concerns regarded his insurance coverage and salary.
“Through the years, deductibles have increased on the insurance, and for the last few years my salary hasn’t really increased because of that,” Staley said. ” So right now I’m concerned with the rise in deductions and lack of increase in salary to keep up.”

According to Brian Lyday, president of the Carmel Clay Education Association, the proposed contract will also impact high school teachers in terms of preparation periods and the length of the work day.

“High school teachers will experience the same extension of their work day without compensation,” Lyday said. “There are many teachers at the high school who have given up a preparation period to teach another class and they get remunerated for that 5 to 16 percent of their salary . They’ll lose that (with the new contract) even though they’re doing those extra duties.”

According to Peggy Loeffler, Carmel Clay Education Association Representative for Woodbrook Elementary, the demonstration was planned to raise awareness to the public of the negotiations.

“We’re just trying to make the public aware of the fact that the Carmel teachers do not have a contract yet,” Loeffler said.  “Trying to get some support from them to get the school board to look again at our proposal and come back to the table and make us a decent offer.”

Lyday said that despite the demonstration, the situation in Carmel should not escalate to the level of the teachers’ strike which took place earlier this year in Chicago.

“There’s a provision in the state of Indiana that prohibits teachers from striking like Chicago,” Lyday said. “You may see additional demonstrations but it wont grow to the level of an actual strike.”

Staley said that while he sees some benefits of the new contract, he would also like to see changes to what has been proposed.”I’m all for teachers being held accountable,” Staley said. “But at the same time it has been a stressful year.”

Check out the December 14 issue of the HiLite for in depth coverage and updates on the negotiations.