By Patrick Bryant
<[email protected]>

As he organizes Senate activities, student body president Steven Brisley said he notices a difference in involvement among teachers. He said he and the rest of student government are troubled by the lack of teachers participating and helping in after-school activities.

Brisley, speaker of the House Sunny Huang and other seniors, spoke on behalf of teachers at the school board meeting on Sept.. 29.

“(Brisley and Huang) have a unique perspective,” Karen Taff, social studies teacher and union member, said.  “They can see just how dramatically the decisions made in the district have and will continue to detrimentally impact the high school.”

Taff said she believes that the rising cost of health care and a lack of state tax revenue for funding is the cause of difficulty in reaching a resolution.  According to Taff, the current state of the economy is most affecting the dispute.

“The economy is absolutely a factor in every aspect of this situation,” Taff said.  “Everybody’s wrestling with health care, and it’s having specific implications on this issue.”

School board president Andrew Klein said when the district is unable to agree on a contract, the district must perform under the terms of the previously signed contract. In this case, the contract is from 2006.

Klein said at the school board meeting it wasn’t the district’s choice, but a matter of state regulation.

“This is not the board’s unilateral decision,” Klein said.  “That is Indiana law.”

Klein also said a major problem with working under the old contract is the fact that health insurance costs have “dramatically increased” since 2006.

“Under the status quo based on the prior contract, the board’s contribution does not change, so the increases are being borne entirely by our teaching staff,” Klein said.

Next May, voters will have an opportunity to decide whether they want to accept a tax hike in order to defray district expenses, along with bringing an end to summer school.

For Brisley and his peers, though, those explanations don’t fix the problems he said students are facing now. He said he hopes the incoming superintendent will help to bring a quick resolution to this contract dispute.

As for Taff? She said, “I continue to remain hopeful.”