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Highlands Today

School Support Union Contract Talks To Resume

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By MARC VALERO

Highlands Today

Published: September 22, 2008

SEBRING - Contract talks between the Highlands County School District and the school support personnel union are scheduled to resume Tuesday after negotiations were suspended during the summer.

After one day of negotiations on June 16, it was agreed to postpone the talks until more was known about the district's funding and budget.

"The budget situation hasn't necessarily improved, but I don't think it has gotten any worse," said Michel Bernier, chief negotiator for the support union. "There's some hope for the future."

Some districts, like Charlottee and DeSoto, are postponing contract talks even longer because there is still hope for improvement in school funding, he said.

Last year the school district and the Highlands County teachers union agreed on an 18-month contract that included changes in the pay steps.

"I doubt we will do anything like the teacher contract," Bernier said. "Those are very difficult to explain; they confuse people.

"I'm not yet prepared to reveal my entire hand, but I think we need to come up with a strategy that says the district has a certain amount of money that we know for sure or reasonably sure so we might as well get that working for people."

Aside from salary, there are other issues that are important to particular groups of workers that will be brought up during the contract talks, Bernier said. "We have about a dozen language items on the table and expect that we will deal with those as well."

Fred Wild Elementary School paraprofessional and support union president Robin Britt said though she hasn't heard any comments from her fellow union members, she believes they are probably anxious to have a new contract.

Marc Valero can be reached at 386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com

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