News

Pittston area

July 28, 2007

Part-time teachers’ benefits divisive

Move defended as way to hire best staff. Critics: Full benefits a financial burden to district.

SHERRY LONG slong@timesleader.com

YATESVILLE – Some new teachers hired this month by the Pittston Area School District will work 20 hours a week, and receive full, district-paid health benefits.

This has some minority board members upset, including Bob Linskey who believes the move only adds to the district’s financial woes.

“It was unbudgeted,” Linskey said of the board’s July 10 decision to hire 17 part-time teachers and provide them with health insurance. “It will cut into our fund balance.”

The board last month narrowly passed a budget with a 9.5-mill tax increase and used $800,000 from its general fund to balance the 2007-08 budget. A mill is a $1 tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value. With the increase to 274 mills, the average district taxpayer will pay $1,211.

The district estimates it will spend at least an estimated $340,000 in salaries and health benefits for the new teachers – that is, if they are all single and choose medical insurance coverage for only themselves. It is unknown how many of the new hires will opt for full family coverage for spouses and children.

Some of these employees will also serve as district substitutes as needed. District substitutes are paid $78 a day, but are not entitled to health coverage.

Instead of being paid the normal substitution fee the teachers would just be paid their normal salary, said Superintendent Ross Scarantino.

Voting in favor of the hirings were board President James O’Brien, Joe Oliveri, John Adonizio, Mark Quinn and Mark Singer. Minority members Terry Best, Kent Bratlee, Clem Lello and Linskey voted against the action.

“It had nothing to do with the quality of applicants,” Best said. “It had everything to do with the budget.”

More students factored in

Scarantino defended the hirings and the full benefits by saying children in Pittston Area deserved the best education possible. He translated that into hiring more staff because more students were registering for classes since the Diocese of Scranton closed several private schools in the area.

“We wouldn’t have recommended it if we felt like we couldn’t handle it,” Scarantino said.

The new employees will be paid a flat salary of $12,000 a year and will teach at the Family Center, Four-Year-Old Program or Title 1 teaching duties. Each teacher will work a maximum of four hours a day, five days a week. Schools receive Title 1 federal grant money depending on the number of low-income students enrolled each year.

The Family Center employs five parent educators, each assigned to 25 families. The teachers visit the families monthly to help with parenting skills.

Seven of the new 17 hires will work in the Four-Year-Old Program that offers evening and night classes to teach parents how to better prepare their children for kindergarten.

Title I teachers assist students who need additional support with math and reading skills.

Four-Year-Old or Title 1 program teachers will also be utilized as the district substitutes.

Benefits include health, dental and life insurance and will cost the district approximately $7,500 annually for a non-married teacher, $12,000 for a married teacher and $16,000 a year for a teacher electing to have family coverage.

Full perks at W-B Area

Pittston Area isn’t the only district providing health care for part-time employees.

Part-time teachers on contract with the Wilkes-Barre Area School District receive health benefits, but only for the teacher; benefits are not extended to spouses and children.

“If I need to just cover three classes a day it would be foolish to hire a full-time teacher,” Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Jeffrey Namey said.

Even with providing the health benefits, Wilkes-Barre Area sees a savings of about $20,000 by not having to pay for a full-time teacher.

Best and Oliveri said they found it odd to provide full benefits to teachers hired for part-time work.

“The only ones I know other than teachers that get benefits are politicians,” Pittston resident Tom McFarland said. “Everybody else has to pay for them.”

Oliveri said he didn’t know why part-time teachers would receive full benefits but speculated it might be required under certain documents accompanying grant funding the district receives.

Best sees it differently.

“This is just another instance where the minority board members felt the taxpayers got a raw deal,” he said.

Since Pittston Area’s Family Center was established 15 years ago, part-time teachers or parent educators have received full health coverage, according to Scarantino.

“The district just kept it consistent with the family center program,” he said.

This year the district received an extra $60,000 in Title 1 fees from the federal government which would help pay for some of the wages and benefits.

Substitutes vs. part-timers

During the July 10 meeting, Scarantino informed board members he and district Business Manager Albert Melone discovered the district could save an estimated $100,000 a year in substitute costs.

The district would also save another $125,000 to $150,000, by not having to pay current teachers to fill in for a co-worker who is out sick, Scarantino said.

Teachers who cover a class period for an absent co-worker get partial credit toward a sick day. After substituting seven times the teacher earns one full sick day. Teachers retiring with 200 or more days of sick time get $35,000 paid over a six-year time period.

Linskey disputes Scarantino’s account of how the part-time teachers will be paid when they substitute.

“If they substitute they will get $78 a day and will not get paid as a Family Center teacher,” Linskey said.

By doing this the district will still pay high fees for substitutes, but now must also provide funding for these teachers salaries and benefits, Linskey said.

Another $150,000 was set aside for the Four-Year-Old Program when district officials developed the 2007-08 budget, Scarantino said.

Oliveri believes Scarantino did the right thing by recommending all the teaching applicants be hired.

“I believe it is going to be a savings for our taxpayers and that is the bottom line,” he said. “I am confident we are going to be in the black at the end of this year.”

Maria Argento, Maggie Carichillo and Elizabeth Tracy were hired as staff members/teachers for the Family Center during the June board meeting. Their salaries and benefits will be covered with state grant money.

Karen Brombacher, Donna Cabrera, Mary Ann Cosimo, Nicole Fugletic, Jamie Havard, Amy Hazlet, Thomas Hornlein, Kristine Klem, Lynn Marie Klem, Teresa Luvender, Stevie Musto, Kimberly Piazza, Joan Ralston, Kim Roman, Angela Schifano, Kyle Wruble and Angela Zaledonia were hired at the July meeting.

Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 829-7159.

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