Staff Negotiations Underway at Gros Cap School
By Paul Gingras

All contracts for Gros Cap School teachers and support staff are due for renewal Thursday, August 31, and negotiations between the school board and staff are in full swing, said Janice O'Boyle, school board president.

School employees are represented by a union called the Moran Township Professional Teaching Staff (PTS), a division of the Michigan Education Association. This year, PTS has requested salary increases, and may get them, owing to improved financial circumstances in the district, Mrs. O'Boyle said at a meeting of the school board Monday, July 17.

The school has emerged from six years of financial problems caused by Proposal A, a state program that changed the way schools were funded, Mrs. O'Boyle said.

"We had to tighten our belts as much as possible," she said. Gros Cap students continued to achieve acceptable academic standards, but teachers and support staff had to accept pay freezes several times. And, while it may be too early to predict whether the district can afford raises this year, Mrs. O'Boyle said, "We'll know in the next month or so."

Board member's must be conservative about expenditures, she said, owing to uncertainties in federal funding over the next three years, but Mrs. O'Boyle expressed relief that Gros Cap is recovering.

When Gros Cap was struggling,

"I felt a huge responsibility" when finances were tight, she said. "I didn't want to be the one to have to close the school after 125 years."

If approved, raises for teachers will not translate into higher taxes for area residents. If anything, better pay would be good for the economy, Mrs. O'Boyle said.

Keeping Gros Cap functioning allows Moran Township to retain a number of professionals, which helps keep the economy afloat, she said. The raises would mean teachers would have more money to spend.

"I wish we had more to offer them," she added.

At the July 17 meeting, the school board reelected Janice O'Boyle as president, Helen Graichen as secretary, and Nancy Dandona as treasurer. Other board members are Mike Cope and Ed Radecki.

The board designated First National Bank of St. Ignace as its depository for funds and set board meetings for the third Monday of each month at 6 p.m.

Business Manager Lillian Clark, in her final budget report for the 2005/2006 school year, reported that Gros Cap received $995,886.36 and spent $859,082.55, leaving a fund balance of $136,803.81. This will be added to last year's fund balance of $112,001, for a total of $248,804.81.

"We're doing very well," Mrs. Clark noted.

The board sets aside 30 percent of the fund balance for accrued obligations, such as termination pay for teachers. Termination pay can include money set aside to pay retiring teachers for accumulated unused sick days.

By board resolution, $74,641.45, of this year's fund balance has been reserved for such long term liabilities. The rest, $174,163.36, can be used in any manner the school board deems necessary.

Mrs. Clark made a sizable change to the school's hot lunch budget this year. The district budgeted $12,500 for school lunch but had to transfer $18,600 from the general fund to pay the full cost of students' meals.

"Very few school systems can support hot lunch programs with hot lunch funding alone," she said.

The hot lunch program is funded in two ways. The federal government pays a portion of each lunch served, and the school collects a portion from the students themselves. Owing to a decrease in the student population this year, however, the school served fewer lunches, so it collected less, while the price of food and the salary for the school cook increased.

To increase energy efficiency last spring, the school board replaced the majority of the school's lights. Outmoded T-12 bulbs were replaced with more efficient T-8s, and "We are already seeing benefits," Superintendent Bill Peltier said.

The school's roof-repair project has been completed and the building has weathered rainstorms described as "torrential downpours" by board members. Great Lakes Roofing and Insulation Systems of Sault Ste. Marie performed the $10,640 job.

The installation of a new telephone system is also complete. There are now telephones in every classroom, a system intended to help the school run more efficiently and help keep Gros Cap in compliance with a state proposal requiring regular contact between parents and teachers, Mr. Peltier said.

The school does not have a Public Address system, so the school secretary, Julie Moore, occasionally had to hand deliver messages to classrooms. The telephones will also help during emergencies, Mrs. O'Boyle added.

MCM Communications of Lake Orion was awarded the $8,860 contract. Half of the cost was paid through a grant from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which distributes two percent of its casino slot machine revenue to local agencies and groups. About half of the cost of the telephone system was provided by the general fund.