Ottumwa school board tables early retirement discussion

Dec. 17--OTTUMWA -- The Ottumwa school board met Monday night, after about a month since its last public meeting.

The main item up for decision was the district's early retirement notice incentive, a measure which will reward certain district employees who announce their intention to retire by Jan. 15 2020 with a $2,000 bonus.

This is a practice that must be reviewed and approved by the board on an annual basis. Licensed employees like teachers, nurses, librarians, counselors, and administrators are eligible.

The measure is designed to incentivize teachers to announce their retirements early enough to give the district time to find a replacement.

A few of the members felt unprepared to rule on the measure, and wanted to wait until they had more information. Accordingly, the board tabled their decision for a future meeting.

Kevin McGinity, who taught chemistry in the district for nearly 30 years, presented a related issue to the board.

McGinity said he was forced to retire this year because of medical reasons. Had he retired last year, which he decided against because he was the only chemistry teacher at OHS at the time, he would have been granted a $5,000 per year retirement bonus.

However, the board has not yet decided whether the district will grant retirees the same package this year. If they don't, McGinity will only receive the one-time payment of $2,000 for giving the district an early notice of retirement.

Vern Reed, at-risk coordinator at OHS, gave a presentation about disciplinary actions taken across the district over the last several years. He noted that while the Ottumwa district is the 22nd largest in the state, it had the seventh highest rate of suspension.

However, the overall number of disciplinary incidents trended down from last year. District-wide elementary incidents were down by about 600 from last year, after nearly doubling between the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years.

The middle and high school numbers show a similar pattern. After jumping up by about 800 incidents during the 2017-2018 school year, the number fell back down to rates comparable to the 2016-2017 school year.

The board also approved a measure which changes the way parents will pay for PTYC registration. While the fee used to be $10 per family, the new measure changes the rate to $10 per child.There will be a $20 cap per family.

There was also a presentation by five students from OHS, who addressed the board with what they identified as issues of racial inequity in the district. They noted an achievement gap between black and white students, saying the black graduation rate was 75 percent, compared to 93 percent for white students. They identified similar gaps in ISASP scores and TAG and dual enrollment rates.

The students who gave the presentation called on the board to provide more resources for students suffering from mental health issues or who live in poverty.

"If a flower doesn't bloom, we fix the environment in which it grows -- not the flower," one of the students said to close their presentation.

All school board meetings are now held in the Evans Middle School library. The next will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 13.

Correction

This story contained an error. In its original run, it conflated a bonus given to teachers for giving the district early notice of retirement with packages sometimes given to retiring teachers to help cover their insurance.

The notice bonus amount has not changed, but the board has not yet approved or disapproved it for this year.

Kevin McGinity, a retiring chemistry teacher at OHS, took issue with the district's decision to not grant him a retirement package, which would have amounted to $5,000 per year had he retired last year.

Jack Langland can be reached at [email protected].

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