North Slope Borough raises annual teacher salaries to $50,000

TAMAR BEN-YOSEF

June 05, 2008 at 10:53AM AKST

A recent pay raise is designed to make candidates more likely to accept teaching in the North Slope Borough School District.

At its May meeting, the school district’s board of trustees unanimously approved an increase to the base salary and to the salary scale in an effort to attract more teachers to the borough’s schools.

“In conversations with board members from across Alaska, it is clear that everyone is affected by the critical shortage of qualified teachers,” board president Debby Edwardson said.

“There are no longer enough teachers available to fill the vacancies in the state,” she said. “Every district in Alaska is now forced to recruit nationwide.”

The increase in base salary to $50,000 and a $5,000 increase in each step placed the district in the top tier of districts within Alaska.

A statement released recently by the school board notes a nationwide shortage of teachers.

“As teachers are becoming scarcer we must become more competitive,” Edwardson said. “This salary increase is very important for our district to be able to retain and recruit teachers of the highest caliber.”

“The education association appreciates the district’s commitment to responding in this manner,” Jill Exe, newly elected president of the North Slope Borough Education Association, said in a statement.

“The district needed to address our salaries in order to become more competitive at a time of teacher shortage,” she said.

“The association voted unanimously to accept the pay increases and anticipates engaging in negotiations that are based on the best interests of the district and its teachers. Both parties must continue to pursue an agreement that insures the district can increase its ability to maintain the excellent staff that is currently dedicated to serving the children of the North Slope.”

The base salary for teachers for the 2008-09 school year will be $50,000 with a chance to earn more than $7,000 in performance bonuses.

Aside from the salary increase, Edwardson said the board is examining other elements of teaching in the North Slope that could help to attract more teachers.

For example, last spring the school board conducted an anonymous survey among teachers on teacher turnover and other problems.

“I would like to see us work more collaboratively with the teachers,” Edwardson said.

The board’s decision to raise salaries came a few days prior to the release of a position paper written and distributed by the association, an official negotiating body representing about 51 of the school district’s teachers.

The paper, titled “Why many teachers are leaving the North Slope Borough School District,” points a finger at the school board and the superintendent’s policies as major contributors to the high teacher turnover in the district.

“Teachers complain about a lot of things that can happen, but the union can’t do anything about bad management,” said Nycki Saxton, association secretary.

“There doesn’t seem to be any consistency in the managment. It makes people feel insecure,” she said.

One issue, according to the association’s paper, is that teachers are not offered contracts at the end of their first year of teaching.

A thread on a popular online teacher’s chatboard, Teachers.net, warns potential teachers of this issue on the North Slope and has attracted responses pro and con from numerous education professionals.

Other issues brought up by the association include lack of communication between the board and the teachers, low maintenance of teacher housing and constant introduction of new programs to the curriculum.

“For instance, the district purchases laptops, search engines, introduces new testing programs,” Saxton said.

“One thing piled up on top of the other, with no time to do the paperwork. None of it is associated with becoming a better teacher.”

Edwardson responded to the paper and said the board has been aware of its complaints for quite some time.

“This information was contained in the survey we conducted,” Edwardson said.

“We have seen these issues and have started dealing with them,” she added.

“If a contract is not renewed, it means the teacher was not a good fit. Some teachers work really well in one setting and in another they don’t work out. Doesn’t mean they are not a good teacher,” Edwardson said.

“One issue is the importance of a built-in process of mentorship and collaboration, she said.

“We would like to see that we have teleconference meetings across the borough so we can share and build on other’s experiences,” she said.

Tamar Ben-Yosef can be reached at (907) 348-2419 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 419.