POLAND — The Board of Education approved a three-year agreement with the Poland Education Association at its Wednesday meeting after PEA negotiators ratified the agreement Feb. 11.

“The negotiations took 15 hours over a two-day period,” said Superintendent Craig Hockenberry. “We have achieved labor peace at Poland.”

He said the contract with PEA, the union that covers the teaching staff, will take effect on Sept. 1 and run through Aug. 31, 2028.

Among the highlights of the contract is a 3% increase on base salaries across the board. The 3% will be each year of the contract for a total of 9% over the contract period.

Hockenberry also said the health insurance will stay the same, with teachers paying 12% of their premiums in years one and two, and 13% in year three.

Also covered under the contract are supplemental positions. Hockenberry said a lot of teachers are coaching a sport.

“Poland puts a high priority on athletics,” he said. “We were able to increase the supplemental amounts and even add a few new positions. We did it mainly because of the length of the seasons now. A lot of sports start earlier and end later and when a team heads to playoffs, that adds even more time.”

One other area the contract deals with is student teacher pay. Hockenberry said a student teacher is required to put in 12 weeks of unpaid classroom work as a requirement to earn a teaching license in the state of Ohio.

Poland board member Michelle Elia serves as the legislative liaison. She said Ohio is putting a bill out to be able to pay student teachers in the classroom to help solve the teacher shortage.

“The problem with that is the state hasn’t changed the Ohio Revised Code (regarding the 12 required unpaid weeks),” Elia said. “Student teachers who accept pay could be jeopardizing their ability to get a license.”

There is also the issue of having an 18 or 19-year-old in charge of a classroom.

“I am not comfortable with that age serving as a sub,” she said.

Hockenberry said the resolution on the table Wednesday night was to allow for a per-service teacher, or student teacher, to take over a class if the teacher became ill or could not finish the day.

On the issue of teacher shortages, the union contract included broad flexibility to enable the district to bring back retiring teachers.

“We have a lot of teachers near the end of their careers,” Hockenberry said. “We made it possible to bring them back under the retire-rehire program.”

He said bringing back good teachers will help solve the shortage as well.