Center Grove teachers call for retention measures after record resignation year

About 150 teachers crowded the board room at the Center Grove Community School Corporation administrative building Thursday, in a show of solidarity during a school board meeting after a majority of United Teachers Association of Center Grove members they voted down a proposed contract agreement for the 2022-23 school year.

The teachers, who arrived about 45 minutes before the meeting started, carried signs that read “keep our teachers,” “we can afford to retain teachers,” “respect teachers” and one that said “I left for higher pay.” Overall, 63 teachers left the school district during the 2021-22 school year. Of those, 50 were resignations, while 13 were retirements, said David Lawson, co-president of the United Teachers Association of Center Grove.

“Many of the teachers from the high school and middle school who resigned conveyed stress brought about by the workload and the community, (which) caused them to leave,” Lawson said. “If we lose so many teachers in one school year, it makes you ask what next school year will look like; that’s why we’re bargaining to retain as many teachers as we can. We value them and they’re a wonderful bunch of teachers. We’re honored to call them colleagues.”

During the standing-room-only school board meeting, school board member Rob Daniels read a pre-prepared statement from the board.

The school board approved an 8% average pay increase for teachers last year, along with a 7% increase for other employees. The school board approved an additional 5.65% increase for support staff this school year, offering the same percentage increase to teachers, the statement said.

“We support and have the utmost respect for the teachers, staff and administrators of the Center Grove Community School Corporation. We acknowledge the unique challenges the employees of the school corporation have faced over the last several years. We also recognize that there are additional challenges ahead as we navigate into the future,” the statement said.

A salary increase alone won’t solve the district’s retention problems, Lawson said.

“There are a variety of reasons people are leaving. We’re trying to address all of them,” he said. “I’ve been here for 29 years, and since I’ve been involved in the school district, I cannot remember anything like this happening.”

Since there are no teachers unions in Indiana, the teachers cannot strike. When the #RedforEd demonstration for teacher salary raises occurred at the Indiana Statehouse in 2019, for example, it was supported by administration and staff members, who took a collective sick day. Teachers won’t be able to do the same in this situation, Lawson said.

“We’re unsure of our next steps,” he said Thursday. “We’d like to know how the board responds to the teacher presence tonight.”