Superior teachers could get more time to decide on retirement

Talk about it

The Superior School Board has called an emergency meeting for Friday to give the teachers union an extension for possible lay-off notices and retirements.

“We need to act on this now because if we wait for the budget repair bill to pass, we will not have the opportunity to do that,” said Superintendent Janna Stevens.

The proposed extension would give teachers until March 28 to inform the district if they want to retire. As it stands now, teachers have to do that by March 1.

Superior Federation of Teachers President Dana Parask said he had expected five teachers to retire this year but, because the proposed budget repair bill might curtail some retirement benefits, he now expects 20 to 30 teacher retirements in Superior.

“It’s a lot of expertise leaving the district. Those are people who were not thinking of retirement that liked education and would otherwise choose to stay if this bill were not passed,” Parask said. “I planned on staying until at least 65 years old. But the reality is if this goes through, you won’t see me here next year.”

The emergency meeting is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Friday.

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