RAPID CITY - Rapid City teachers and the school district have agreed on a new contract, giving teachers a 4 percent raise and elementary school teachers 60 minutes of planning time weekly.

The contract between the Rapid City Education Association and the Rapid City School District was one of seven employee group contracts approved Thursday by the school board.

There are good things in the contract for teachers, according to education union co-presidents Nancy Kroeger and Sue Podoll.

"It's a move in the right direction," Kroeger said. The elementary teacher planning time is an initial move towards improving working conditions for teachers, she said. "There are some really good pieces in this negotiated agreement this time."

The agreement comes six months after the school board imposed a contract on its teaching force of more than 900 teachers after negotiations fractured more than one year ago.

Negotiations this year were apparently more civil.

The negotiating teams for both sides worked well together to reach the agreement, superintendent Peter Wharton said.

"We really appreciated the spirit and tone of negotiations this year," Wharton said. "There were some challenges, but I'm optimistic that this agreement signals a new beginning in our relationship."

The new contract raises the starting salary for a new teacher to $30,000, an increase of almost $3,000.

The increase in the base salary will help the district with teacher recruitment, Podoll said.

"Our next challenge is going to be retaining the quality people we have in the district," she said.

Experienced teachers are leaving the district for a variety of reasons - some because of family moves, others for better salaries, and others for more satisfying working conditions, Kroeger said. "We've lost a lot of people."

The next step is going to be working on the middle range of the salary schedule to make it rewarding for teachers to stay in the district, Podoll said. There's no benefit in training teachers for two years and then have them move on to better-paying jobs, she said.

Most of the district's employee groups are getting a 4 percent raise, with the exception of the high school and middle school principals, and district administrators and technicians, who received a 3 percent raise.

Wharton, however, received a 4 percent raise, bringing his annual salary to $128,000.

Elementary school principals and the director of special education will get a 6 percent raise this year as part of a market adjustment in their salaries, following a trend the board started two years ago, when it increased high school principals' salaries. Last year, middle school principals received a market adjustment in their salaries.

In other action Thursday, the board approved contracts with two consulting firms - EduPeaks and the Red Stone Education group - for interim services. EduPeaks will supervise federal grant programs and grant applications. Red Stone will continue to supervise Indian Education programs.

Both contracts are intended to cover the transition while the district searches for a new director of Indian Education and Grants, Wharton told the school board.

The district begins accepting applications for the directorship today.

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com