School Nurses Get Raises, Keep Pensions in New Contract

Nurses and health assistants in Westport’s schools are slated to get raises in a three-year contract that was approved by the Board of Education on Monday. Pensions, which some officials say are to afford, were unaffected.

In the first year, effective retroactively in July 2010, all 13 nurses and 8 health assistants will receive a two percent raise with no step increase. In the second year, step increases will return with another 2 percent raise. In the third and final year, there will be a 2.25 percent raise.

“There were a couple win-wins that were beneficial to both to the staff and the board,” said Elaine Whitney, a member of the Board of Education who helped negotiate the contract.

The employees will receive a stipend if they decide to become a National Certified School Nurse. However, contributions to health and dental care increase from 15 percent to 19 percent by the end of the contract.

Several contracts for school and town employees have been negotiated in the current fiscal year, but only one even addressed the issue of pensions.

In the contract for, it's stipulated that all employees hired after July 1, 2010 will have to switch pension plans "if and when the Board of Education establishes a defined-contribution plan for non-certified employees." There are 56 custodians working in the schools.

School and municipal employees have traditionally had defined benefit pension plans, which guarantees payouts regardless of how well the investments perform. By switching to defined contribution plan, individual employees are responsible for their own money. If the stock market declines, the employees are burdened with the loss rather than the town.

Whitney said that changes to the pension plan were pursued, but “in the end the language remained unchanged.”