| NEHAWKA CLASSROOM | | | CASE NO. 181 |
| TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, An | | | |
| Unincorporated Association, | | | |
| | | ||
| Plaintiff, | | | |
| | | ||
| v. | | | ORDER |
| | | ||
| SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 103, | | | |
| CASS COUNTY, NEBRASKA, A | | | |
| Political Subdivision of the | | | |
| State of Nebraska, a/k/a | | | |
| NEHAWKA CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS, | | | |
| | | ||
| Defendant. | | |
The matter before the Court is the objection to Hearing Examiner's Recommended Decision, filed by defendant on February 4, 1977, in the above-entitled action. A hearing on said objection was held before Judge Richard L. DeBacker on February 9, 1977. The Court having reviewed the entire record of said proceedings now finds as follows:
1. That plaintiff's trial Exhibit 3 was in error on the enrollment size of the Weeping Water district. According to STATISTICS AND FACTS ABOUT NEBRASKA SCHOOLS, Statistical Services Section, Planning Research and Evaluation, Department of Education, Lincoln, Nebraska, its enrollment is 424, instead of the 231 listed on Exhibit 3. Accordingly the Weeping Water district should have been excluded from the array of total teacher compensation on the basis of size.
2. The Hearing Examiner was correct in not utilizing the data for the Dawson-Verdon and Filley districts. The Examiner did not require any more exactness from the defendant than from the plaintiff. The district's superintendent, Mr. Green, admitted on cross-examination that although he had attempted to place the Nehawka staff on the Dawson-Verdon and Filley schedules, he had placed them on the basis of their educational attainments in 9 hour increments, and not on the basis of the 6 hour increments they would have been entitled to at these two districts. This affectively impeaches the reliability of the Dawson-Verdon and Filley data, and it was properly excluded from consideration.
3. The remainder of defendant's objections are without merit. The determination of which schools to include in the array of total teacher compensation is a finding of fact. The Court's determination in 1973 to use the Homesteader conference schools accordingly, did not establish a precedent which the Hearing Examiner was bound to follow. The Court has looked to the athletic conference as only one of the factors which demonstrates comparability. Schools within the Court's size guidelines which are in close geographic proximity are properly included in an array of total teacher compensation, apart from any showing of specific contacts with the defendant district.
4. The deletion of Weeping Water from the array of total teacher compensation results in a mean of $140,067.07 and a median of $141,460.00. The Hearing Examiner's recommended total teacher compensation of $140,566.00 for the Nehawka district is still at the approximate midpoint of the modified array. The Examiner's determination of the scale of wages, insurance contribution, and paid leave provisions are appropriate under the evidence submitted.
THEREFORE IT IS ORDERED:
1. That the scale of wages for the Nehawka teachers for the 1976-1977 year be computed in accordance with the 4 x 4 Salary Schedule currently in effect in the Nehawka district, with a base salary of $7,900.
2. That the defendant shall provide a full single insurance contribution of $23.40 per teacher per month.
3. That the paid leave provisions shall be 7 days sick leave, accumulative to 30 days, 2 days personal and 2 days professional leave.
4. That all other aspects of compensation and terms and conditions of employment remain unchanged; and
5. That these wages and terms of employment be effective from the first day of the 1976-1977 school year.
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