Jackson Local Schools bus drivers, custodians, food service workers to get pay raises

Jackson Local Schools Board of Education

KEY ACTION: Approved a three-year agreement with the Jackson Classified Personnel Association.

DISCUSSION: The agreement, which begins July 1, gives the district's classified union members a 3% raise in each year of the contract. Employees also will pay 14% of their health insurance premium over the life of the contract. Members of the classified union include bus drivers, custodians, maintenance workers and food service employees.

The board approved the same conditions for the classified nonmanagerial central office employees who are not part of a bargaining unit.

Jackson joins lawsuit against TikTok, YouTube and other social media sites

In other business, the school board:

• Agreed to join a class-action lawsuit involving multiple social media sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, over their effect on the mental health of students and to recoup the cost of those effects on the district.
• Approved a lease with the Jackson Township trustees that allows the trustees to rent the area being used as South Park, the bog area and the yard waste site for 10 years at $1 a year.
• Approved a lease with the Jackson Township Historical Society that allows the historical society to use the Jackson Center School House. The lease will renew automatically each year and allows either side to cancel the contract at any time.
• Authorized a roofing project for the Jackson Memorial Middle School at a cost of $553,419. The project calls for a renewal and not a replacement of the roof that is over the athletic wing of the building. Tremco Roofing is the manufacturer of the materials, and Advanced Industrial Roofing of Massillon is the contractor who will install it.  The start date is weather dependent.
• Approved changes to the board's regular monthly meetings. The updated schedule can be found on the district’s website at https://www.jackson.stark.k12.oh.us/domain/114.
• Filed a complaint with the Stark County Board of Revision that asks the county board to raise the value of the shopping plaza property at 4550 Belden Village St., which is owned by DeVille Development. The complaint asks to set the property's value at $4.65 million, which is the amount that it sold for in January 2020. The auditor currently has the property valued at $3.8 million. Schools receive the bulk of the revenue generated by property taxes.
• Heard from a resident who said he appreciated the board’s patience in answering his questions and thanked them for their hard work for the district.
• Went into executive session to discuss personnel issues and other employment with no action taken.

UP NEXT: Meets 5 p.m. on April 25 at Jackson High School.