ELYRIA — The Elyria school board has approved the new contract and health insurance plan the Elyria Schools support staff’s union accepted earlier this week.

The unanimous vote was taken during a special meeting Thursday night almost as a formality. The insurance plan is the same one administrators approved for themselves earlier this month and the one the teachers union has rejected, saying it wants the matter to be dealt with as part of contract negotiations currently taking place.

Superintendent Paul Rigda and teachers union President Sarida Volante have been battling over the insurance plan, with Rigda wanting the teachers union to accept and share in some of the health insurance costs so the district can save money.

Health care contributions from employees would jump from 2.5 percent to 12 percent under the plan. Elyria Schools is a self-insured district that spent roughly $7.5 million on health care for its employees in 2008, but that figure is expected to rise to more than $8 million this year.

“This was very important because of the situation we’re in, which is very dire,” board member Virginia Hawes said about the support staff’s acceptance of the plan. “This will really help us.”

More than 80 percent of the support staff members who voted did so in favor of the plan and the new two-year contract, which offers a 2 percent raise in each of the two years as compensation for the money they will spend on health insurance.

“I just want to thank everyone who participated in coming to an agreement,” said board Vice President Evelyn France.

Volante did not return a message left at her home Thursday night seeking comment.

Superintendent Rigda considering retirement at end of school year

ELYRIA — Superintendent Paul Rigda is considering retiring at the end of next school year so he can be rehired as schools chief while collecting a pension.

Rigda said he was advised by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS) to either retire and be rehired or retire outright because the pension system for Ohio educators is running out of money.

Rigda will enter his 37th year in education this fall, two more than is required to retire and tap into the pension fund, and his contract with Elyria Schools is up at the end of next school year.

“I’ve been told it’s a better place to be inside the system than outside because of all the problems STRS has had,” Rigda said.

The people who run Ohio’s teacher retirement system are trying to find ways to make changes so the fund doesn’t run out. Money that is placed into a retirement fund by teachers and administrators is then invested by STRS, but the sour economy and marketplace helped cause some of the money to dry up. Teachers around the state are also crying foul for what they say are excessive raises given to STRS associates.

Rigda said he will sit down with the school board over the next year to discuss whether the board would like him back and what his plans are. If he decides to retire and they want him back, he said it would be a “win-win” for him and the district because he would work out a compensation package that would benefit the district.

“I’ll make sure it’s a savings,” he said. “That’s part of the win-win.”

School board President Donald Boddy said there are teachers and administrators in the past and those who currently work in the district who have retired and then been rehired.

“I wouldn’t want an employee who rightfully earned their pension not to be able to use it,” he said.

Rigda said he wants the public to understand the savings this could offer the district and hopes he doesn’t receive a backlash like some of the judges who received public outcry over similar practices.

In 2006, Judge David Berta defeated sitting Lorain County Domestic Relations Judge Paulette Lilly by using an aggressive campaign in which he attacked her for “double-dipping.” He also pledged never to double-dip during the campaign.

“I think people are more educated about what it means now, and I don’t think I’ll have a problem,” Rigda said. “The double-dipping label was thrown around so much, but I think people understand what it is.”

Rigda likened the practice to retiring from a job, receiving a pension from the company you retired from and then starting a new business.

Contact Adam Wright at 329-7129 or awright@chroniclet.com.

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