Directors OK retirement incentive
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — In an effort to avoid cutting teaching positions, SAD 1 directors unanimously agreed at their March 28 meeting to offer veteran teachers a retirement incentive program.
According to Superintendent Gehrig Johnson, the district hadn’t originally planned to offer the incentive program as it has the last two years.
“If you offer it every year, it’s not really an incentive,” he said. “But we had a number of staff members come to us and say, ‘If you offer the retirement incentive program for 2012, we would participate.’
“This measure helps save jobs for teachers and it helps veteran teachers who might be considering retirement,” said Johnson.
Teachers who have reached normal retirement age as defined by statute — either age 60 or 62 depending upon dates of service — who are presently eligible, based on service, for full retirement under the Maine Public Employee Retirement System and meet all other conditions are eligible to receive the retirement incentive payment.
The board will offer a one-time incentive payment of $450 per year for each year of teaching experience provided the teacher submits written notice of retirement effective no later than June 30. The payment will be made in two equal installments with the first being paid in January 2013 and the second in January 2014.
Among the conditions laid out by the board include:
• Eligible teachers must provide written notice to the superintendent no later than 4 p.m. April 9 of their intent to retire.
• To be eligible, a teacher must have been employed, and worked, as a teacher for at least 25 consecutive years.
• The board reserves the right to limit the number of participants, and/or to terminate the program, at any time at its sole discretion. In the event there are more applicants than will be accepted under the program, the board will select those applicants based upon time and date of receipt of written notice at the superintendent’s office. The program will be rescinded if fewer than five teachers in total participate.
• Any teacher who receives a retirement incentive and who is later rehired in a certified position must refund the total amount received prior to beginning re-employment.
Johnson said of the 18 teachers eligible to participate in the program, the highest amount paid would be approximately $19,000.
Director Paul Saija said he had mixed emotions about the incentive plan.
“On the positive side we’ll save money and teachers’ jobs,” he said, “but the downside is we will lose some of our most experienced teachers. I look at it as a plus and a minus.”
The retirement incentive program plan was unanimously approved by directors.
The next regular SAD 1 meeting will be held following a 5 p.m. budget workshop Wednesday, April 11 at the Presque Isle High School board conference room.
