June 16, 2011
PLEA contract offers reduced raises School board plans to vote on teachers union’s proposal June 22 By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers New Albany teachers, like others in central Ohio, are willing to take a pay cut to save the district money, according to local union representatives. “We appreciate the community’s support of teachers and learning through
the levies that the community has passed,” said Joe Armpriester, vice president of the Plain Local Education Association (PLEA). “We thought it was our turn to support the community and help extend the budget (in the black) another full year.” The teachers union voted June 10 on the proposed three-year contract be-
tween teachers and the administration. Details of the contract were discussed at a June 13 school board workshop. School board members are expected to vote on the contract at the next regularly scheduled meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, at the New Albany High School Jefferson room. Armpriester said 93 percent of the
teachers voted on the contract and it passed with 96 percent voting in favor. PLEA president Mike Covey said the union presented the pros and cons of the proposed contract for the teachers and held a question-and-answer session on the last day for teachers. Teachers were then given the opportunity to vote.
“This has significant givebacks,” Covey said of the contract. “But we felt it was on task and it was the right thing to do for the students and given the district’s current financial situation.” Superintendent April Domine said the teachers voted to reduce their base See PLEA CONTRACT page A2
Council considers ordinance regulating lawn care
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER
By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Photos by Chris Parker/ThisWeek
(Above) Residents of New Albany’s Hampstead Heath neighborhood take part in a large-scale water and shaving cream battle after local students exited the bus on the last day of school June 9. (Right) Barbara Underwood uses a garden hose to wash off children who participated in the festivities. This was the fifth year for the neighborhood celebration, which parents plan to commemorate the end of each school year. It begins in the afternoon as soon as the children get off their bus and concludes with an evening of events. Organizers held a neighborhood barbecue, rented bounce houses, coordinated a visit with the fire department and set up a big-screen movie projector for this year’s celebration.
See COUNCIL, page A6
City police officers vote to join FOP
Riddel leaving district for superintendent job By LORI WINCE ThisWeek Community Newspapers Human resources director Cara Riddel is leaving New Albany-Plain Local Schools to become superintendent of the Westfall Local School District in Williamsport. “I’m looking forward to having my
New Albany is considering requiring property owners in subdivisions to keep their grass cut below 8 inches. “We have no legislation requiring people to mow,” said Debra Mecozzi, deputy city manager. New Albany City Council on June 7 heard the first reading of an ordinance that would require residents to keep their lawns cut. The second reading is expected at the June 21 meeting. Council typically votes on ordinances on the second reading. Mecozzi said the staff kept the legislation simple because it would be difficult to identify language that would address various types of vegetation in the city, which includes both residential and rural areas. “This only addresses grass,” she said. An 8-inch maximum height was chosen after city staff reviewed similar ordinances in other central Ohio municipalities. Mecozzi said many other jurisdictions have height limits from 6 and 12 inches. As proposed, the legislation lists exempted areas as those “cultivated specifically for wildflowers, vegetable gardens or landscaped plant-
hand in a little bit of everything, not just human resources functions,” Riddel said. “I came from a small community, and I’m looking forward to going to a place where all the students in the elementary know each other, all the students in the middle school know each other and all the students in the high school know each other
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and they all go to the football game on Friday night.” Riddel is originally from Granville and has worked at New Albany-Plain Local for a year-and-a-half. Prior to that, she worked in Newark City Schools for 23 years. She was Newark’s personnel director when she left for New Albany.
“One of the reasons I left Newark was to get experience in a small, local school system,” she said. “I hope to use my work in curriculum and human resources and my background in a system that’s a little smaller.” Westfall Local has three school
Cheryl is one of many cats up for adoption at the Cat Welfare Association. On Tuesday, June 21, the association will hold its Summer Solstice Adoption Extravaganza, which will feature food and special adoption rates. For information on adopting Cheryl or any of the cats, visit catwelfareohio.com. Watch a video of Cheryl at ThisWeekNews.com.
Eleven New Albany police officers voted to accept representation by the Capital City Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge No. 9 for negotiations for the city of New Albany regarding their salaries and benefits. The vote required a simple majority of the officers — 50 percent plus 1 — to request representation by the FOP. Twelve officers were eligible to vote and the 11 who were eligible voted unanimously in favor of the union. See UNION VOTE, page A2
See RIDDEL, page A5
Arts, eats and fun in central Ohio
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