School board to consider contracts as body returns to in-person meetings

Ketchikan’s school board will return to holding meetings in person.  The agenda for Wednesday’s board meeting is relatively light.

Two contract extensions will go before the seven-person board. One extends the district’s contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The new contract with school maintenance workers adds a little more than $22,000 in expenses next school year. But that increase is already included in the budget the board approved earlier this year.

The other contract up for debate extends the district’s agreement with First Student, which provides buses. A five-year contract with the provider is set to expire this summer. The one-year, $1.7 million extension keeps the district’s bussing expenses flat. It’s the first of three permitted one-year extensions to the contract.

There’s also a closed-door session scheduled for the board to hear updates to contract negotiations with the district’s unionized administrative assistants.

The school board meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Ketchikan’s White Cliff building. Residents can offer testimony at the beginning of the meeting.