Dexter’s Board of Education Approves another Labor Contract and Picks Officers

This summer has already seen Dexter Community Schools (DCS) reach new labor agreements with the teachers, administration and bus drivers. Now there’s an agreement with support personnel as well as a decision related to non-affiliated contracts.

On July 14, the DCS Board of Education held their annual business meeting where among a handful of decisions the board picked officers, ratified a Dexter Educational Support Personnel Association (DESPA) Successor Agreement and approved salary schedules for individual non-affiliated positions.

The school board unanimously approved a successor agreement with DESPA that will see some changes. DESPA ratified the agreement on June 26. Of the agreement, DCS Superintendent Chris Timmis said they had a good negotiation process with DESPA that will see some increases.

According to the school district, the successor agreement will run from 2025-2028 with a financial reopener in 2026-2027 and 2027-2028. It includes increases for all hourly wages, overtime for B&G employees on force majeure days, language clarifications and effective January 2026, the board maximum contribution will increase by 3 percent.

With the non-affiliated decision, the board approved a decision under consent items that said, “Pursuant to legal advice pertaining to a series of judicial rulings related to individual non-affiliated contracts and the Office of Retirement Services, the Board is requested to approve the salary schedules for each individual non-affiliated position for the 2025-2026 school year.”

This decision applies to all non-union employees. They will receive the same increase as the teachers at 3 percent, except for Superintendent Timmis, who is seeing an increase of 2.33 percent.

For officers, the board picked Elise Bruderly as President, Melanie Szawara as Vice President, and Jennifer Kangas as Treasurer and Daniel Alabré as Secretary.

Photo of the DCS Board of Education on July 22 by Lonnie Huhman