Principal Tara Barnes fills in the Clarksburg School Committee on Thursday's emergency drill.

The North Berkshire School Union met at Clarksburg School on Thursday.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The North Berkshire School Union last week agreed to raise its wages for substitute teachers.

Retired educators Diana and Bernie Belouin had approached the Clarksburg School Committee in September about the disparity in payments between Clarksburg and other school districts. Clarksburg pays $70 a day, which is at least $10 less than other local schools.

The Belouins reiterated their reasoning to the school union committee at its Thursday meeting at Clarksburg School.

"I'm down to one school because I'm getting tired," said Bernie Belouin of his subbing at Clarksburg. But if he was younger, he said his preference would be McCann Technical School because its pay has been significantly higher for subs for years.

Superintendent Jonathan Lev thought the four schools in the supervisory union should weigh in on the issue for the sake of consistency.

Committee member John Solari of Clarksburg recommended hiking the pay to $80 a day.

"Other subs have told me that they don't answer their phones right away and they compare who calls," he said. "If we're paying $70 and Williamstown is paying $80, they're going to Williamstown."

Emma Miller Principal Cathy Chapman and Gabriel Abbott Principal Heidi Dugal said they don't have much recourse to substitutes. The schools are small enough that teachers and aides can usually cover for a short absence. There's also the issue of getting substitutes to travel to the small schools' more distant locations.

"It would make it nicer," Dugal said of the raise in pay, noting how difficult it was even to get a substitute nurse to Florida Mountain. "I agree with John ... No one wants to go all the way up the mountain and you're getting $20, $30 less."

The Rowe contingent was more wary of raising payments without having a firm handle on the number used at the school or the cost.  

Committee member Judy Olson suggested the committee vote to raise the pay but with "the option to revisit it at the school committee level." Members agreed and voted unanimously to raise the rate for subs to $80 throughout the union.

Lev also reported to the North Berkshire committee that he had bid on a "reasonably priced" van from government surplus. The school union had discussed purchasing a van for school trips or other uses, with the costs divided between the four school districts. Florida has a garage for the vehicle and any drivers would have to be licensed.

The Clarksburg School Committee held its meeting immediately before the union's at the school. Principal Tara Barnes updated the committee on team building and her training in teacher evaluations.

The school had also implemented a drop off, lockdown drill on Thursday. Barnes said it was very successful.

"Teachers knew what to do and students did, too," she said, adding emergency responders gave them an A.

During the drill, students immediately went into classrooms and stood in a specified corner while the teacher covered the window and stood alert with a handy implement to hit an intruder. "We've taken it to a whole new level to keep our students safe," said Barnes.

A bus drill will take place on Oct. 9 and an unannounced lockdown drill at a later time.

In other business:

• The committee voted to raise the pay for substitute cafeteria workers from $8.50 to $9 at the request of cafeteria manager Susan Berger.

• The committee will begin negotiations with the Clarksburg Teachers Association whose contract ends next year; it is also considering changing the benefits for nonunion workers, who currently have to wait a year for compensation such as sick time to kick in.

• Lev reported that the newly constituted School Building Committee will begin meeting and that a special town meeting to authorize a feasibility study is expected to be held on Oct. 21.

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