Plainfield holds required hearing on proposed teacher contract; board to vote Oct. 9

Plainfield Community School Corp held a required public hearing on a proposed collective-bargaining agreement for teachers and extracurricular staff, with district staff presenting negotiated highlights and telling the board the contract will be presented for a vote on Oct. 9.

Mark, a staff member for Plainfield Community School Corp, opened the hearing and said the hearing met the state notice requirement: “Required by Indiana code, we have to have this hearing, at least 72 hours before the contract is ratified. It's actually next Thursday,” and that the board would consider the ratified contract at its Oct. 9 meeting.

The presentation outlined the substantive changes district staff and the bargaining team negotiated. “First of all, we propose no change this year to our beginning teacher salary. We'll leave that at $55,000,” Mark said. The district described the year’s compensation model as point-based, with the per-point dollar amount set at $244; on a four-point scale that results in a $976 base increase for an employee who receives the full raise under that model. The district also proposed a one-time $200 increase to base pay for teachers who have an early literacy endorsement listed on their license by Sept. 15, 2025.

Health and dental contribution ratios were described as unchanged from the previous year. The extracurricular activity (ECA) pay schedule remains tied to an indexed multiplier: ECA index numbers in the negotiated agreement are multiplied by $51,140, unchanged from last year.

Staff detailed a number of ECA-position adjustments. The district plans to consolidate boys and girls head wrestling into a single combined head wrestling coach (citing current staffing levels) and add combined assistant wrestling positions. The district will increase assistant cross-country positions from one to two to handle higher participation. A PHS broadcast coordinator position was added at the request of Mr. Schwannenkamp; district staff said the teacher who currently runs the broadcast studio, Gabe McShane, will supervise student broadcasts of football, volleyball and basketball. Fall color guard and winter guard director indices were increased to mirror percussion director pay. Several middle-school coaching positions that went unfilled — a CyberPatriots coach and one middle-school robotics coach — were removed; the district said those positions may be restored if applicants come forward. The district also agreed to add a limited, one-year set of middle-school area coaches to support after-school remediation at the request of Swaddell.

On retirement/benefit matching, the presentation said the corporation match will remain at 5%.

No formal votes or motions were taken at the hearing. Mark closed the hearing and said the negotiated agreement — including the full contract language and schedule details — would be included in the board packet and brought back as a voting item on Oct. 9. There were no public questions recorded during the hearing.

Why it matters: the hearing is a required step under Indiana law before the ratification vote; the contract changes affect teacher pay structure, extracurricular compensation and some coaching positions, and they include a specific deadline for the early-literacy stipend qualification.

The board packet will contain full contract language and numeric schedules; the board is scheduled to vote on the ratified agreement at its Oct. 9 meeting.