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District offers HR modernization, retiree plan choice, AI guardrails and other contract counters

Ithaca School District — Bargaining with Ithaca Teachers Association (ITA) · October 17, 2025
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Summary

The district proposed operational upgrades (digital pay stubs, digital timekeeping, telemedicine), a retiree supplemental plan choice at retirement, a 2% annual COLA for extracurricular pay, protections acknowledging AI as a supplement to instruction, and a counter on teacher‑enrollment slots capped at 50 teachers. The district also rejected some

District negotiators presented several non‑salary contract counters and clarifications covering HR operations, extracurricular pay, AI protections and benefits.

On operations, the district proposed modernization steps intended to reduce administrative costs and ease implementation: digital pay stubs and direct deposit, telemedicine enrollment, and digital timekeeping (district emphasized it was not proposing punch‑in/punch‑out time clocks). Negotiators said those changes would help HR efficiency and support the larger compensation plan.

For retiree benefits, the district said both supplemental and advantage plans would be offered to retirees at the time of retirement; the retiree would choose a plan and that selection would be permanent for actuarial and planning purposes.

On extracurricular pay, the district agreed to a 2% annual cost‑of‑living adjustment for extra rates and indicated a willingness to raise advisor rates so they meet or exceed minimum wage.

On technology and AI, the district accepted collaboratively written language acknowledging technology and generative AI as supplements to instruction (paragraph 1 of the proposed language) but declined to adopt a second paragraph drawn from unspecified New York State bill language that would categorically bar automated decision‑making replacements; instead the district proposed an immediate committee to craft policy recommendations for the board.

On enrollment for teacher children, the district countered the union’s "unlimited" enrollment proposal with a cap tied to 50 teachers (the district clarified this would be 50 teachers, not 50 students, and that multiple children of a single teacher would be allowed). The district said it would not adopt certain librarian‑schedule proposals and declined time sheets for hiring committees.

Negotiators paused for caucus and agreed to return to the table with questions and draft language.