By Brice Burge

The Munising Public Schools Board of Education has approved two memorandums of understanding (MOU) with employee unions. This comes after two unanimous votes made at the board’s regular September meeting on Monday, Sept. 18.

The first MOU addressed an issue with the MESPA, which is the union for school custodians, food service employees and transportation specialists. Employees in this union would sometimes serve in other roles for the school, some of which came in at a higher hourly wage.

“We were in dire straits with some of the spots we had to fill and one of the cooks volunteered to be cross trained into a different role,” said Mike Travis, Munising Public Schools Superintendent. “They willfully went through the training for that role, so they should be paid the higher hourly rate for what role they are in.”

The second MOU is a continuation of a previous understanding with the MEA, which is the teachers union. This MOU deals with maintaining the rate of pay for teachers who monitor online classes outside of their existing class schedules.

“This is identical to the MOU the last two years, so it will maintain what is already happening,” Travis said.