Teachers speak out at JMC school board meeting

JACKSON, Tenn.–  Thursday night, many teachers, both active and retired, showed up at the school board’s meeting.

“I got a wind of it that we were going to have a nice turn out tonight and we appreciate the retirees sharing their concerns,” says Dr. Eric Jones.

Teachers say they are concerned about the board’s plans to reduce their allotted insurance as retirees of the Jackson-Madison County School System.

“The school system was not paying what they said they were going to pay when we retired,” said former teacher Sharon Greathouse.

“My papers said they were going to pay me 60 percent of the premium and I would pay the 40 percent up until I hit age 65.”

Superintendent Jones says this would roughly be $250,000 to $300,000 put back toward retirees.

“We had to make some tough tough budgetary decisions, but the board decided tonight that we are going to revisit those decisions and I think that is the most fair thing to do,” said Superintendent Jones.”