Council Approves Administrators Contract

By John Voket

The town Legislative Council’s failure to reject a stipulated agreement between the town and school administrators means the new contract will go into effect. The motion to reject the arbitrated contract failed by a 6-5 vote Wednesday evening after a two-hour executive session between council members and school officials, according to council Chairman William Rodgers.

“A motion to reject the contract was made by Joe DeCandido and seconded by Richard Recht,” Mr Rodgers told The Bee Thursday morning. “In order for it to pass, that motion [to reject the agreement] would have required a three-quarters majority, but it failed to achieve a simple majority, so the contract passed on the six to five vote.”

While the adjusted contract provided a marginal change to pay scales for 13 administrators, Mr Rodgers said the entire process of bringing the contract through an arbitration process reflected a new attitude on the part of the council.

“Although we don’t really get other contracts to approve, I think this process sets a new tone in town for future labor negotiations,” Mr Rodgers said. “Some Board of Education [members] and other labor groups need to bear that in mind.”

It was previously reported that the 13 Newtown school administrators involved in the arbitration will give up a total of about $150 each on renegotiated three-year contracts that were settled on the evening of December 7.

The Board of Education initially approved the contract during its September 21 board meeting. At that time, administrators were given a wage increase of 3.75 percent for each of the next three academic years and a graduating annual insurance co-payment increase from 15, to 16, to 17 percent.

That initial administrators contract was voted down by Newtown’s Legislative Council on October 20.

Under the new stipulated agreement, the insurance co-payment percentage increases will remain the same. But while administrators’ wages will increase by 3.75 percent for the 2005-06 year, raises will be 3.70 percent for the 2006-07 school year and 3.65 percent for the 2007-08 school year.