School Board Approves Three-Year Teachers’ Pact

By Eliza Hallabeck

The Board of Education unanimously approved a three-year contract with the Newtown Federation of Teachers, Tuesday, October 27. The agreement includes just a few changes from the teachers’ previous contract.

No members of the public, nor representatives for the teachers union, were present to witness the school board deliberate and eventually pass the new teachers’ contract, which will be in effect for 2010 through 2013 once signed by both parties and authorized by the Legislative Council.

According to a press release from the Newtown Federation of Teachers, the contract agreement was reached by the two parties on October 4.

“As you can see, the settlement that we have reached is for a three-year deal,” said Floyd Dugas, the school board’s attorney. “The first year there is no general wage increase, there is no cost of settlement. So on one hand, it is true, what we refer to as hard freeze with no general wage increase and no step increase. Having said that, because we are restoring three of the days that were taken away from the current fiscal year there is a cost associated with restoring those days.”

A brief summary of the pact confirmed that within the first year of the contract there will be no general wage increase, no step movement; however, three of the five work days eliminated this year will be restored, making the work year for teachers in the district 187 days. Salaries will be adjusted accordingly, for a cost increase of 1.63 percent, representing $488,187.

According to the same summary, in the second year the total combined general wage increase and step cost will be 2.7 percent, a cost of $824,502. This will be accomplished by midyear step movement plus the balance, 1.55 percent in general wage increases.

In the third year of the contract, the total combined general wage increase and step movement is 3.45 percent, a cost of $1,081,446, which will be accomplished by a midyear step movement and an increase of 1.44 percent to the top step only. In addition, longevity steps will be removed from the salary schedule and frozen at 2011-2012 levels.

There will be an additional step added to the salary schedule in year 2011-12 to reduce the effect of a “bubble” between steps 12 and 13; and in year 2012-13 steps 20, 25, and 30 will be removed from the salary schedule and be treated as separate longevity compensation payments, according to the teachers’ federation.

“The reason we are moving them in the midyear as opposed to at the beginning of the year, frankly, is to save money in the second fiscal year,” Mr Dugas told the school board.

School board secretary Kathryn Fetchick said she was concerned about the removal of the option to furlough teachers, and Mr Dugas explained the board had guaranteed not to drop below a school year of 187 days. He said in the event of facing layoffs or furloughing teachers, furloughing would still be possible.

Board of Education member William Hart asked if other local towns had a reduction in the salaries of their teachers for this year.

Mr Dugas said no.

“So they are really still coming back from that?” Mr Hart asked.

“They are not even restored to what they started at,” Mr Dugas said.

Major noneconomic changes in the contract, according to the summary prepared by Mr Dugas, are a full-year leave of absence in nonshortage area positions for childrearing, direct deposit for payroll, vacancies will be posted online instead of on a bulletin board, teachers will be required to maintain a website and teachers will be required to return email and phone calls promptly.

According to the Newtown Federation of Teachers, the agreement eliminates the requirement that teachers who desire an insurance plan with out-of-network coverage must buy-up to the PPO plan. Under the existing contract, teachers must pay the full premium dollar difference between the PPO plan and the HMO plan. The existing PPO insurance plan will be replaced by the federation proposed POS plan with teachers’ premium share of 18 percent in 2010-11, 19 percent in 2011-12, and 20 percent in 2012-13. Teachers will also have the option to elect insurance coverage under a health savings account (HSA) high deductible plan that the board will fund one-half of the deductibles in each of the three years.

Newtown Federation of Teachers President Ron Chivinski said, “The teachers’ bargaining committee achieved all of our major goals in negotiations. This agreement guarantees the teachers’ work year at 187 days in each of the three years of the contract. It provides teachers, and the board, with a cost effective insurance product that provides out-of-network coverage at a rate less than the existing plan, and it offers teachers who unfortunately are faced with a major illness and have large expenditures for prescription drugs and out-of-pocket medical expenses a HSA option. Additionally, the agreement provides teachers on salary steps two years of step movement; and in year 2011-12 and 2012-13, it gives teachers at maximum step the highest possible wage increase within the parameters of the agreed upon total new money.”

The tentative agreement was overwhelming ratified by the teachers bargaining unit on October 22, according to the Newtown Federation of Teachers.

Also in the NFT press release, Robert Cerritelli, chief spokesperson for the group, said, “In these economic times, this tentative agreement is a fair settlement for both the teachers and the board. It is a result of a long difficult negotiating process in which both parties were committed to an open dialogue and a frank discussion on pertinent issues that affect both teachers’ careers and the quality of education for the students in the Newtown Public Schools. The leadership of both committees, Elaine McClure for the board, and Ron Chivinski for the Newtown teachers, should be commended for their guidance throughout the negotiating process and the final results.”