Schools, Teachers' Union Agree on Three-Year Contract

The following is from the Arlington School Committee and Arlington Education Association.

School Committee chairwoman Kirsi Allison-Ampe and AEA Negotiations chairwoman and 1st Vice President Siobhan Foley jointly announce that the AEA and the School Committee have come to an agreement on a three-year contract that will begin Sept. 1, 2012. The two parties met over the course of three months with the shared goal of achieving an agreement before the close of the school year. The successful ratification vote by the AEA took place on Monday, June 18.

The agreement includes an overall increase of 2.5 percent with a restructuring of the salary table in the first year and 2 percent increases in the second and third years of the contract.

The two bodies also agreed to form two Joint Committees: one committee will negotiate the provisions of the new educator evaluation regulations for implementation in September 2013, and the other committee will review and analyze data on the workload, caseload, roles, and responsibilities of Special Educators and Related Service Providers.

Following a trend in many area towns, the new agreement will see the school year starting a bit earlier for both teachers and students. Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, the two teacher days prior to the opening of school for pupils will be the Wednesday and Thursday immediately prior to Labor Day. The first day of school for students will then move to the Tuesday after Labor Day (with the exception of Kindergarten). This will give the District more flexibility in meeting the state required number of school days in years with multiple snow days or other weather related closings.

This contract was made possible by the June 2011 tax override and the positive financial impact of the Town and School employees moving to the GIC for health insurance.  The entire school community expresses its appreciation for the contributions of the Town’s residents and employees; contributions which have enabled the schools to maintain current services and to begin restoring some essential positions that were cut in previous years.