School Committee, Teachers Reach 3-Year Agreement

The voted unanimously this morning, Friday, June 17, to accept a three-year agreement with the Belmont Education Association, the union representing Belmont teachers. 

The School Committee vote, held in the School Administration Building in the Town Hall complex, came a day after the BEA membership voted overwhelmingly Thursday, June 16, to agree to a collective bargaining agreement that runs with the School Committee until June 30, 2014.

"It's remarkable to have in a community such as Belmont an agreement that came about in a truly collaborative and innovative way and not imposed," said Laurie Graham, School Committee chairwoman.

The agreement will cut the scheduled pay increases for teachers in half in the first year of the contract covering the 2011-12 school year, and cuts those expected increases by a quarter in the second year. Teachers can expect full increases in the third year. 

In addition, the union foregoes a cost-of-living increase in the first year while receiving a one percent COLA increase half-way and three-quarters of the way through the second and third year. 

The savings from this contract, which early estimates comes to around $330,000, will allow the School Department to rescind all layoff notices sent out in April, according to Graham.

The agreement will also allow the High School to offer the same number of science courses as in the 2010-11 school year with all science teachers may be assigned to teach five classes.

An updated version of this article will be uploaded this afternoon.