Cherry Hill School Board, Education Association Reach Tenative Deal

Following months of negotiations and a nine-hour session that began Tuesday evening, the Cherry Hill Education Association (CHEA), which represents close to 1,100 district employees, and the school board reached a tentative agreement on a new, two-year contract Wednesday.

Terms of the deal were not released, pending ratification by CHEA's membership—teachers, school secretaries and support personnel—and approval by the school board, and there wasn't an immediate timetable for that process.

CHEA members gathered in force outside the Malberg Administration Building around 6 p.m. Tuesday evening before the negotiation session, which ultimately ended with the tentative new contract.

The previous contract, ratified in 2010, expired on June 30 of this year, and included annual raises of 2.97 percent on average, but also required teachers to pay 1.5 percent of their salaries toward health insurance—a total of roughly $1 million per year from all employees covered under the deal—and made a major change in the district’s health insurance carrier and benefit levels.

That contract also froze payments and stipends for extracurricular activities, sports and professional services such as curriculum writing and homebound instruction.

The school board earlier this year approved a new, three-year deal with the Cherry Hill Association of School Administrators, which represents 43 principals, assistant principals and supervisors. That deal called for annual raises of 1.99 percent, 2.01 percent, and 2.02 percent.