West Deptford Teachers, School District Reach Tentative Deal

The negotiations are finally over: 387 days after the old contract expired, the West Deptford Education Association and the school board announced Friday they'd reached a memorandum of agreement on a new deal, which will now head to the union for ratification before final approval by the school board.

The agreement means the two sides avoid the further time and expense of super-conciliation, the top level of state-mediated negotiations, and brings to a close the longest period have ever gone without a contract.

The terms of the memorandum prevent the two sides from talking about the specifics of the deal until it's ratified and approved.

“It's good news–it's positive we've come to a conclusion,” said Christopher Strano, the school board's president.

WDEA president Lauren Schmidt sent out the news via email Friday, letting her membership know that the memorandum was in place.

Strano said the two sides kept things professional throughout the process, which has stretched over more than a year and involved many hours of negotiations.

“Everybody on both negotiating teams worked hard on this,” he said. “Both sides did they best they can.”

WDEA past president Denise Verenault, whose tenure as union head was nearly all about hammering out a new contract, was glad to finally have the end in sight.

“I am thrilled,” she said in an email.

The agreement has to be presented to the entire WDEA membership now; after they ratify it, the deal would go to the school board for a full vote on final approval. Strano said he's hopeful that can happen at either one of the next two school board meetings, either Aug. 8 or Aug. 22.

Negotiations on the new contract have been in the works for even longer than the 13 months since the old deal expired. Talks initially began in April 2010, before heading to state mediation a few months later, on July 28.

The two sides met with a state-appointed fact-finder in December 2010 and , before .