Cranston School Committee, Teachers Union, Agree to New Contract

The Cranston School Committee and Cranston Teacher’s Alliance, the teacher’s union, have agreed to a new three-year contract that brings to an end negotiations that had its share of acrimony with both sides blaming the other for stalled talks in June and the union filing a complaint with the state Labor Relations Board when the district negotiators reportedly threatened to outsource teachers assistants during talks.

On Friday, both sides were certainly on speaking terms when they issued joint statement in which Superintendent Judith Lundsten said the contract “represents months of hard work at the negotiating table and serves all constituencies well including Cranston taxpayers, parents, our teachers and especially our students.”

Lundsten said the School Committee also deserves credit for their hard work and “perseverance during the negotiations.”

Under the new contract, teachers will not get a raise this year but get 2 percent raises in the following two years.

The elementary schedule will be modified “to provide additional student instruction time” beginning in the 2015-16 school year; a revised teacher assessment system will “give administrators the ability to modify teacher assignments in certain circumstances” and a new medical insurance deductible of $250 for individuals and $500 for families will kick in in 2016.

“I am most pleased that we were able to agree to new elementary school schedule beginning in the 2015-2016 school year that provides additional instruction time and a reduction in administrative meetings for teachers. The new schedule is a great example of productive and practical collective bargaining,” said Lizbeth Larkin, Cranston Teachers’ Alliance president and a social studies teacher at Park View Middle School.

The union entered talks with demands for a 4 percent increase and believed they were in strong position since they had just conceded $5.1 million in 2011 during a particularly dire time in the school district’s financial history. Strapped to a consent order and operating under the barebones Basic Education Plan, the union endured more than 60 layoffs in 2010 alone.

“We were challenged by the inability of the School Committee to make up for the $5.1 million in concessions teachers agreed to in the last contract,” Larkin said. “Both sides were hamstrung by inadequate school resources caused by years of under-funding by the Cranston Mayor and City Council. Despite these obstacles, Cranston teachers were glad to find common ground with the School Committee and reach agreement on a contract.”

The School Committee labored in negotiations to secure the pay freeze and 2 percent raise in years two and three, but the contract still will increase personnel costs by $3.9 million, according to a fiscal impact statement accompanying the contract.

Of that amount, $2.6 million would be from the salary increase. $400,000 would come from increases in pension costs.

Teachers will also be compensated for common planning time meetings at the high school beginning next year, which will cost about $340,000.

The increases are offset by the new health insurance deductibles, which are estimated to save the district $350,000.

“There is a long history of successful labor management partnerships in the Cranston Public School system and this contract reflects that legacy. The contract is a practical compromise given the limited resources the school committee had at our disposal. We appreciate the efforts of the Cranston Teachers’ Alliance to forge a compromise that satisfied the needs of all parties,” said Andrea Iannazzi, chair of the Cranston School Committee.

The Cranston School Committee and the Cranston Teachers’ Alliance also reached agreement on two other contracts, one for Cranston’s 163 teacher assistants and 34 bus aides and another for the system’s 10 technical assistants. The contracts will now go before the Cranston City Council for approval, which is scheduled for October 27th.