EG Teacher Contract Ratified

EAST GREENWICH, RI—The battle between the teachers union and the school committee is over, according to Carolyn Mark, of the East Greenwich School Committee. The two sides have hammered out a three-year pact, which is retroactive from Sept. 1, 2016 and runs through Aug. 31, 2019. A copy will be available on the school district website.

The contract calls for no raise in its first year, which is all but over. But, the school committee said, top-step teachers will receive a healthcare buyback, which is a one-time payment of $121,000. That money, which will be paid this June, will not be added to the base wages.

"Teachers below top step will still be receiving their statutorily provided step
increases," the committee said. "In years two and three of the contract, all teachers will receive a 2 percent and 2.5 percent raise. The costs of the raises are supposed to be absorbed by scuttling the healthcare buyback and upcoming changes in the health care plan.

Per health care, teachers stay on the current plan through the remainder of the
calendar year, but will move to a Health Savings Account and High Deductible Plan starting in January 2018. The school district will contribute 50 percent of the
annual deductible. Employees will contribute the other half through pre-tax payroll deductions and will be responsible for a 20 percent share of the health care plan costs. But costs that exceed the deductible will be covered 100 percent.

On Class Size, the teachers and the school committee agreed to start a schedule committee. The goal is to reduce class size at Cole Middle School, and both sides will discuss and "formulate revised teacher and student schedules in time for the 2017-2018 school year," the school committee said.

"The schedule will continue to be based on a middle school model, but will involve teachers teaching five classes on most school days rather than four, with fewer students in each class and eliminating the need to pay for class overages."

The two sides also agreed to add 10 minutes to the school day at the elementary schools.

"The new contract aligns the length of the contractual school day across all six schools at six hours and forty-five minutes, adding ten minutes to the contractual school day for teachers at the elementary school level."

Finally, both sides agreed on an Advisory Study Commission "charged with making recommendations within six months of the ratification of the contract to revise and/or restructure the current advisory program at the middle and high school for the purpose of meeting" state requirements.