The contract amounts to a

4.2 percent pay increase.
By Duane Hayes
Special to the Sun Journal

BETHEL – The Telstar Educators Association and the SAD 44 School Board wound up contract negotiations last week and agreed on a three-year contract amounting to an increase of 4.2 percent. The contract includes teachers, educational technology specialists, secretaries and coaches.

According to Superintendent David Murphy, the increase for teachers, including annual step increases, equals $142,047 for the first year, $136,228 the second year and $141,219 the final year. For education technicians and secretaries, it equals about $17,126 in each of the three years, and for coaches a three-year total of $3,500.

“The agreement is a slight increase overall of 4.2 percent,” said Murphy, “which we all feel is an acceptable increase that can be worked into our budget without having a huge impact.”

He added, “This is a good contract. Both sides worked very hard and cooperatively on it. They are to be praised for their dedication and many hours of negotiations in reaching the agreement.”

The increases will now be worked into the fiscal year 2004-05 budget, which will go before the district’s voters at referendum sometime in June. The actual date will be determined and announced after the total budget is completed and approved by the board.

SAD 44 is made up of the towns of Andover, Bethel, Greenwood, Newry and Woodstock.

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