Teachers in Jay have been working without a

contract since

September 2002.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

JAY – It looks as if the end could be near for a contract dispute that has cost taxpayers money, affected schoolchildren and lasted more than two years.

School Committee members are scheduled to act on a contract for teachers during a meeting that begins at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Middle School library.

Teachers have been working without a new contract since September 2002. But negotiations began a full year before that.

The negotiations, between the Jay Education Association and School Committee negotiators, have been through fact-finding.

The Jay teachers’ union was willing to accept the fact-finding panel’s decision that offered a compromise on each party’s requests. The three-year contract would have tripled teachers contributions to health insurance, a union representative said last year.

However, school negotiators said the contract proposal would be too expensive for taxpayers.

Negotiation talks began again last spring, but broke down. That resulted in association members resigning from committees and from leading extracurricular activities, and only working to the rule of their contract.

Students and teachers protested the lack of contract several times last year.

School Committee members are also expected to act on the education technicians’ contract, which expired in September.

[email protected]