GRAY – The SAD 15 school board and Gray-New Gloucester teachers last week settled a contract dispute that had festered for more than 11 months.
On Feb. 2, the contract was signed by Dr. Alan Rich, the board’s chair, and Michelle Adler, chair of the Gray-New Gloucester Teachers’ Association.
Adler said on Sunday by phone, “Last Monday, members overwhelmingly voted to ratify the contract. Teachers were very pleased we were able to reach an agreement and avoid fact-finding in the continuation of a protracted contract dispute.”
The vote by teachers was 65 to 12, Adler said. The school board approved the contract by a vote of 9-0-1 last Wednesday. No school board member voted against the contract; Peter Pinkerton abstained for personal reasons.
The teachers union represents 167 teachers including librarians and nurses working for SAD 15’s roughly 2,000 students. “Every teacher has a 4 percent increase in salary when compared to last year,” Adler said. And the new contract spells out clearly a parenting leave under the family medical leave provisions.
Vice-chairman of the school board James Hutchinson said by phone, “This resolved a very good deal for both of us, the teachers and the board. It moved us forward. We made sure teachers had planning time and sufficient time to respond to (state) Learning Results mandates.”
The teacher salary scale, from step 0 to step 16, is calculated in three groups: bachelor’s scale, master’s scale and master’s-plus-30-credits scale.
The bachelor’s scale range moves from $27,456 at step zero to $46,704 at step 16. The master’s scale begins at step zero with $29,779 and ends at $49,964 at step 16. The masters-plus-30 schedule begins at $30,413 and ends at $51,274 at step 16.
All teachers are eligible to receive health insurance in which the district pays 78 percent of the premium cost of a standard or choice-plus plan and the teacher pays 22 percent of premium cost. And the district will pay $375 toward person/family dental expenses each year for full-time staff.
The work year is a total of 182 days, which includes 175 student contact days, five teacher-workshop days and one teacher-workshop day at the end of the first semester.
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