DIXFIELD — The Western Foothills Regional School Unit 10 board unanimously approved a three-year contract for the district’s 324 teachers following a closed session Monday night.

That action will make the salary schedule and benefit package equal for all teachers in the Dirigo, Mountain Valley and Buckfield/Nezinscot regions by Aug. 31, 2013, said Superintendent Tom Ward.

“This will make future negotiations more streamlined now that everyone is under one contract,” said Ward.

He said the goal since the three former school districts merged last year into one was to devise contracts where no one would have a net loss.

“Everyone won and lost. There was a lot of compromising,” he said.

Some teachers received upgrades in salaries and slight losses in benefits, while others gained benefits and lost a little in salaries. For example, he said, the benefits for the Buckfield/Nezinscot and Dirigo areas were greater than those in the Mountain Valley region, but teachers in the Mountain Valley region had higher salaries.

“This contract does it slowly,” he said of the equality of benefits and salaries during the three-year period.

The Western Foothills Teachers Association signed the contract last week.

The average salary increase over the three-year period will be 3 percent for each year, with some receiving 1 percent and others receiving 5 percent.

As an example, he said teachers with more years of experience in the Mountain Valley region received larger salaries than their counterparts in the Dirigo and Buckfield/Nezinscot regions, while those with fewer years of experience in the Dirigo and Buckfield/Nezinscot regions had larger salaries than their counterparts in the Mountain Valley region. At the end of three years, all teachers in all three regions will be on the same salary schedule.

Now with the teacher contract settled, the RSU 10 board will begin work on bringing the support staff, such as bus drivers, custodians, educational technicians, nutrition workers, central office staff and administrators together on equal steps.

Those contracts also expired on Aug. 31. The new contracts will also be for three years.

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