Teachers, school board reach contract agreement
Teachers, school board reach contract agreement
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
New Town Education Association negotiators and the New Town School Board reached a contract agreement after more than four months of bargaining, a fact finding commission hearing and a 2 1/2-hour meeting Wednesday.
When the smoke cleared, NTEA agreed to a base salary of $30,700, a guaranteed annual increase of $850 and an additional teacher’s salary compensation of $2,000. The NTEA had been requesting a $2,500 annual increase and a cost of living increase.
“It is with great disappointment that we, the NTEA negotiating team, accept the board’s final proposal as recommended by the North Dakota Fact Finding Commission,” said a reluctant lead NTEA negotiator Karen Hartman. “We are committed to working diligently toward a new salary schedule, one that will reflect a fair and appropriate salary for all teachers. It is our wish to at least be able to leave today with the salary committee agreement signed by the board and the NTEA negotiations team.
The board and the NTEA team did sign a salary schedule committee form, but not before one sentence was struck from the original document.
Essentially, the document states there will be a one-year analysis of salary schedule outside of the negotiations process. The goal is to develop a salary schedule that satisfies the needs of the New Town education community. The committee will have board members, teachers and an adminstrator involved.
