04/13/2011

School Board ratifies three-year contract with teachers union

The School Board has ratified a contract with the teachers union that calls for a base salary increase of 0.5 percent for the coming year.

Increases for the next two years will be tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), and range between 0.5 percent and 2 percent for 2013; and 0.5 percent and 3 percent for 2014.

The board unanimously approved the contract at their meeting April 12, 2011.

School Board Finance Committee chair Kathy Ray said that athletic and co-curricular stipend positions will see no increase in 2012, and a 50-cents-an-hour increase in 2013 and again in 2014.

Health insurance alternatives

"The other major piece to this contract is that both sides have agreed to a commitment to look at different health insurance alternatives, and that will roll out as things continue to progress in Augusta and the Legislature," Ray said.

The Legislature is considering legislation that would open school employee health coverage to competitive bidding. One of those bills, sponsored by Cape Elizabeth Rep. Cynthia Dill, would require school boards to purchase health insurance through competitive bidding. (LD 844)

'Hard on issues, soft on people'

Interim Superintendent Ken Murphy, speaking as the "new guy" observing Cape Elizabeth contract negotiations for the first time, said the new contract "speaks highly of the culture that exists in this school system."

"When I say you were very hard on issues, you were, or you wouldn't have the agreement that we have, but you were also soft on people who are responsible for carrying out the mission and the vision of the district," Murphy told members of the board. "And I really appreciate the way that the teachers conducted themselves in the negotiations as well because they were the same," he said.

Pond Cove School Teacher Leader Linda Alfiero, president of the Cape Elizabeth Education Association, said membership approved the contract last week and that support was unanimous.

Officials have attributed the contract as a key to the School Department's budget proposal for 2011-2012. The Town Council will hold a public hearing on the school budget, as well as proposals for Town, county and Community Services, Monday, April 25, 2011, 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall chamber.