Canton School Leadership Announces Ratification of Union Agreement

CANTON February 17, 2023 — The Canton School Leadership Team, composed of school administrators and the Canton School Committee, is pleased to report that the 3-year contracts it negotiated with Canton Teachers Association Units A (Teachers) and E (Educational Support Professionals) have now been ratified.

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all parties, including our School Leadership Negotiations Team, the entire Canton School Committee, all of our involved school administrators and municipal leaders, and the Unit A and E CTA leaders for their efforts to reach and ratify fair contracts that will propel our District forward," said School Committee Chair Kristian Darigan Merenda.

“Today's ratification marks the end of a long negotiation process but the beginning of a new chapter for the Canton Public Schools,” said Superintendent Derek Folan. “We are pleased to have reached an agreement that provides mutually-beneficial contracts that center on educational excellence, rewards Canton’s educators for their dedication and hard work and is fiscally sustainable for the community.”

One of the many highlights in the 2022-2025 contracts is that Canton teachers will remain among the highest paid educators among comparable Department of Elementary and Secondary Education defined DART districts, as well as in the Hockomock League.

The new contract for Unit A lands within the sustainable range planned by the School Leadership Team and provides 8% in base raises over three years with an increase for the top step. In response to Unit A requests, Canton's most senior teachers will receive a 9.6% total increase over the contract period and Canton's most experienced teachers will earn up to $118,000 in year three of the contract.

In raising Unit E pay, the School Leadership Team had to strike an equitable balance offering a wage that will be competitive in comparable markets for our hourly Educational Support Professionals (ESPs), while ensuring that rates will be fair and not approach what Canton Teachers are paid as the demands of their positions are very different and require a four-year degree and licensure.

Consistent with the sustainable limits of the Canton Public Schools’ town and state allocated budget, Unit E ESPs will receive a minimum pay increase of approximately 22% over three years. Starting salaries will now be a minimum of $24.76 per hour. Those with five years of service by FY25 will earn $29.57 per hour. Salaries of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) tutors will now begin at $29.71 per hour and, with ten years of service, earn $38.18 per hour by FY2025. Senior Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTAs) and Speech-language pathology assistants (SLPAs) will begin at $39.27 and rise to $46.53 per hour by FY25 with ten years of service.

Another highlight of the contract is that Canton School Leadership was able to expand on the District’s pre-existing generous benefits package, and is now offering industry-leading benefits including 12 weeks of maternity and paternity leave for all new parents across both units without requiring medical documentation to expand beyond eight weeks, including Unit E members who otherwise do not work the requisite number of hours necessary to qualify under the Family Medical Leave Act.

Unit E will also receive increased paid time off for family illness, enhanced bereavement leave, paid religious and military leave and access to a sick bank, all of which Unit E members across the state do not typically receive and Canton Unit E members had not previously received. In bringing these added benefits forward, the School Leadership Team viewed the addition of these benefits as not only the right thing to do, but also a terrific investment in helping to retain talent and secure consistent support staff levels in our schools.

Finally, the Canton Public Schools Leadership Team was also able to successfully negotiate an important change to a two decades-old contract language provision and current practice bringing the use of personal days by Unit A closer into line with the industry standard. Specifically, the Team was able to end a provision added to the contract in 2008 that allowed for year-over-year “rolling” of personal days to be used as personal days in the future. Beginning in FY24, any unused personal days will be moved into an employee's accumulated sick time for use in times of illness. At no time, did Canton School Leadership explore the removal of our educators’ three personal days.

Additionally, the School Leadership Team was pleased that the CTA agreed to form a committee to review data on educator absenteeism and develop recommendations for improving attendance, as appropriate, to consider during future contract negotiations.

“This experience is drastically different from negotiations I have participated in previously, and has been much more public. Despite the challenge this presented, there are leaders on both sides of the table, who worked diligently to find common ground. Canton is a tight knit community, by listening to one another we were able to come together to find a resolution that benefits Canton students,” said School Committee Member Nichola Gallagher.

For more information, visit the Canton Negotiations Info Hub: https://www.cantonma.org/school-committee/2022-2023-contracting-information

For media inquiries, contact: Superintendent, Derek Folan at foland@cantonma.org

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