Approved: Three Year Teacher Contract with Increases

The School Committee voted Tuesday to approve a three year teacher contract that includes 2 percent increases each year.

"We're really appreciative of the consideration of the position we were in," said Katherine Hennessy in reference to a delay in the vote until the City Council approved $2.6 million in additional school funds.

Without that holdup, the contact could have been approved much earlier. The teachers approved the contract on Nov. 8 with 94 percent of those voting favoring the contract, according to a release from the Superintendent's office.

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The contract includes:

• A two percent increase in pay each year for two years.
• A new teacher evaluation system being phased in.
• Teacher retirement incentives will be capped as of Aug. 2015.
• There will be no sick leave buy-back option for new hires.
• Increased professional development hours will be required for professional development credits.
• A 30 minute student advisory period will be added to the high school teacher schedule.

The contract was voted through by every committee member except Mark Hediger.

He said the contract does not represent an effective use of the district's limited monetary resources towards providing each student with the opportunity to narrow the achievement gap in Marlborough.

One of his main points was the lack of automatic annual assessments for all city employees, saying that it was "unsustainable and approaches recklessness."

The contract will go into effect immediately, being backdated to cover the current fiscal year.