School Board Approves Contract With Administrators

The Ocean City Board of Education on Wednesday (May 23) approved a three-year agreement with school district administrators that gives them average annual salary increases of 1.865 percent.

The "memorandum of understanding," which was ratified by the Ocean City Administrators' Association (OCAA) on May 9, covers the period from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2015.

Ocean City teachers (the Ocean City Education Association) have been working without a contract since July 1, 2011, and are still in negotiations on a new contract.

The agreement with school administrators (see attached PDF for full detail) includes the following changes:

• A freeze on "longevity" salary increases for existing employees and elimination of longevity for new hires.
• Limitations on payment of unused sick leave at retirement for existing administrators and elimination of all payments for unused sick time for new hires.
• New contract language that clarifies policies on extended leaves of absence, fitness for duty exams, sick leave entitlement, use of critical illness days, vacation carryover and termination of non-tenured administrators for performance-based issues.
• Elimination of board-paid pension contributions for new hires and elimination of sabbatical leave.

The Board of Education unanimously approved the new agreement.