WESTBROOK — After working 10 months under an expired contract, the teachers and other staff members in the Westbrook Education Association will end the school year with an updated contract in place.

“From what I understand, it was almost a unanimous vote of the teachers and was a unanimous vote of the School Committee. I think that is a good indication both sides are happy with this,” committee Chairman Jim Violette said Monday just prior to officially signing the updated contract at central office.

Although the contract was approved overwhelmingly by both sides, it was still unsigned as of Tuesday afternoon. Jared Ruthman, a social studies teacher at the high school and president of the Westbrook Education Association, told the American Journal he was refraining from comment until it is signed.

“It seems appropriate at this time to hold off on any statements until it is signed by all,” he wrote in an email to the paper.

Ruthman told the Press Herald last week, however, that “from our perspective, we’ve been able to negotiate a contract that begins to address some of the conditions that teachers face in the modern era. There’s a lot of dynamics in the classroom that put a lot of extra pressures on teachers, and they haven’t gotten the supports to meet the demands that are placed on them. These are state and national issues regarding education.”

Ruthman previously told the American Journal that in recent years more and more responsibility has been heaped on teachers, such as additional teaching requirements, proficiency-based mandates and technology, creating “the perfect storm.” Teachers nationwide feel “they have been devalued.”

The association’s goal was to negotiate an updated contract that took into account the additional workload. 

Negotiations on the new contract, which expired at the beginning of the school year, began in spring 2017. Last June, the two parties reached a tentative agreement about salary and benefits, but according to a June 15 letter to staff from Violette and Superintendent Peter Lancia, the WEA and school committee “disagreed over the appropriateness of certain terms and provisions within the contract.”

“The contention was around a lot of language they strongly felt should be in the contract and we strongly felt shouldn’t be part of the contract. It took the Maine Labor Relations Board to look at both sides and make a decision that favored the schools.”

Much of the disagreement with the language, Violette said was about work conditions, with the education association wanted language about class sizes and preparation time in the contract.

According to the Press Herald, “the association wanted to add language to the contract about teacher workload and scheduling. For example, two new sections would have spelled out the amount of preparation time afforded to teachers. One would have compensated teachers at a reduced rate for extra hours if their work days were extended. Another would have slightly increased pay for teachers with classes over a certain size – 15 students for kindergarten teachers and 18 students for teachers in other grades.”

The school committee, acting on advice of its attorney, stood firm that such language involved education policy and therefore could not be negotiated through the contract.

“The work conditions in Westbrook are excellent,” Violette said. “We have great staff. We have great teachers and we have great administrators. We have a good benefits package, but when you say working conditions, that is vague terminology. You can have 20 people interpret working conditions in 20 different ways and to tell you the truth that is what happened.”

As a part of the new contract, which runs through June 2020, teachers will receive a 1.5 percent retroactive salary increase for to 2017-18 school year, a 1.9 percent increase for the 2018-2019 school year and a 2 percent increase for the 2019-20 school year. This, Violette said, puts Westbrook in a good position to be competitive with other local school districts in terms of attracting teachers.

To a request the association made for the creation of a sick bank for employees who haven’t accrued enough time for a serious sickness or medical leave, the school committee countered with a proposal of a short-term disability policy, retroactive to December 2017, that, according to the June 15 letter, eases the stress teachers feel “in the event of extended illness, maternity leave or other medical reason.”

“Our goal was to give the teachers a good compensation package, which we feel we have done,” Violette said.

A number of investments in the approved 2018-19 school budget, including two STEM teachers at the elementary school, a new social worker at the high school and security improvements at the high school, addresses some of the concerns about preparatory time. The additional STEM teachers will provide weekly classes for students which will in turn give elementary teachers additional planning time and the extra social worker at the high school will relieve some of the burden on the existing social services department. 

This spring, many members of the WEA, clad in red, come together before school, at School Committee meetings and at Westbrook Together Days to bring attention to the fact they were working under an expired contract.

Those actions, Violette didn’t sway the School Committee one way or the other.

“They had a right to do that,” Violette said. “They were mad. They have a right to show their frustration as long as it didn’t interfere with their job functions. We didn’t have a problem with that. That didn’t move us in any direction.”

The issue, Violette said, was many of the group’s requests had budget implications.

“The School Committee and superintendent have to be conscience of the money being spent every year. What we have tried to do is make solid and sound financial decisions to try to improve our education system without breaking the backs of taxpayers,” Violette said. “I think we have accomplished that.”

With the teachers’ contract behind them, the School Committee will soon start contract negotiations with school administrators, whose contract expires at the end of next school year.

The contract for support staff, which includes educational technicians, bus drivers/bus aides, administrative assistants, cafeteria personnel and custodians/mechanics and maintenance workers, was approved in November and runs through June 30, 2020.

Michael Kelley can be reached at 781-3661 x 125 or [email protected] or on Twitter @mkelleynews