By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter
After nearly seven months of negotiations – and three months since their contract expired – the North Attleborough Federation of Teachers [NAFT], School Committee and school administrators have come to a tentative agreement on a new contract.
Talks moved to mediation on Oct. 21, and the tentative agreement was finalized Friday, Nov. 6, one day after the second mediation session. Ratification votes are scheduled for Nov. 17, when teachers and union members will decide whether to approve the contract before it heads to the School Committee for a final vote in December.
“I think that overall, people are happy that we’ve made some pretty significant progress towards beginning to balance out some of the inequities between this district and other local districts,” said NAFT representative Bob Collins.
According to Collins, one of the major gains in the agreement is a 3% cost-of-living increase for this year, applied uniformly across all step levels and years of service. Collins added that another improvement in paid family sick time was also agreed to, which would increase from seven days to 20.
“We made a lot of progress – our School Committee partners came through and said we need to accelerate the timeline to increase step pay,” said Collins. “We’re at least going to hold steady on cost-of-living for the first time in quite a while. Inflation hasn’t been anyone’s friend, so this year to not fall behind is a win for us.”
North Attleborough teachers held two rallies since their contract expired on Aug. 31 – first in September and again on Nov. 4 ahead of a School Committee meeting. During that meeting dozens teachers poured into the room and stood in the hallway to listen to coworkers share personal stories before the committee about the financial strain of living on a teacher’s salary.
Katie Gundlach, a fifth-grade teacher at Amvet Elementary, told the committee she took a $7,000 pay cut to work in North Attleborough. After two years, still earns less than she did in her previous district. Anna Pless, a 26-year-old teacher and band director at North Attleborough Middle School, works a second job as a baker during the school year and three jobs in the summer to make ends meet.
Debra Woodcock, a single mother of two in her 11th year at Martin Elementary School, echoed those concerns.
“Today, I struggle to make ends meet,” said Woodcock. “Salaries lagging 10-15% behind the national average means no more family trips, scrimping to get by, only buying the absolute necessaries.”
Collins said the teachers’ willingness to publicly share their experiences helped move negotiations forward and underscored the urgency of improving pay and benefits.
“I think what it did was remind people that we have real people who have significant challenges,” he said.
Collins also highlighted another long-standing issue addressed in the new contract: equitable pay for high school coaches. According to Collins, coaches of boys’ sports – such as football – have historically been paid “significantly better” than coaches of girls’ sports, including cheerleading.
Under the new agreement, stipends for coaches will be based on neutral criteria, such as the number of meetings, practices, and games, as well as the level of involvement required.
“Overall, we were able to get our members a number of different aspects of the contract to make it more equitable,” said Collins. “We do have plans to continue working with the School Committee and our Town Council partners to look at long-term ways the schools are funded so we can be competitive in how we treat our quality teachers and support personnel – so we can give our students the best possible experience.”