School Committee approves new teacher contract

By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter

North Attleborough teachers secured expanded benefits, pay increases, and long-sought updates to equity policies after the School Committee voted Nov. 24, to ratify a new three-year contract.

The agreement passed with a 5-0-1 vote. School Committee Chair Tasha Buzzell and members Sarah Stone, Cari Orsi, Lyndsey Benharris and Colleen Endres voted in favor. Member Charlie Peters was not in attendance for the virtual meeting, and member Gideon Gaudette abstained, citing a potential conflict of interest due to having two family members employed by the school district.

Superintendent John Antonucci acknowledged that the negotiation process was “not necessarily easy” but credited both sides for maintaining professionalism throughout the months-long discussions. 

“I think it’s a great beginning,” said Buzzell. “A lot has to get figured out over time with competing priorities, and we’re hopeful to be partners in that process.”

North Attleborough Federation of Teachers (NAFT) members held their own ratification vote on Nov. 17, with 86% of teachers voting in favor of the agreement. Teachers had been working without a contract since Aug. 31, and organized two rallies this fall to build community support for a fair and equitable deal.

“I’m always going to wish it was 100%, but sometimes we have to make a decision based on the information we have to decide to pause and bring the contract to the membership for a vote,” said NAFT representative Bob Collins. “There’s a lot of new things in there that will help people be a good teacher and a good family member.”

One such improvement involves sick time policies. Teachers may now use up to 20 days of accumulated sick time for family leave – nearly triple the previous cap of seven days.

“If their children or immediate family members get sick, teachers can use their accrued sick time,” said Antonucci. “It’s earned time, so it’s a slight change, but it’s going to help families quite a bit.”

The contract also introduces a sick day buyback program. While no such option existed previously, teachers may now sell back up to 100 unused sick days, provided they have at least 84 accumulated. The district caps total accrued sick days at 184. 

“It’s a nice extra thank-you from the district,” said Collins.

Teachers will receive a 3% cost-of-living increase this year, followed by raises of 2.75% and 2.5% in the contract’s second and third years. Longevity payments — additional compensation for employees based on years of service — will also increase by $100 annually for each year of the contract.

Collins noted that while these increases help address salary concerns decades in the making, many veteran teachers remain far behind where they should be in terms of cost-of-living adjustments.

“I want to do everything I can to help them feel comfortable and be able to retire in the community one day,” said Collins. “We have teachers who have served for 35, 40 years – the economy in Massachusetts is just so expensive.”

Antonucci highlighted the creation of a new salary classification for athletic coaches and co-curricular advisors as one of the contract’s most meaningful additions. 

Historically, according to Collins, coaches of boys’ sports – such as football – have been paid “significantly better” than coaches of girls’ sports, including cheerleading. 

The new contract establishes a tiered system based on the length of a sport’s season – and other neutral criteria – to ensure consistent and equitable pay.

“It didn’t make sense why one head coach made one amount and another head coach made a different amount,” said Antonucci. “This has been a long time coming.”

Additional funds were also added to the salary pool, according to Antonucci, to ensure North Attleborough remains competitive with neighboring districts. 

“Overall, we were able to get our members a number of different aspects in 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.”