Marblehead school board OKs 3-year teacher deal

MARBLEHEAD – Meeting in executive session for less than 15 minutes Wednesday morning, the School Committee voted to ratify a three-year teacher contract.Acting on legal advice, committee Vice Chairman Amy Drinker declined to say if the vote was unanimous, adding that the vote will be released with the minutes of the executive session.Also at the meeting were committee members Patricia Blackmer, Jonathan Lederman and Eurim Chun, Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac and Town Administrator Tony Sasso.School Committee Chairman Dick Nohelty, whose wife is a teacher, has not attended executive sessions where the contract was discussed.A three-page copy of the agreement, released by Dulac following the meeting, shows that teachers agreed to join the town’s health insurance plan on July 1. They will receive a 4 percent raise over the three-year contract period: a 1 percent raise on the last day of the current fiscal year – June 30 – and raises of 1.5 percent over the course of Fiscal 2011 and 1.5 percent over the course of Fiscal 2012. Those raises include 1 percent on the first day of school and .5 percent on the 91st day of the school year.Teachers voted to ratify the contract March 2. The ratifications are subject to funding approval by voters at the May 3 Town Meeting.The previous teacher contract expired in August. The School Committee and the Marblehead Education Association have been negotiating for 15 months.