SCHOOL BOARD ENCOURAGES PUBLIC TO APPROVE NEW TEACHER CONTRACT

The Timberlane Regional School Board is asking the public to approve School District Warrant Article 5, which appropriates funds to cover the costs of a new collective bargaining agreement with the Timberlane Teachers Association (TTA).

Negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement began in September 2018.   A Board subcommittee consisting of Sarah Machemer, Dr. Kimberly Farah, Brian Boyle, District administrators and the District’s legal counsel held multiple meetings with the TTA bargaining team and their union representative.  A tentative agreement was reached which was unanimously approved by the Board subcommittee members and ratified by the teachers’ union.  The full Board approved the tentative agreement on December 20, 2018.

Personnel Committee Chair Sarah Machemer said that “our goal in these negotiations was to be fair to our teachers and focus on the educational needs of our students by improving our ability to retain and attract top teaching talent to the district.  We were also mindful of the impact of a new agreement on the taxpayers.  Overall, we believe that we have reached an agreement that meets these objectives.  The Board negotiating team members and the entire Board encourage the public to support this agreement.”

Voting on the School District warrant will be held on March 12th at District polling locations in Atkinson, Danville, Plaistow and Sandown.

Click here to view the tentative agreement in full. The document will be finalized upon a favorable March vote, therefore there may be some modification to the posted text.