By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
Princeton Regional School Board members ratified a three-year contract for the school district’s teachers at their school board meeting Tuesday.
Under the contract, which will be effective July 1, teachers’ salaries would increase by 4.6 percent for the next two school years and by 4.5 percent for the third year. Prior to the contract being unanimously passed by the school board, it was approved by the Princeton Regional Education Association — the teacher’s union for the school district.
During Tuesday’s meeting, members of both the PREA and the school board expressed satisfaction with the contract.
”If I were to characterize it (the discussions on the contract between the PREA and the school board) in one way, it would be that we listened to one another,” said School Board President Alan Hegedus, during the meeting.
He said “the sensitive period of time in our economy” was taken into account in drafting the contract.
”We believe as well that a fair and helpful contract was reached in a truly positive way,” said Monica Sislak, a co-president of the PREA who was part of the PREA’s negotiating team for the contract.
In an interview following the meeting the Princeton High School math teacher said salary increases and health benefits were the biggest issues discussed between the two parties.
”We were able to successfully come to an agreement on both issues,” Ms. Sislak said.
She added that the contract provides teachers with a fair salary increase and maintains their benefits.
The contract was negotiated by a team of three school board members and three school district administrators and a team of seven school district teachers and a New Jersey Education Association representative over a three-month period, with meetings between the two teams occurring every two weeks, said Mr. Hegedus, who was involved in the negotiations.
He called the contract “fair and worthwhile,” adding that the wage increases will be offset by increased co-pays added to teachers’ contributions to their health insurance plans.
