Teachers, Committee reach agreement
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee and Teachers' Association have reached a tentative agreement, which should become public after the members of both have ratified it in the upcoming weeks and over a year's worth of negotiations between the two sides.

"We have reached an agreement," School Committee Chairman David Christianson said. "We are sending the terms to our members."

As first reported at thecommunityjournal. com on Wednesday, both parties agreed to release the information that a tentative agreement had been reached after a negotiation meeting Monday night and a 30- to 40-minute executive session by the School Committee on Tuesday night.

"We can't talk about the details of it," Christianson said. "It was an amicably ending. … We're not being mysterious, we are just following the process."

David LaRoche, the chair of the negotiations committee for the Teachers' Association, said "the most important thing is we have come to an agreement."

"The main issue we have been working on for months is insurance," he said. "That was the most difficult part of the negotiations."

Christianson said if all goes well with the association's meeting, he expects the School Committee to be able to take a public vote on the deal at the committee's March 25 meeting. He said at that point the details will be released.

"We will probably share the details with town officials, at least confidentially, in the next week," he said.

LaRoche said the members of the Association will be asked to ratify the tentative agreement in a membership meeting in the next week or so. The meeting will occur seven days after it is posted based on the Association's rules.

LaRoche said he does not expect the Association's membership is going to have any problems with the proposals.

"The lines of communication have been open and very clear," he said. "I believe our membership will be pleased with the results."

LaRoche credited the change in dynamics to the face-to-face meeting that began happening after the Association got a new representative from the Massachusetts Teachers' Association.

"That was a key turning point," LaRoche said. "The format changed and everything seemed to change."

Lou Cornacchioli, the previous MTA representative "decided it was in very body's best interest" to step aside, LaRoche said.

"I give him credit for stepping down. The process was being held up because the school committee didn't want to deal with him."

After two face-to-face meetings on March 3 and March 10, terms were agreed to, and ended 14 months of negotiations. The frustration level on both sides seemed to reach a peak in January and February when teachers began protesting for "a fair contract."

The two parties were meeting with a mediator after School Committee members expressed frustration at the treatment they were receiving by the association's MTA representative.

"We had two very productive face-toface meetings and we were able to bring everything to conclusion," Christianson said.

Once the parties agree to the terms, a Memorandum of Understanding will be drawn up and signed. This agreement will allow the terms of the contract to be enacted while the formal document is drawn up and reviewed by legal counsels.

During the limited public discussion of the terms of the negotiations, the School Committee said the deal must be financially feasible for the district.

"We achieved our goal in the tentative agreement," Christianson said.

By tradition, the membership of the AWTA traditionally takes the first vote on the terms of the agreement. Christianson said that he isn't sure if it is because they have more members or if it is because their negotiations team has a larger leeway in their negotiations.

Christianson said the School Committee's negotiations team worked under the rules set by the entire committee.

"Ours were very tight, very strict orders," he said. "Based on our discussion we have an agreement," Christianson said of the committee's response.