Public vote of contract delayed

Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee members will not publicly vote on the terms of the tentative agreement with the Ashburnham-Westminster Teachers' Association until their first meeting in April, at the earliest.

School Committee Chairman David Christianson said the delay is not because there are questions over the term of the agreement but instead because of a posting requirement before the teachers can hold their meeting.

The Committee wants the teachers, the larger of the two groups, to vote on the terms of the proposed contract before they do, because Christianson said if things fail it will fail there.

Last week, David LaRoche, the chair of the negotiations committee for the Teachers' Association, said he does not expect the Association's membership is going to have any problems with the proposals.

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.

The details of the contract will be publicly released after the school committee takes a final vote on the matter but before the formal contract is drawn up.

The two negotiating teams reached an agreement on Monday, March 10, and publicly released that information on March 12 when the School Committee agreed to the final terms.

The agreement comes after about 14 months on ongoing negotiations both with and without a mediator. 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 Massachusetts Teachers' Association representative. During March, the two groups met face-to-face after the MTA representatives changed.