EF teachers heading back to school with new contract

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

The 2021-22 school year will start in the Elizabeth Forward School District with the assurance that there won’t be a teachers’ strike for at least five more years.

The teachers’ union and school board ratified a new agreement during the summer break.

The contract covering the 182 teachers expired June 30. Superintendent Dr. Todd Keruskin said there were no major changes in the agreement from past years.

“There were some small language changes,” he said. “There are 182 education days and 191 teacher days.”

Keruskin said the contract does not address the issue of remote learning, which isn’t expected to be utilized in the district this year.

“Everything is so fluid with remote learning, we’d rather do an MOU (memorandum of understanding) each year to meet what’s going on,” Keruskin explained.

He praised the teachers in the district for the way they adapted to remote learning last year.

Keruskin said the new contract calls for modest pay increases in each of the next five years, averaging 3.3%.

“There’s a salary schedule, so depending on where a teacher falls in the schedule the percentage may be different,” Keruskin said.

To read the rest of the story, please subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.