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ASD and its teachers sign 4-year pact Amityville teachers have reached an agreement with the school district on a new contract that calls for an 11.5 percent increase over four years. Their contract expired June, 2005 and runs through June 30, 2009. Under the newly signed pact, teachers received a two-percent increase in 2006 and 2007; a 3.25 percent increase in 2008 and in 2009. The contract brings the annual salary of entry level teachers in the district to $41,409 after the first two years. Salaries for athletic coaches and extra-curricular club advisors are increased by the same percentages under the agreement. "We were very cognizant of the fact that this community has supported education in the district and we tried to balance our own families' economic needs with those of the taxpayers," said Ron Weber, president of the Amityville Teachers Association (ATA) in discussing the two percent increase in the first two years of the contract, which is lower than the cost of living. "Certainly those factors contributed to our decision to accept the offer." The percentage increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2005 through the third quarter of 2006 is 3.3 percent, according to the social security administration. The ATA and the school district had been at odds in the past year over the school calendar. The district had set up a 2006/07 school calendar with 190 days of instruction, which was three days longer than in previous years. When the district was finalizing its school calendar for this year, the ATA asked, and the board agreed, to put that issue on hold, since it was the subject of the negotiations, until the contract was finalized. "We are pleased that we have a contract in place and now everyone can focus on improvming student schievement," said Dr. Brian De Sorbe, superintendent of Schools. "It (the contract) provides a level of continuity that teachers and staff and everyone in the district needs." As part of the final settlement, the district agreed to go back to the 187-day school calendar year, eliminating February 21, 22 and 23, with the stipulation that in the event the New York State Commissioner of Education mandates a longer school year, the teachers will not receive any additional compensation for compliance. "We think that was a fair settlement of the issue," said Weber, who added that Amityville already has a longer school year than most districts in the state. No changes in benefits for the 265-270-member unit are included in the new agreement. Currently, teachers new to the district pay 20 percent of the cost of health care insurance for the first three years. After that, they pay 10 percent. "That change alone, which was agreed upon in previous contracts, has saved the district $700,000 to date," said Weber. School Board Trustee Juliet Thompson-Jordan described the negotiations as difficult, long, and thought provoking, but said that in the end she believes the school board as a whole fulfilled its fiduciary responsibility by reaching a fair and equitable agreement with the teachers. "All of us on the board are aware of the good job that the teachers are doing and that student achievement increases with more time on task but we also had to consider that the district is not a bottomless pit and that the whole community is strapped," she said. "This was a very well thought-out process and the board took everything into account."
Diane Egglinger, school board president, did not return phone calls soliciting her comment on the agreement.
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