Hollister
– A tentative contract agreement between the Hollister School
District and its teachers will go before district trustees tonight
for final approval.
Hollister – A tentative contract agreement between the Hollister School District and its teachers will go before district trustees tonight for final approval.
The two-year agreement, which has already been ratified by the Hollister Elementary School Teachers’ Association, calls for a 4.9 percent salary increase for teachers and two additional paid days for teacher development.
Teachers’ association President Jan Grist said she was pleased with how negotiations went and also by the terms of the agreement.
“Both sides had a give and a take, but that’s really what negotiations are all about,” she said. “I really have to give credit to both negotiation teams that they really worked hard for the students of Hollister, the teachers of Hollister and the school district of Hollister.”
School board members and administrators declined to comment on the agreement before tonight’s ratification vote, but Superintendent Ron Crates echoed Grist’s statement about the negotiations being professional and positive.
The last round of negotiations didn’t go quite as smoothly. The existing contract, which will expire on June 30, was under negotiation from 2002 until 2006.
The new contract, which will expire on June 30, 2008, will give entry level teachers a pay increase of almost $2,500 a year. Under the old contract, entry level teachers were paid $40,736 for 184 work days. The new contract would increase starting pay to $43,202 for 186 work days.
The Hollister Elementary School Teachers’ Association ratified the contract on March 23, by a vote of 285 to 6.
Alice Joy covers education and health for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
