Wantagh Teachers Contract Officially Accepted

After months of , the Wantagh United Teachers (WUT) and the Wantagh School District have reached a final agreement for a contract that will run through June 2014.

The announcement was made during the board of education’s general meeting on Thursday at . The two parties had released that they reached a at the April meeting, but no specific details were given at that time. The district and WUT have been in negotiations since June 2010 when their .

“It was a collaborative effort between the teachers, administration and the board of education,” Superintendent Dr. Lydia Begley said. “Our board of education was very directly and actively involved in the settlement of it. We think that it is a settlement that is good for the students, good for the community and it is one that is not only good for today, but also good for tomorrow and the next couple of years when we are facing even more difficult circumstances as we build budgets."

Wantagh Board of Education president Jean Quinn said that the contract will be retroactively effective beginning on Jul. 1, 2010. She continued by saying that this agreement “represents our collaborative efforts to continue to provide quality education to all students while providing significant financial relief to the district and its taxpayers.”

The main focus on the contract agreement details was the salary raises expected through the duration of the settlement. For the current school year, a .75 percent increase is retroactively effective on Jul. 1, 2010, with another .75 percent increase for Feb. 1, 2011. The next school year (2011-2012) will feature another .75 percent increase, while the following (2012-2012) will see no rise in salary at 0 percent. Additionally, a 1 percent rise will happen on Jul. 1, 2013 for the 2013-2014 year and another .75 percent that will be in force on Feb. 1, 2014.

Quinn said that some of the other highlights include a salary freeze in “coaching and extracurricular salaries for the life of the contract.” Over the next few years, the teachers will also be increasingly contributing to their health insurance – eventually reaching 20 percent by the end of the agreement.

“In the last two years of the contract, the step increase is delayed until February, which offers additional savings to the district,” she added.

It was also announced that the district reached an agreement with the central office administrators and building administrators. According to Quinn, they will be taking no salary increase in the 2011 and 2012 school budget.

“These are important developments that are helping the district offer its lowest budget increase – 1.46 percent – in 11 years,” said Quinn. “On behalf of the entire Board of Education, I want to thank our teachers and administrators for working successfully with us on behalf of our students and taxpayers."

Teachers were gathered at the meeting to see the official passage of the new contract. Many taxpayers shared similar feelings with one another, specifically the sensitivity of the issue in an economically difficult period.

Wantagh resident Jerry Liguori said that he was very happy with the percentages on salary increases. “I think that is low and that is acceptable – the community can accept that,” he said.

“We believe these are the kinds of agreements that make Wantagh one of the best-valued districts on Long Island because they will help preserve our programs and staffing while continuing the districts position as one of the lowest per pupil expenditure districts in the region,” said Quinn.