Board, SACTA reach agreement

The South Adams teachers and school board have come to a contract agreement.
South Adams School Board approved its master teacher contract, which includes about $1,200 per teacher in performance-based raises, at a special meeting Wednesday.
South Adams Classroom Teachers Association voted in favor of the agreement on Tuesday.
The new agreement calls for a base salary increase of $800, to be paid in November, for all qualifying teachers — those who are rated effective or highly effective. Those teachers will also be eligible for a stipend of about $405 in March.
The increase, which averages 2.6 percent per teacher, is up slightly from last year when the pool for raises averaged $1,190.
“I want to thank everybody who had a part of helping to serve on that on both sides, teachers and board,” said school board president Arlene Amstutz. “We’re very thankful that we can ratify this here this evening.”
Board members John Mann, Ray Gill, Julie Mansfield, Landon Patterson, John Buckingham and Amstutz approved the contract on a 6-0 vote with Amy Orr absent.
Negotiations on the contract began in August. Had an agreement not been reached by Sept. 30, there would have been an impasse and a mediator would have been assigned.