Teachers, district resume negotiations

KINGSTON -- Frustrated with the pace of their contract negotiations, teachers have been picketing in front of Silver Lake Regional High School during the weeks leading up to winter vacation. They have worn buttons, distributed fliers, and held signs with slogans like, "New Building, Same Old Games," and "Our Children, Our Future, Contract Now."

Following a six-week impasse, the teachers union resumed talks with the regional School Committee Tuesday, with the help of an outside mediator. The next bargaining session is scheduled for Jan. 19.

Since negotiations soured in October, teachers have followed a "work-to-rule" schedule. They arrive in their classrooms at 7:15 a.m., promptly leave at 2:28 p.m., and refuse to take part in after-school activities that are unpaid.

Teachers have been working without a contract since the beginning of the school year, with the prior one expiring Aug. 31.

Since the last contract was ratified in 2002, much has changed in the Silver Lake Regional School District, which serves Halifax, Kingston, and Plympton. Hallways are less crowded, because the town of Pembroke withdrew from the district last year and opened its own high school.

Contract talks broke down in October, when school officials offered a deal that included a 6 percent pay raise over three years. The proposal was rejected by the Silver Lake Education Association, the union that represents 150 teachers and guidance counselors at the regional high school and middle school.

Pembroke's withdrawal whittled the Silver Lake staff from 235 to 135, and the teachers who remained had more seniority and higher salaries, said the regional School Committee's vice chairman, Thomas Cambria. According to the School Committee, the average salary of Silver Lake teachers was $58,788 last year and $61,796 this year.

The loss of Pembroke has left the Silver Lake district in a "difficult fiscal position," said Cambria.

The School Committee's proposal also called for high school teachers to teach an additional class every two days. A typical day at the high school consists of four classes, or blocks, that are 86 minutes long. Most teachers teach five out of eight blocks, or five classes every two days. School officials want them to teach three classes per day, by dropping one block of their lunchroom or study hall duty and spending those 86 minutes in the classroom.

This extra teaching time would keep class sizes down, help eliminate study halls, and allow more elective courses to be offered, said Cambria.

On Oct. 27, the teachers union asked the state for an outside mediator to help settle the contract, said Ronald C. Iovanna, president of the Silver Lake Education Association. During the first two-hour mediation session Tuesday night, both sides agreed to keep upcoming negotiations private.

Labor disputes have been common in the Silver Lake district.

"It's very common . . . to go to mediation" during contract negotiations, Iovanna said.

To reach agreement on the last contract, the two sides spent nine months negotiating.

"We're willing to do whatever it takes to get this contract settled," said Iovanna. "We just want to be respected and valued. Appreciate what we do, and we'll do the job."

Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com.