UPDATE: Teachers pass contract in Wiscasset

Wed, 08/09/2017 - 11:45am

Teachers passed their new contract Wednesday,  Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot said. In an email late Wednesday morning, Wilmot told the Wiscasset Newspaper she had received word from teachers association president Tricia Bursey that the membership’s vote in favor of approval was 21-0.

Original post: The Wiscasset School Committee came out of an executive session Tuesday night and authorized Chairman Michael Dunn to sign the next contract with the department’s teachers.

In an interview after the committee’s monthly meeting in the Wiscasset Middle High School library, Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot said the teachers union was planning a membership vote on the proposed pact Wednesday, Aug. 8.

If ratified, the new pact would take effect Sept. 1, Wilmot said. Until Dunn and the union’s president Tricia Bursey sign it, all other details of the contract remain confidential, Wilmot said. So she could not say what the proposed deal holds for pay, insurance or other items for the association’s approximately 68 members, she said.

She and Dunn called it a strong contract, with Dunn adding, “I think both sides of the table are going to be happy with it. It was a collaborative work.” Negotiations have been under way for months, Dunn and Wilmot said.

Bursey did not immediately return an email request for comment.

The teachers’ current pact runs out Aug. 31, Wilmot said.