Opinion/Letter: Vote yes on the Hampton teachers’ contract
Portsmouth Herald
Open letter to Hampton residents,
On March 9th, we ask you to support the teachers’ contract by voting yes on Article 2 of the School District ballot. This agreement was bargained in good faith, and was unanimously approved by the School Board and nearly unanimously by the Municipal Budget Committee.
The teachers of Hampton Academy, Marston School and Centre School have been working for a year without a contract. Despite this, and while navigating a global pandemic, teachers have never wavered in their commitment to your children and our schools. Schools have been open with children in classrooms four days a week since September while many districts across New Hampshire have been shuttered since last March. Like all negotiations, the proposed contract balances the needs of the teachers and the taxpayers. The result is a fiscally responsible one-year agreement. All teachers will receive credit for their year of teaching experience and be moved one step. Some steps receive approximately 3.75% increase, while others receive a 3.2% increase, but it’s either-or. No teacher would have these two amounts added together. It is vital that Article 2 pass.