Teachers Reach Agreement On New Contract With School Administration

The Nantucket Public Schools and the Nantucket Teachers’ Association have reached a deal on a new three-year contract. The contract increases teacher salaries by 3.5 percent this year, 3.75 percent next year—except the most-tenured teachers, who will receive a 4.75 percent bump—and 4 percent in the contract’s third and final year.

The deal, set to be ratified by the School Committee on Tuesday, was reached with little of the tension that characterized the last set of negotiations between the parties in 2023, which stretched until late August and eventually led to the administration and the union filing jointly for mediation with the state. This year, the contract will be official well ahead of its July 1st implementation date.

"Our negotiations went smoothly, and both sides are content with the outcome," Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett told the Current.

Notably, the new contract includes a formal acknowledgement of the ongoing legal dispute over the town of Nantucket’s failure to implement the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act after it was approved in the form of Article 37 by voters during the 2024 Annual Town Meeting. A pair of teachers sued the town over their refusal to implement the act, and that lawsuit is now pending before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

“The Parties recognize that the Town of Nantucket does not currently implement the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) coverage offered by the state,” the contract reads in part. “Should the Town of Nantucket commence implementation of PFML coverage at any time in the future for any reason, including but not limited to as the result of a final and binding decision in the litigation…the parties agree to reopen negotiations.”

The town’s latest round of contracts with other union personnel are not yet available, but the teachers’ union contract is roughly in line with what several other unions received in 2023, and below the 5 to 5.25 percent increase the teachers received at the time.

Among other changes, the contract ups the active curriculum development rate from $50 to $65 an hour, gives $200 increases to the longevity bonuses offered to teachers who remain in the district, bumps up the stipend received by employees pursuing further education, and creates a “labor management committee” to “study enrollment and class size within the Nantucket Public Schools.” It also increases allocated personal leave from three to four days, in addition to 14 days of sick leave, with a final day that can be used as either personal leave or sick leave.