Overwhelmingly, Teachers Embrace New Contract

Of the every-year closeness at Culver High, David Mielke, the president of the Teachers Union, said today:

“Those teachers are independent and very opinionated.”

Once the counting was completed in her classroom at Linwood Howe School, second-grade teacher Natalie Gualtieri said with a large smile, “I anticipated that it would pass.”

Veteran of a Decade

Ms. Gualtieri is in her 10th year at Lin Howe and her first year as an apprentice on the Union negotiating team. She said one of the main reasons she voted affirmatively was that the salary schedule was stabilized for the first time.

“In the past,” she said, “it has been messed up, not at all orderly. The schedule is a grid that needed to be changed. Some teachers received only a dollar a year in their step-increase.

Glitch-Fixing

“We had to fix that so people would be receiving a more reasonable increase, so that the increases would be more standard, more fair.

“This was the year that we fixed the glitch. We never really have sat down to change this before. It just came to a time where we had to address it.

“Instead of everyone getting an across-the-board raise, this time the increases are based on experience and the number of years teachers have been in the School District.”

Crediting the Super

Mr. Mielke said earlier this week that the arrival of a new Superintendent 2 months ago, Dr. Myrna Rivera Cote, may have distinguished these talks from those of previous years that dragged on until the end of the school term. “She did all the right things,” he said.

Ms. Gualtieri said that a positive tone was established at the outset of negotiations. Patty Jaffee, the lead member of the District’s bargaining team, said sunnily, “Maybe we can get this done by November.”

Sunshine Was in the Air

That target was missed. But an upbeat mood and environment were firmly put in place.

Probably the happiest people today are members of the Teachers Union bargaining team. Mr. Mielke led a group that included Amy Maldonado, Claudette DuBois, Gary Katayama, plus the state union representative, Kevin Cronin, and the two apprentices, Blake Silvers and Ms. Gualtieri.

The Vote Breakdown

Here is the voting tally, by site, with the “yes” vote listed first:

Lin Howe, 20 to 5

Adult School, 5 to 0