Teachers call off picketing as contract nears approval.

Byline: Paula J. Owen

ASHBURNHAM - Teachers in the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District are backing off, putting down their picket signs and taking off their "Fair Contract Now" badges, with both sides finally reaching a tentative agreement on a contract.

"We made a lot of progress Monday night," David A. LaRoche, vice president of negotiations for the Ashburnham-Westminster Teachers' Association and the athletic director at Oakmont Regional High School, said yesterday. "It is close. The details are being ironed out tonight in executive session with the school committee."

Mr. LaRoche said a statement will be issued today regarding final negotiations.

Negotiations started in January 2007 and teachers have been working without a contract since July 1. Historically, contract agreements have gone smoothly, according to school officials.

To rally community support, teachers in the district wore badges and stood outside of schools in the district with signs. They also wore green shirts to work on Wednesdays, said Mr. LaRoche.

"We've backed off on any kind of actions," Mr. LaRoche said.

Both sides brought in help for negotiations. In June, the school committee brought in two state-appointed mediators, according to Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School Committee Chairman David M. Christianson Jr., after the Massachusetts Teachers Association appointed a union representative to aid in negotiations on behalf of the local union.

"The mediators were brought in because of specific issues dealing with the MTA representative," Mr. Christianson said. "The good news is over the last two meetings, we met with teachers face to face and things went extremely well."

Mr. Christianson said the mediators and MTA representative were not involved in the negotiations Monday night at Overlook Middle School. The talks started at 4 p.m. and continued after 11 p.m.

"We made excellent progress and I think the end is in sight," he said. "I think we will have a settlement in a week or two."

Officials said they cannot comment on details of the contract or talk about which issues caused negotiations to drag on for 14 months. However, Mr. Christianson said "finances and history" played a part.

Budget shortfalls totaled $1.2 million last year, requiring the layoff of 15 teachers and the loss of 32 positions, and there is an anticipated $900,000 shortfall in the coming budget cycle. The superintendent and school committee are looking at asking voters to pass a Proposition 2-1/2 tax cap override to close the gap.

"It is history and financial constraints," Mr. Christianson said. "But we cannot place the balanced budget issue on the backs of one group or another. Our issue is affordability and we try to do as much as we possibly can for teachers in the realms of what we can do."

Mr. Christianson said the stop to picketing was another benefit of nearing a resolution.

"It is confusing for the kids," he said. "As an adult I understand it as part of the process and part of their approach to labor relations, but it is not something I would participate in."

"We just want to get a good contract in place, get this one behind us and move forward," he said. "We have a great bunch of teachers that shows in the results in the classrooms."