This contract represents a certain bargaining strategy - Basically, the teachers at the bottom in our district, receive less-than-competitive salaries. The teachers at the top do better. This gets a "yes" from union negotiators, who are typically experienced teachers closer to retirement. I can't blame them .. .they want to retire comfortably. Higher salaries for them in their final years translate into better pensions.
That said, from the point of view of our system, if you believe that better salaries attract better applicants, you can see where choices to keep younger/new teachers' salaries low might lead to a situation where we cannot attract the best and the brightest. That is distinctly unfortunate in my opinion and a bad choice when you consider how very much money we spend in our schools.
Almost everyone on this list knows that our standardized test scores have plummented when compared to other districts in our DRG (Demographic Reference Group) - Or, if you don't, you should contact Dr. Ed Siebert, who has detailed data. It's also posted online under our strategic school profile. Yes, we may have an anomaly in certain years - sometimes you find a class that does a lot better than most - but the statistics are frightening. Our school system has really taken a huge downturn in terms of measurable academic achievement.
I don't know about the rest of you, but we decided to move to NF because of the schools and the kids did get great educations here. Going forward, if I were making the decision today, I woud look at the relative performance of towns like Brookfield, and conclude that NF's schools just cannot compete.
If education matters to you (or if property values matter to you) you should be much more concerned about failing test scores. And, to some extent, salary schedules of this sort, only exacerabate the problem.
Just my opinon. Great teachers make great schools. We still have many great teachers, but you do want to remain competitive. From my point of view, this town has focused on everything but academic achievement and that is a shame.
