UPDATED: Teachers, School District Reach Tentative Contract Settlement

The 700-member Bernards Township Education Association and the Board of Education reached a tentative agreement for a three-year contract following an all-day meeting with a state appointed labor facilitator, negotiators for the Board of Education and BTEA said on Thursday morning.

School Board of Education President Susan Carlsson said on Thursday morning that the details cannot be disclosed until the tentative pact is ratified by the BTEA, which represents the district's teachers and other staff members.

"I think there's a sense of relief that we are done," Carlsson said at that time.

Denise Graff, co-president of the BTEA, said later on Thursday that proposals were exchanged throughout the day until the tentative agreement was reached at 3:50 p.m. The BTEA will meet with its membership on June 9, and staff at each of the school buildings are expected to vote on the proposal on June 10, she said. She said the BTEA will release a statement following the ratification meeting. 

The Board of Education then would vote on the agreement at the first meeting in June, scheduled for 7 p.m. on June 13, Carlsson said.The contract, if approved, would be retroactive until last July. The teachers have been working under the terms of that previous three-year contract since that time.

Negotiators for the school district, the BTEA and a state-appointed fact-finder met for a full day on Wednesday, with the actual talks beginning at 10 a.m. and lasting until 4:30 p.m., Carlsson said on Thursday.

Both sides said at Monday's school board meeting that for a settlement in contract talks that have lasted for more than a year. The negotiators also had met with the fact-finder the previous week, after failing to reach an agreement during sessions with a mediator that began last year.

Teachers had been wearing red and had scheduled days on Tuesday and Wednesday in which they did not arrive early or leave later than required in the expired contract.