The Board of Education of Harford County and the Harford County Educational Services Council (HCESC), which represents over 900 instructional support, nurses and clerical professionals in the county, jointly
announce that a tentative contract has been reached between the two organizations. This is an initial, one?year tentative contract settlement between the two organizations.
Specifics of the tentative agreement are currently being shared with members of the Board of Education of Harford County and with the members of HCESC. The agreement becomes official after ratification by both HCESC and the Board.
The tentative agreement was reached when representatives of the school system and HCESC signed the document on Monday, June 8, 2009.
“On behalf of the Board of Education of Harford County, I would like to thank the HCESC leadership and its members for recognizing the current economic realities facing Harford County and our school system, and working diligently with the Board to reach a tentative agreement that reflects that reality,” said
Board President Patrick L. Hess.
Barbara Yost, President of HCESC, said today that, “this was not an easy negotiation. There was no money and the Board of Education is facing increased health care costs next year, however our team feels good about the agreement because the Board agreed to maintain their share of the health insurance costs and to pay our inclusion helpers like all other employees—our two highest priorities.”
“The Board and I would like to express our gratitude to the HCESC negotiating team for their true professionalism and patience during this process,” said Patricia L. Skebeck, Interim Superintendent of Schools. “I am very pleased with the level of collaboration shown by the HCESC negotiating team which allowed us to reach a mutual commitment embracing our employee’s priorities while focusing on our goal of supporting student achievement.”
This is not against Dr. Tomback and I wish him well, but….. I would suggest that the board of education employ the same contractual strategy with the teachers that they employed with Dr. Tomback: give the teachers a 10% performance bonus based on criteria that the teachers set. Obviously its a sound contractual component that the board (or at least Mr. Wolkow) thinks has merit.
Just saying.