MELROSE — The School Committee and the city’s teachers and paraprofessionals have agreed to a one-year extension on existing collective bargaining agreements, a sign that everyone wants past contract talk contentiousness to stay there.
In a joint statement this week, the School Committee and Melrose Educators Union wrote:
“We are pleased and proud to announce that the members of the Melrose School Committee and the Melrose Educators Union reached agreement on a one-year contract extension to the three- year collective bargaining agreements for teachers and paraprofessionals. The agreement, which was ratified by MEU membership on Monday and by the School Committee on Tuesday, will cover the period from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. In the face of substantial fiscal constraints for Melrose Public Schools and the city as a whole, we believe that this one-year agreement will benefit Melrose teachers and paraprofessionals while ensuring stability for our students and their families in the coming year.”
School Committee Chair Dorie Withey reported at Tuesday’s meeting that the parties have agreed to the following:
• Unit A (Teachers) will received an important market adjustment at the top step of the contract and all other teachers will receive their contractual step increases.
• Unit C (Paraprofessionals) salary scales will also be market adjusted to increase the starting salary to from $21,596 to $23,755.91 and the top step of the range from $29,154 to $33,000.
• For both Units A and C, if additional funding is received by the Melrose Public Schools during the 2025-2026 school year, both units will receive additional, negotiated compensation.
• All other terms and conditions of the respective collective bargaining agreements will remain the same.
The teachers and paraprofessionals current work agreements run out at the end of June.
In early 2023, the School Committee and the city’s teachers agreed to the current three-year pact, after several months of contention that nearly led to a strike. That agreement provides for cost of living and market adjustments totaling 10 percent over the length of the contract, which runs retroactively from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2025.