BUCKLAND — The Mohawk Trail Regional School District School Committee has unanimously approved a three-year contract with the Mohawk District Education Association union that includes cost-of-living adjustments, leave changes and increased longevity compensation.
The contract covers fiscal years 2027, 2028 and 2029. Financial changes come from the 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment, and other contract changes involve altering schedules to allow for more class periods during the school day.
School Committee Chair Martha Thurber described the contract negotiations as “very constructive,” and said all parties seem pleased with the outcome. Maya Blum, co-president of the Mohawk District Education Association, agreed that union members are “pleased with the outcome of our contract negotiations,” and that the involved parties “were able to have productive conversations with the administration and School Committee members.”
Beginning in FY27, the starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree will be $48,990, which increases to $51,753 if the teacher has obtained a master’s degree. For FY28 and FY29, an additional 2.5% is applied to each of the starting salaries.
“We would always like to see our wages keep pace with other districts,” Blum said, “but we are also aware that our sending towns have limited resources and that this is a tough time economically for many of us.”
In this new three-year contract, there is now a column for “service providers.” These are the starting salaries for faculty who are not classroom teachers, which includes a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, board-certified behavior analyst and school psychologist. The starting salary for these positions in FY27 is $57,747, and they also receive the 2.5% cost-of-living adjustments.
Longevity compensations have also changed. For 15 years of longevity, staff receive an extra $1,500 under the current contract, and that remains the case in the new contract. For 20, 25 and 30 years of service to the school district, the compensation levels have increased by $250, rising to $2,000, $2,250 and $2,500, respectively.
“I personally look forward to a time when educators in this country don’t need to work multiple jobs in order to stay afloat,” Blum said. “Hopefully this contract is a step in that direction. “
Thurber also noted that faculty can now maximize accumulated sick days for maternity or paternity leave. Previously, staff were able to use their accumulated sick days as leave after the birth of a child, but with limits set on how much they could use. For the parent who gave birth, they could use up to 60 days if it was accumulated, while the non-birthing parent could use up to 10. Those qualifiers have been removed from the contract; it now reads simply that the parent “may elect to use their sick leave as paid parental leave.”
Other non-financial changes include the terms of the contract being consistent with the new class schedule at Mohawk Trail Regional School.
“The class schedule has been changed such that both the middle and high school are on the same schedule,” Thurber explained, “and that schedule allows for more periods per day, which increases opportunities for students to take more electives.”
Blum said the cohesive schedule for the middle and high school, in addition to obtaining paid leave for families and increasing the pay for licensed service providers, were among the union’s priorities during contract negotiations.
According to the language of the contract, the trimester system at Mohawk Trail Regional School will still be in effect. In the interest of making these trimesters end at natural breaks during the school year, the trimester lengths may not be even.
The start and end times for students has not been changed, with the day still starting at 7:45 a.m. and ending at 2:20 p.m., which gives ample time in the afternoon for students to participate in extracurricular activities. However, the existence of extracurriculars is contingent on the school budget receiving the necessary Annual Town Meeting approval.
Charlemont and Plainfield are the two remaining member towns that have yet to vote on the Mohawk Trail Regional School District’s budget, and if either don’t pass it, the district would have 30 days to return to the towns with an alternative budget. If a new budget is not approved by the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, Mohawk Trail would default to a one-twelfth budget, meaning the district would operate on a month-by-month basis based on the previous fiscal year’s budget figures.
Using fiscal year 2026 figures would result in another $1.8 million being cut from the Mohawk Trail budget, meaning that another 20 staff positions would need to be cut in addition to the 21.5 positions — 6.5 teaching positions, 14 paraprofessionals and one other position — that are already being cut heading into FY27. It would also mean that “every extracurricular for students is removed,” according to Superintendent Sheryl Stanton.
