Ayer-Shirley School Committee ratifies teacher contract, caps fields borrowing at $6.2 million

AYER -- June 4, 2019, Ayer-Shirley Regional School Committee ratifies teacher contract and earmarks $300,000 for high school fields project. The committee voted unanimously Tuesday to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with the Ayer-Shirley Regional Educational Association, which had approved the contract 94 to 5 at an afternoon ratification meeting, correcting Superintendent Dr. Mary Malone's initial reading of 95 to 6. ASRA President Steve Telly attended the meeting; Malone said the contract closes a six-year gap in step increases, the result of concessions teachers made during regionalization. In a separate 5-to-1 vote, the committee earmarked $300,000 from the district's capital stabilization fund toward the $7 million high school athletic fields renovation project, reducing the amount to be borrowed to $6.2 million after a $500,000 pledge from the Norton Family Foundation. A second 5-to-1 vote amended the prior borrowing authorization to a ceiling of $6,200,000, contingent on the Town of Shirley approving a Proposition 2 and a half debt exclusion; the committee plans to appear before the Shirley Board of Selectmen on June 17 to request the vote be scheduled for September. Shirley's share of the $6.2 million project, at 41.5 percent, would be approximately $2.573 million in principal.