PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee last week formally approved a three-year contract with the United Educators of Pittsfield after more than a year of negotiations.

Under the contract, teachers will make between about $65,000 at Step 1 with a bachelor's degree and about $128,500 at Step 18 with a doctorate in fiscal year 2027. It also reduces the number of half days scheduled for professional development.

The UEP represents classroom teachers, guidance counselors, department heads, and other specialists.

"UEP started looking at what we wanted to present for the contract back in October of 2023," President Jeanne Lemmond said after the vote was made at Reid Middle School on Wednesday.

"We started negotiating with the School Committee in January of 2024, and it's nice to finally have it finalized and completed so that we can move forward and work on other things in our district."

Lemmond has urged the settling of a contract during open microphone portions of School Committee meetings, highlighting the importance of properly supporting the city's educators.

"We looked at trying to get paid parental leave, which was huge. We looked at trying to stay competitive in the county as far as our salary increases. We looked at finalizing some job descriptions that needed to be kind of cleaned up and clear, and also some stipend positions that needed to be worked on," she said on Wednesday.

"And then a lot of it was more on some of the evaluation process. A new evaluation system that we had piloted finally made it into the contract."

She explained that the new evaluation system for staff who have completed two two-year cycles after achieving professional status, which in Massachusetts is gained after completing three consecutive school years in a school district.