LEONARDTOWN, Md. (March 23, 2010) - On March 11, 2010, St. Mary's County Public Schools reached an agreement with both the Education Association of St. Mary's County (EASMC) and the Collective Education Association of St. Mary's County (CEASMC). The teams have been working since the fall of 2009 to develop agreements to compensate staff.
There will be no Cost of Living Allowance; however, the agreements provide for step recovery for the merit step not received by qualifying staff during the 2009-2010 school year, which will now be received in October 2010. For the 2010-2011 school year, the merit step will be implemented in April 2011. Staff who do not receive a salary increase for either of the two steps listed above will receive a $750 one-time stipend on June 30, 2011.
The agreements also cover several topics with each association that will be explored by study committees for future consideration. Topics include extra pay for extra duty/stipends, compensatory time, salary scales, advancement opportunities, and evaluations.
Dr. Michael J. Martirano, superintendent of schools, commented, "The success of our students is greatly dependent upon our outstanding staff. I talk about this every day. Even in these economic times, while being fiscally responsible, I have made it a top priority to fairly compensate our staff, even at a minimal level, for the outstanding work that they do today in building strong futures for tomorrow. Our highly effective teachers, our support staff, and the leadership of our administration do so much with the limited resources we have to make St. Mary's County Public Schools one of the leading school systems in the state."
Source: St. Mary's County Public Schools