WALLED LAKE — The Walled Lake Consolidated Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Dec. 4 to ratify a three-year contract with its teachers union.

The district managed some cost containment that it wanted, while the teachers preserved their health care system.

“What gratifies me the most is that we did reach a conclusion. We reached a conclusion that everyone is happy with, and that’s the most important part of the whole thing,” said board President Nancy van Leuwen, a former teacher who retired from the district.

“Everybody worked very hard, we worked collaboratively, and we’re very lucky to have something in place for the next three years,” said Chriss A. Golden, president of the Walled Lake Education Association.

The contract’s first year includes a salary wage freeze with a half-percent increase for teachers at the top of the wage scale who do not get step increases. The second and third years of the contract include 1 percent salary increases.

The contract includes increased deductibles for health care and an increase in the number of years, from 11 to 13, that a teacher needs to reach the top of the pay scale. The contract also includes additional increases to the cost of health insurance corresponding to increases the district incurs.

And the contract more directly affects students. It includes an additional day and a half of elementary school and an additional day for middle and high school students.

Golden highlighted some parts of the contract particularly important to the teachers.

“We kept our MESSA. That was very important to us,” said Golden. “And just some language in the contract that helps support what the teachers do on a daily basis with professional learning communities, and just the work that they do with kids. So, those were very important to maintain.”

Michigan Education Special Services Association is a not-for-profit member organization that the Michigan Education Association created as a voluntary employee beneficiary association. It provides comprehensive health and related benefit plans.

MESSA opposed Public Act 106, signed into law last Oct. 1, which intended to increase school districts’ abilities to get information that the districts could then use to seek competitive pricing for health coverage or benefits. The act, also known as the “public employees health benefit act,” requires soliciting four or more bids to establish a medical benefit plan.

“Salary, with the economical times, we knew that we weren’t going to get everything. It’s a give-and-take process. So, membership gave us our marching orders to maintain MESSA, and that’s what we were able to do,” said Golden.

“This was a contract where we did not dip into our fund equity to settle it, but it was fair for all sides, and one thing that we’re going to be very pleased about is this contract will prevent us from having to make cuts next year,” said Superintendent Bill Hamilton.

He hopes the district will not have to make cuts in future years, too, if the economy turns around.

Many present commented on the difficulty reaching a contract, which includes a lot of work not at the bargaining table.

“There are days, nights, weekends, preparation, looking at proposals, trying to form counterproposals, and I think I’d have to tell you that our team and the WLEA team — it was exhausting,” said Craig Aleo, assistant superintendent of labor and employee services.

“I know this was a grueling process, having experienced it myself. Thank you all,” said van Leuwen.

“When economic times are tough, bargaining is tougher,” said Hamilton.

“The process worked, and we had good people on both sides of the table, and as Mr. Aleo said, it was more than just sitting at the table. It was the preparation, it was … processing it, it was the counterproposals, it was all of those things that went into the time that we did spend at the table,” said Golden.

You can reach Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1053.