Landmark Newark teachers contract signed by city school chief and union boss

NEWARK — Newark’s superintendent of schools and teachers union president today signed a landmark three-year contract that will offer bonuses to top teachers in the state’s largest school district for the first time.

If the contract is ratified later this month by the Newark Teachers Union’s 3,300 members, educators could start earning bonuses of $2,000 to $12,500 as soon as the end of this school year, union president Joseph Del Grosso said after signing the deal at the Peshine Avenue Elementary School.

“Teachers who vote in favor of this contract are heroes,” Del Grosso said. “Teachers have told me countless times they were never afraid of accountability, they were never afraid of an evaluation system.”

Teachers can earn bonuses of $5,000 for being rated “effective” or “highly” effective under a new, four-tier evaluation system put in place this school year as part of tenure reform legislation signed by Gov. Chris Christie in August.

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