WARDEN - The Warden teacher's union and Warden School District board tentatively agreed to a three-year contract.

Warden teachers had been without a contract since August.

One of the major issues in negotiations was the 1.9 percent pay cut to teachers the state legislature passed last year. Warden teachers wanted that pay cut recouped in some way in their contract.

The school board made up for the pay cut with Time, Responsibility Incentive (TRI) days, said Warden Education Association President Larry Dagnon.

TRI days help compensate teachers for work they're already doing outside their normal work hours, he said.

The 1.9 percent pay cut amounted to a loss of 3.5 days of pay for Warden teachers, said Dagnon. The school board added 3.5 new TRI days, bringing Warden teacher's total TRI days to 6.5, he said.

"They made our employees whole again," he said. "We really made very good advances in this contract. It was just very positive and we got it done."

"Both the (school board) and I are very happy to have that completed," said Superintendent Sandra Sheldon.

The tentative agreement needs to be inserted into the collective bargaining agreement between the union and the school board.

Warden teachers ratified the contract Tuesday. It now must be ratified by the school board.

On Thursday, teachers from school districts including Moses Lake, Othello, Quincy, and Wenatchee attended the Warden School District board meeting to support Warden's teachers, said Dagnon.

"We had people from all over the North Central Washington region," he said. "We had a whole bunch of people who are union members from other education associations who came and rallied to support their fellow colleagues. It was a huge showing of respect and support statewide ... They urged the board to feel the sense of urgency to get it done."

The school board and union engaged in a previously scheduled unfair labor practice mediation from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., said Dagnon.

"I think both parties had just come to the point where it was time to get a deal done," he said. "They were anxious to get it done, we were anxious to get it done, our members wanted a deal, the board wanted a deal. It was time."

The contract negotiations may not have taken as long if not for the state cutting teacher pay, said Dagnon.

"They cut the salaries of everybody in kind of a cowardly way," he said. "They made the school district have to pay for it and it caused a lot of hardship and problems in our negotiation because they wouldn't do something that was just basic and fundamental and support education fully."