Northshore School District teachers agreed to take less money simply to help non-certified staff bridge the wage gap in comparison to surrounding districts.

The district and the union came to an agreement in late August, and ratified new contracts on Aug. 31. The school board approved the contracts shortly thereafter.

District teachers will receive a 11.3 percent wage bump over three years, with 10 percent coming from the district and cost-of-living increase of 1.3 percent coming from the state.

The non-certified staff — those in support roles — will receive a 24.1 percent increase, of which 19.3 percent comes from the district. Non-certified staff also receive backpay from the 2015-16 school year, during which the non-certified union went without a contract.

Both contracts run through the 2018-19 school year, after which the certified and non-certified unions plan to bargain jointly.

“I’ll attribute this collective bargaining agreement to two things: One is the unity of my membership — the absolute unity they showed and commitment to each other,” said Tim Brittell, president of the Northshore Education Association. “The teachers made it abundantly clear that the classified problem had to be solved. You might think, looking at the certified number, that some might have said, ‘how come I didn’t get more?’ What they actually said was, ‘Good job. You did what you should have done.'”

“[The teachers] were willing to take a little less so that the others could catch up,” Brittell said.

Brittell said the second attribution went to new district superintendent Michelle Reid.

“She came in and understood the need for joint bargaining as a way to reach an agreement,” he said.

Also included in the new contracts were guarantees of several safety upgrades.

Once the improvements have been completed, teachers will be able to lock classroom doors from the inside simply by removing a magnetic plate.

Changes in the public address system allows on-site administrators to lock down individual schools, rather than waiting for approval from district administration. The district will also be running active-shooter training at all schools in the spring.

The district is also making some radical changes to the number of full-time support staff, adding 16 new full-time positions and transitioning 44 part-time support staff to full-time positions.

The contracts also help cut down on the number of tests students will be put through, and the amount of unnecessary paperwork, Brittell said.

Next, Brittell hopes to work alongside Reid to ensure the state legislature fully funds the McCleary decision, which would greatly impact Northshore School District once the current contracts are up in 2019.