By Brian Gilliland

LEWES — Board members, staff and negotiators were all smiles as the Cape Henlopen Board of Education and the Cape Henlopen Education Association, the collective bargaining unit for professional employees of the board, signed a new contract lasting until 2029.

Christy Wimmer, president of the education association, spoke on behalf of her negotiating team and in favor of the contract.

“These dedicated union individuals spent over 20 hours preparing,” for bargaining, Ms. Wimmer explained. She also thanked the board of education’s squad.

“They were willing to stick with the issues that took longer to solve instead of just tabling them or shutting them down,” she continued. “As a result, I feel like we all worked as a cohesive team rather than labor versus management.”

The approach used by the schools and union helped significantly decrease negotiation time, Ms. Wimmer said. She called it “interest-based bargaining” where both sides share their stories and attempt to find common solutions.

“What in the past had taken months to negotiate was finished in two days, with the third day used to develop the contract language,” she said.

Ms. Wimmer said neither side got everything they were asking for, but believes all parties are aware of each others’ issues.

“In closing, this contract provides healthy, sustainable raises, preserves benefits and clarifies previously ambiguous language,” Ms. Wimmer said. “I truly believe this is the best contract we’ve negotiated.”

Matt Lindell, one of the negotiators for the schools, concurred.

“I think it’s amazing when you put adults in a room. I know there’s been some friction in the past couple of years, but things have changed on both sides,” he said. “So when you put adults in a room thinking constructively and looking at what the problems are for both ends and working together to try to solve the problems, I think it strengthened the relationship between the district and union.”

Superintendent Bob Fulton was pleased with the efforts on both sides.

“I believe I say it a lot but I probably don’t say it enough is that I think we’re doing really good things in our school district. I’m proud of what we’ve done and I’m more excited about what we’re going to do in the future, and the key to that is the people in front of our kids every single day.”

Mr. Fulton said it is important that the people employed by the district want to be there, and it shows in the performance of the students.

“Hands down the best staff in the state of Delaware and beyond — we have them at Cape,” he said.

The motion to adopt the contract passed 4-0, with three members absent.

“I know I can speak for the three board members who are not here tonight that they would have voted in favor as well and they’re excited to have another contract,” Dr. Alison Myers, board president, said.

The contract carries an effective date of July 1.