The Newberg School District board voted unanimously on Aug. 12, 2025, to ratify a three‑year collective bargaining agreement with the Newburgh Education Association covering 2025–27 and to approve a 2025–26 academic calendar that reflects five furlough days for represented staff.

Human resources negotiator Tammy described the negotiations as collaborative and said the parties completed an agreement before July 1. The contract contains multiple updates including salary and benefits language, an acknowledgement that counselor caseloads have increased and an opportunity for counselors to request release time, and equitable compensation for extra duties such as postseason coaching and band responsibilities.

The parties also negotiated clarifications to hiring and transfers: the contract limits automatic in‑building interview offers to two per applicant per year and requires specific feedback be given to internal applicants who are not selected; screening committees may still select interview candidates beyond those limits. The board and union added language to align building discipline‑plan practices and to provide clearer steps for staff who experience student‑inflicted physical harm.

A clerical error in the draft listed eight furlough days; the parties agreed to reduce that number to five in the ratified agreement. The five dates placed on the 2025–26 calendar are: the Monday before Veterans Day (a four‑day weekend), Jan. 5 (the Monday after winter break, with staff PD on Tuesday), Feb. 9 (the Monday after the Super Bowl), a spring long‑weekend in April to break up a long instructional stretch, and the day added to extend Memorial Day weekend. Negotiators also included trigger language in a memorandum of understanding that ties restoration of furlough days to district ending fund balance thresholds.

During the meeting the board approved the contract and calendar with the understanding that a small number of technical edits (for example statutory adjustments to the definition of “contract member” referenced by board counsel) may be handled by memorandum of understanding or corrected language returned to the board for ratification. The board chair and superintendent noted the district and union had generally avoided the adversarial negotiations of earlier years.

Why this matters: Ratifying the teachers’ contract and finalizing the calendar set workforce expectations and reduced unpaid furlough days for the coming school year. The contract’s operational clarifications on interviews, discipline plans and extra‑duty pay affect staffing decisions and day‑to‑day operations.

What’s next: District and union leaders will finalize a small number of technical edits and implement the calendar and contract provisions as schools open. The contract includes a mechanism to restore furlough days if the district’s financial position improves.

(Reporting note: Details derived from the board meeting transcript and staff summary.)