The All-Island School Committee voted to ratify a three-year agreement with Island school secretaries last Thursday, after nearly nine months of negotiating. Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss said yesterday the contract, which is retroactive to July 1 of last year, will include no salary increases this year (2011), a two per cent increase next year and a 2.75 per cent increase the following year.

Effective next year, secretaries agreed to give up the indemnity health insurance plan and rearrange longevity payments. The secretaries’ buy-back rate will go up from $15 to $25 a day and language will be clarified over whether the secretaries are hourly workers or in salaried positions. An agreement was also reached regarding a safety issue; secretaries will not be left alone in buildings if they are the last ones to leave.

“We’re happy with it, we settled where we needed to settle,” Mr. Weiss said yesterday afternoon. “It took longer than it should have.”