TEACHERS' UNION DEAL REACHED

The South Orange Maplewood Education Association, which represents district teachers, quietly approved a new two-year contract last month, which gives them a raise of just over 4 percent over two years.

The contract is retroactive to June 30, 2013, when the last agreement ended and will run through June 30, 2015.

The contract will be voted on by the school board at its next meeting on July 21.

The deal follows a contentious year of talks that included the union declaring impasse at one point and even voting down a deal that its leadership had approved in December.